Build Happiness into Your Success Strategy and Don’t Fear Success

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence." wrote the Greek philosopher Aristotle. But we also have to be successful in order to be happy. Balancing happiness and success is a challenge. How balanced are you?

Heidi: I have been blessed to do work that I love. Therefore my work makes me happy, and I enjoy success along with personal satisfaction. I know that I’m fortunate.

Sam: Happiness means different things to different people. You need to know what it means to you. As we point out in our book, “TheSmartestWay to Save,” money doesn’t buy happiness.

So…how to you achieve success plus happiness?

Are there beliefs and thought patterns that hold you back from imagining yourself as truly, terrifically successful? Subconsciously our parents may have taught us to not want too much, that it’s bad to be “greedy”, that others won’t like us if we are too rich and “snooty.

Heidi: As a girl, I picked up messages that it’s not ladylike or socially acceptable to be ambitious or acquire great sums of money. Or if I try to become wealthy and fail, I will feel ashamed.

Sam: Our book, “TheSmartestWay to Save” discusses how our internal beliefs can hold us back. I was fortunate in that my parents emphasized that no one is better than anyone else and that no goal is too high to reach for.

So…are you afraid to become wealthy?

(Written by Samuel K. Freshman and Heidi Clingen, authors of TheSmartestWay™ to Succeed Series and TheSmartestWay™ to Save—Why You Can’t Hang on to Money and What to Do About It.)