Justin Welsh

One of the most consistent messages across research is not that successful people are happy, but that happy people are successful.
 
 It’s an age-old assumption that many of us have bought into: happiness will come to us when we’re successful, whether in school, work, relationships, etc. We tirelessly strive for success, thinking it will bring us happiness, only to find that when we achieve what we set out to do, we aren’t necessarily happier. On the contrary, we might even feel less happy.
 
 Time and again, research has told us that happiness doesn’t follow success. It’s not that we have to choose one over the other; we can actually obtain both. But we have to reverse the order of operations: instead of trying to obtain success and hoping it will lead to happiness, we have to start working on our happiness, which will ultimately enhance our success.