in Prism of Life

Why success is not going to guarantee happiness

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In pursuit of happiness in our life, more often than not, we end up chasing success. With the hope that attaining success in all its manifestation would somehow automatically lead to happiness. Whereas, the actual truth doesn’t conform to this causality. Let’s examine, why is that so?

The very basic idea of success is defined and shaped by widely accepted popular social imagination of the society. And Parents being an integral part of the society is often sold to this idea of success. And once you are sold to the idea, you rarely question the methodologies prescribed to achieve that. As a result kids end up having no choice but to conform to that idea.

Now in that scenario, even if you do achieve that success, the question of what next will always keep haunting you. Because the only motivating factor behind your entire journey was to do whatever it takes to reach the destination named success.

Now that you have managed to reach the destination, what could keep you inspired so that your journey on the path of success is continued unabated? In most of the cases it’s the effort to increase the accumulated material possessions that keeps you busy by feeding the false notion of your success.

Since the primary motivation in achieving the success is never created intrinsically, that success never gets resonated with your true self. As a result, ironically in the long run, what you may end up feeling is not the triumph of success, but the tragic loneliness of success.

So how do you make sure that “your” success does get translated in everlasting happiness. This could be made possible by finding out:

What is the one thing that makes you truly happy?
What makes you lose track of time?
What activity can make you feel enthusiastic and excited?
What is the one thing that you would like to share with everyone?
How would you like your obituary to be written?

Once you dig a little deep inside you, sooner or later you are bound to get answers for most of these queries. And these answers will definitely help you in finding your unique definition of success. Since you have played a proactive role in formulating the definition of success, and not just borrowed or bought it from someone else, in all likelihood, this definition is always going to resonate with your true identity by bringing a world of difference to your journey.

And that journey, believe me, is never about results or goals. Results are always the biggest imposter. Goals are always the biggest distraction. They’re a trap. If you do things for the sole purpose of achieving results and goals, then you’re robbing yourself of the opportunity to really become fully enthralled and engaged with the process and journey.

You don’t have to set goals to get results. Results are simply a natural consequence of enjoying something and doing it exceptionally well. Results are things that come naturally to you. They’re not things you can get.

By prioritising the process itself, as opposed to what you can get from it, you create an endless source of desire and motivation. You end up liberating yourself from the traps of results-oriented thinking. You’re able to do what you love with infinite moments of happiness.

       “Happiness is in the doing, not in getting what you want”

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  1. Congrats piyush for sharing such a lovely topic and it is very in the run we lost our innocence and forget what is true success and i feel also we know that but not ready to face it or accept it because lots of criteria between success .
    Regards
    Shweta srivastava

  2. Wonderful article Piyush. Really loved reading the article.
    The basic moral :- THE HAPPINESS IS IN DOING AND NOT IN GETTING WHAT YOU WANT.
    Is really an eye opener.

    I just also wanted to add that, together with journey the focus on goal keeps the enthusiasm and zeal in the journey.