Common Qualities Of Happy People and Successful People

How many of us really do know what happiness means and can do for us?

We are all seeking happiness but too often it seems elusive. So we turn to books and experts on the pursuit of happiness and living happy. Meanwhile, we keep wanting and needing more. Yet even when we get more and everything we think we should have, we still find ourselves searching. So we seek more again: money, sex, power… whatever it is we think we need.

Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, then we’ll be happy. But the conventional wisdom is wrong. I have been very fortunate in my life and career to learn this from successful thought leaders who are also genuinely happy. People like Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, Tim Sanders, and Dave Lindsey.

It was not success that made them happy; it was their happiness that drove their success and gave them a larger purpose.

When I thought about it more, I realized all of them have the following things in common

They chose and made a conscious decision to be happy; it is their intent and their priority.

They remember where they came from but always push forward living and loving BIG.

They are very grateful for everything all the time.

The phenomenally successful and happy people don’t wake up and say, “I am going to be happy, dammit” or need some Stuart Smalley-esque affirmation to remind them or others to feel happy. They just do it with themselves and others often through the smallest of gestures.

The phenomenally successful and happy people I have met use the past as part of a roadmap for refinement. As Tony Robbins says they didn’t let their past equal their future. They know if you let your past equal your future you are going to live there.

Finally, the phenomenally successful and happy people I have met have never been anything but immensely grateful for the blessings they have. It is the first thing they think about every day. They think, “How can I take the blessings to go beyond me and make the world a better place?” Whether they have a little or a lot, they appreciate it and always take a moment to reflect on it. 

This keeps them grounded. This allows them to admire success in others and not be envious.

Keep this in mind on March 20, as we celebrate the International Day of Happiness. And see how you can inspire others by pledging a simple act of happiness