I am going to talk about happiness today
because it is the most vital ingredient for every one of us. A life full of
happiness trumps every other achievement.
What does happiness mean to you?
Have you ever actually sat down and worked
out what happiness is for you?
Something I want you to realise is, to use an old saying, is that “you can’t buy happiness.”
“Our capacity to draw happiness from aesthetic objects or material goods in fact seems critically dependent on our first satisfying a more important range of emotional or psychological needs, among them the need for understanding, for love, expression and respect.”
Alain De Botton
We all want money! We all need it to live,
but there are people who think it will solve all their problems and cure their
misery! I can assure you it won’t! There’s no denying that not having constant financial
worries on your shoulders, makes life easier, but that won’t make you happy!
Money buys you the things you need, it can
buy you many of the things you want. Alas many will put their life completely
on hold, focusing on what they need to do to make money. They’ll work long
hours, miss out on many special occasions, make many personal sacrifices while
trying to build, in their mind, future happiness. Unfortunately, even those
very successful at making money come to learn that it won’t buy them health,
nor will it buy them happiness. Take it from me, I was guilty of this myself,
and am now trying to make up for so many things I missed out on.
So, what makes a happy life?
Happiness and feeling contented with life depend
on being able to live a life where we feel we are on the road we want to be,
but ensuring we make time to enjoy ever special event while on this journey. It
relies on you recognising that life is a precious gift, but one we only get a
finite time to enjoy it. So, waiting for a future date where you’ll give
yourself the time to enjoy, once you’ve achieved your financial goals is simply
crazy. What is given will one day be taken away, so don’t allow yourself to get
bogged down with tomorrow and the future but make every day a day full of
happiness. Your true goal should be to
feel contentment, the essential building block of happiness.
“The happiest people discover their own nature and match their life to it.”
Ray Dalio.
Let me assure you hard working committed
entrepreneurs out there “that chasing money is an unfulfilling end goal, and it
has no finish line.”
The number one regret of the dying is “I
wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others
expected of me.”
Money won’t mean much if you aren’t living
a life that is in line with what you want. It matters nothing if you don’t give
the time and energy to your loved ones.
To live a truly fulfilling and happy life, make
time for love and creating beautiful memories.
Living a life chasing money will often
prove to be one built around fear, frustration, and disappointment. For many
who succeed at making an abundance of money, they are struck down by severe
illness and broken relationships before they get the time to enjoy it.
Carpe diem – seize the day, every day, to
make happiness for you, your loved ones and your community your absolute most
essential goal. Yes, build your business, become the best in your profession,
but never at the cost of your happiness.
“Carpe diem – Seize the day, boys, make your lives extraordinary.”
From Dead Poets Society
