According to Lyubomirsky, et al., (2005) numerous studies have shown that happy people tend to be successful across multiple domains in life, including work performance, health, income, friendship, and even marriage.
The authors have devised a conceptual model that accounts for these findings. They argue that the happiness-success link exists not only because success makes people happy, but also from the positive affect engendering success.
The study examined three classes of evidence, including:
Cross-sectional
Longitudinal
Experimental
The results of the findings revealed that happiness is associated with and precedes numerous successful outcomes. Moreover, it was also discovered that certain behaviors tended to parallel that success.
The evidence suggests that the idea of positive affect, the hallmark of well-being, may actually be the cause of many of the desirable characteristics, resources, and successes correlated with such happiness.
The real question then becomes, what comes first, happiness or success? This is akin to the chicken and egg scenario as well.
If happiness comes first, then you must surmise that you have to figure out how to be happy before your success will come rolling in.
On the other side of the coin is the idea of success coming first, before happiness.
What does it take to really be happy? Do you have to be successful in order to be happy? There are most likely millions of people in the world who would disagree with you on that point because success does not guarantee happiness.
There are just as many people out there who deem themselves happy, while not necessarily successful, as there are successful people still trying to figure out how to be happy.
How do these two constructs tie together? That is the issue we will discuss.
According to the fight or flight theory, humans were not wired for happiness, they were wired for survival.
Many of us find ourselves rushing through life, chasing happiness. The problem is that we never quite get there.
For many of us, happiness is something we aspire to. Happiness is somewhere we get to someday. What we fail to recognize is that happiness is a state of mind, not a destination.
We know happiness is not a static state, because even the happiest people feel blue sometimes.
Norrish and Vella-Brodrick (2008) studied whether happiness is even a worthwhile pursuit. Happiness, the pursuit of it, and what it means to live a good life has been long debated
