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Does Success bring you Happiness?
If not, what does?
A Wall Street Journal article I read this morning discussed what to do when success doesn’t bring you happiness.
When I first read the headline I was a bit surprised to see it. Thinking that the readership for the Wall Street Journal is full of people driven by how successful they could become. Why would they include an article questioning it?
However, after reading it I realized how much it spoke to me, an avid reader of the publication.
Throughout my 20s I was driven by success. Measuring myself by how much I could achieve and thought that anything less than the lofty goals I set for myself was a failure.
Building out my career I don’t necessarily think this was all that bad. I learned a lot, meant some great people, and now have the professional skills to apply now to causes that I care about.
What I would change in hindsight is how black and white my goals were. Driven by the next promotion or performance on the next project without taking a step back to see if I was actually happy with what I was doing.
In the article, there was a paragraph that really resonated with me as I’ve gone through a bit of a career shift of my own.
Lasting happiness results from wins that foster…