2008-10-05

Highly happy people

While trying to increase productivity to get more done we should not forget that at the end it counts less how much we achieved in our life than it counts how we felt.

I do read a lot about the key skills and key habits of highly productive and successful people. I would like to read more about highly happy people.

It is one of the lessons of the story "David in Diamondonia" at SuccessMakingMachine (see also follow up post "Rich Lessons From David in Diamondonia"), that it is easy to forget about the main goal. We need money to feed us, to keep the house warm in the winter and so on. Often people forget after a while WHY and FOR WHAT the money is really needed and they focus on earning money. Earning money often substitutes the original goals. Earning money should not be your main goal in your life plan - and neither it should be to achieve a lot. Such goals are neither concrete nor the source of happiness.

So when you are trying to improve your productivity and going to get more done don't forget that you might want to be happy in the first place.

Marc Lesser gave a talk "Accomplishing more by doing less" at Google - I ask me now why he didn't rather entitle his talk "Being happier by doing less".

There is nothing wrong with improving productivity, achieving more, being successful. But the main goal to aim for should be to be happy with that.

If you are setting goals and you are convinced that they make you happy then it is important that you feel happy also while on the way! - Living a life full of suffering for having a relaxing death is a bad deal!

So let's watch out to find higly happy people - and get highly happy!

Related posts: In the present moment, The big difference of the How, The tension habit, Reduce the stress factors, Expectation dropping, Being positive, Finding the proper priorities, There is suffering, Between GTD and GHE, How to be happy, The power of intention, Being like a child.

3 comments:

SuMMy said...

I agree that achievement is the end all be all. The problem with saying happiness is the end all be all is that people will make short term decisions on being happy, sacrificing long term. That's why I loosely use the term "success" as the goal- it combines happiness, living in the moment (enjoying what your doing) and achievement/accomplishment.

Success= Think+Do+Enjoy

Martin Wildam said...

I agree with you that putting the focus on happiness includes the common pitfall of thinking short term.

As with the most things, ideas, philosophies (and even religions) there is some truth or important aspect in everywhere. - And sure, there are also pitfalls.

In my opinion there must be a balance in short-term and long-term thinking regardless if you are setting goals, investing money, want to create success, work on your personal development or whatever else. So the balance between short-term and long-term is a general consideration not limited to happiness.

Putting the focus on happiness for me does not immediately raise associations of short-term thinking. I have more associations pointing in the direction of returning to the present moment like I wrote in the appropriate post "In the present moment" or "Dynamic activity".

But the ability to live the present moment (and accept everything that arises) clears the view - to short-term and long-term plans.

Maybe also because I see happiness very different to amusement for instance. Happiness is more like balance and serenity - for me.

Anonymous said...

When it comes to happiness there is no short-term and long-term. If there is then it is not real happiness.

Happiness is a totally different axis to the rest and is independent.

You can have your cake and eat it to.