Imagine this.

A genie appears and asks you to choose between two things, to have success in your business or happiness in life, hard isn’t it? But what if there was a way to choose both and not even need a genie? Because life is not a fairytale and it requires work which is why you have entered in the world of business.

So, here’s the lie: You can’t be successful and happy at the same time.

And here’s the truth, as I see it: Success and happiness are connected. You can inherently choose or balance the two.

Business, being a noun, is not about doing, but about being. This means that in your work it is essential that it is innate in you to like the work itself, and not just do it for the sake of money. There are 225 studies in Psychology Bulletin that suggests that happiness leads to success.

Passion is Happiness

If so, then why waste time in doing something you don’t like? Why not do what you like and make money doing so. There is this quote from an Indian Movie Three Idiots where the main character is a math whiz and he says “Make passion your profession, and work will become play” there is such beauty in that quote, working should not be thought of as a money making process but a hobby. Most of them think that happiness comes after success in the business, but in truth, it’s the other way around.

However, quitting now is not advisable, there are ways to enjoy what you do or if this is impossible then do both. If you’re already earning then invest in what you want to do, and start off there, after a while who knows? Maybe you can quit and make your passion your profession.

Talent

Well then you ask “what if I’m not good at what I want to do?” you can never tell, but there are two types of talents these are the fluid talent and channel talent.

Fluid talent, is essentially what you are born with, something you have studied since you were a child.

Channel talent is different you train with it, sometimes this can be associated with late bloomers, these people like Albert Einstein, Harlan David Sanders (founder of Kentucky Chicken), J.K. Rowling, Vincent van Gogh all started the same way. But of course, you have to be good at what you do and work for it.

Motivation

If you were a workaholic this would be easy, a motivation would have to be needed for people who do not like any form of work. Set a goal, first start small like a new camera or something, and climb until you earn more.

Happiness and success are often two things that seen as opposites, this should not be if you were a true businessman you’d this. If you want time for your family and at the same time do what you love, but don’t have the manpower to handle your work especially those “other tasks” which are small but important, then hire a virtual office. This way you can make both ends work.

The truth is people who want success put all of their happiness aside first and try as hard as they can to reach success in the business, too much of anything is bad, the best way to go is just to be happy and the rest will follow.

Happiness versus success or happiness with success, what about you- which will you choose?