Happiness Above Success
During my time on the Pro Cycling Tour, so much of our happiness was dependent upon our success. Or at least, we thought so. We thought that if we could win the next race or accomplish a certain goal that all of a sudden we would be happy. But, even if we did win or succeed, whatever joy we felt was always fleeting because as soon as that success came, we began thinking about the next goal.
As psychologist Shawn Achor describes it, “happiness always fell beyond our cognitive horizon.” Happiness was a setting sun we could never reach. That rat race was an absolutely miserable experience. There were moments, however, when we were unstoppable. The irony of those moments was that they weren’t driven by our ambition or by our need for success. Rather, they were driven by small things we did on a daily basis that made us laugh or feel at peace or found us losing track of time. It was sitting around at the dinner table regaling our teammates with the stories of the day. It was the daily exercise. It was expressing gratitude and appreciation for one another. It was taking the time to help one another. All these little things that were in our daily control were what allowed us to be happy, not the grand goals we were all driven to achieve.
By finding that daily happiness in the process, we succeeded. The simple Copernican shift is this - our happiness does not revolve around our success. Our success revolves around our happiness⠀
- Allen Lim, Skratch Founder
Art: Yappy Art
