Happiness should be your ultimate goal

in, and will try to find any old excuse not to do things.
In many cases, it’s those who take action who have the most success in this life. That’s the truth even if their actions turn out wrong.
When you think about it, this makes sense. How do you change from an unsuccessful person into a successful one? Clearly, at the very least, a few things have to change in reality. You might have to find a better job, more money, a partner, and a higher level of health. Any other number of things may have to change in order to meet your definition of success.
Now there’s the possibility that these changes may occur on their own, externally without any effort on your own part. That cute person at work may fall in love with you, your immediate boss may quit and leave you their job, or a rich aunt may die and leave you everything.
Yeah, right! For most of us, such hopes may be a nice way to daydream away a lazy Sunday, but generally they just aren’t going to happen.
Reality is indifferent to your desires for success. So there’s only one way such success is going to occur and that’s if you take action to make it happen. But here’s where it gets difficult, because you’ll find all sorts of excuses not to take action. You’ll convince yourself not to call that person, because they’re probably busy and don’t want to be bothered. You’ll decide you enjoy smoking too much to give it up.
You’ll miss the deadline for applying for that job because you feel bad about leaving your boss with nobody to fill your role. But in reality once you move on there will be someone else to fill in your place. While you may be missed, no one is indispensable.
Action is what you need to take, but first you must overcome the weight of routine. And you’ll look for all sorts of excuses not to do so. Recognise such internal thoughts for what they are. They’re natural and everyone has them. Acknowledge them, then move on and do what needs to be done.
And once you have taken that leap of faith, you will find that things will fall in place. It may take a bit of adjusting and you may have to grit your teeth in the transition period but sooner rather than later you will get exactly to the place you have always been meaning to go.
There’s a funny scene in the film “Thank you for smoking” where the main character, a public relations shill for the cigarette industry, is asked how he can do such an unethical job.
“Everyone’s got to pay the mortgage”, he replies. This is an extremely good analysis of modern life in the world. Most people are just doing what they have to in order to pay the mortgage. And usually, it’s on a house that’s much bigger and grander than they actually need.
In some cases, you can replace mortgage with fancy car, expensive holiday, or school fees. And then of course, there are the more abstract rewards such as recognition and status. The point is that many people are prepared to do all sorts of unethical and crazy things, just to fund their lifestyle choices.
They’re prepared to work 74 weeks, lie, bully and make themselves miserable – simply in order to get what are seen as the rewards of modern living.
In fact, you could almost say that’s the crux of our modern culture. If the hippies of the 1960s were urged to “Turn on, tune in, and drop out”, today the mantra is “Set goals, work hard, reproach yourself for personal weakness, and work even harder”.
Not that there’s anything wrong with hard work and trying to improve your situation. But remember to keep an eye on the end goal. It isn’t – or shouldn’t be – to get a big house, a fast car, high status or global admiration. It’s simply to make yourself and those you care about happy. That’s the ultimate reward in life, and like all roads used to lead to Rome, all goals should lead to happiness.
Every other achievement should be a means to that one simple end. One of the big problems I see with the modern rewards system is that many people are being sold false beliefs. A big house, a fancy car, status and admiration are all nice things to have, but they’re not enough to make you happy in themselves.
In fact, if you put too much effort into improving your situation through gaining these trinkets – by doing things that make you uncomfortable, stressing yourself out, and giving up all your leisure time – you’re almost certain to make yourself unhappy. So unhappy that the best house in the world is unlikely to make you feel any better. Work diligently, be serious about the things that need to be taken seriously, and set yourself goals.
These are all key secrets to success. But at the same time, find the right balance between improving your situation and enjoying it. There’s no point giving up your happiness in order to obtain status goods that will supposedly make you happy. You’re likely to be disappointed when you reach what you’ve aimed for.
We’re simply not wired that way. Sacrificing today for a better tomorrow is an admirable undertaking. Just make sure that one day that golden tomorrow arrives – hopefully sooner rather than later. – paulstips.com