Traditionally, society believes one must work hard in order to attain success, and through success one will achieve happiness.
In a speech addressing the nation’s children, President Obama stressed that success is achieved through hard work and dedication. However, recent research in the field of positive psychology believes this principle is actually flawed and that happiness, in fact, fuels success.In his book, The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor discusses his work at Fortune 500 companies, such as American Express, KPMG and UBS, and Harvard University, where he spent 12 years studying how happiness improves one’s success rates (Achor, 2010). Achor believes in order to achieve success, one must first reach happiness.
Through his research, Achor explains that if we can train ourselves to think more positivity and be happier, and then we can gain a competitive advantage to succeed at work and in life.A majority of Achor’s research is based on his 12 years living and teaching at Harvard, where he was giving the opportunity to serve as the head teaching fellow for Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar’s course, Positive Psychology (Achor, 2010). While at Harvard, Achor observed over 1,600 undergraduates and was able to conduct a study using the principles of positive psychology. By studying the behaviors and habits of his students, he was able to conclude why some students seemed to flourish and others succumbed to stress and depression.He learned that “our brains are literally hardwired to perform at their best not when they are negative or neutral, but when they are positive” (Achor, 2010).
Essentially, he concluded that the most successful individuals were more positive and happier and not only did this apply to the students at Harvard, but also it applied to employees at their workplace. In line with Achor’s research, numerous other studies show that happy individuals are more likely to be successful. Dr.Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor at the University of California, Riverside, has devoted most of her career studying the link between happiness and success.
Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, and Schkade argue that it is meaningful to pursue happiness, because happy individuals appear more likely to flourish (2005). Also, Lyubomirsky, King, and Diener (2005) found that the “happiness promotes multiple successful life outcomes including superior health, higher income, and stronger social relationships.They conclude that there is strong evidence that happiness leads people to be more sociable, more productive at work, to have higher incomes, and to live healthy lives (Lyubomirsky, King, and Diener, 2005). Lyubomirsky, like Achor, believes that through happiness and positive thinking one can achieve success in life as well as their career. So, does happiness really lead to success? Evidence seems to show that in some ways happiness and positive thinking can lead one to succeed.
In The Happiness Advantage, Achor shows evidence of how when we are positive and happy, it leads us to be more successful because we become more “engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and more productive at work” (Achor, 2010). However, is happiness all that is needed, or are there other traits one needs in order to be successful? In Boehm and Lyubomirsky, despite being advocates for positive psychology, they admit that “happiness is not functional in every circumstance” (2008).In fact, they go on to say that there are numerous instances of unhappy, depressed people whom were very successful in their fields (Boehm, et al, 2008). Happiness may play a part, but there seems to be other factors that have a role in one’s pursuit for success.
In this paper, we will take a more in depth at the principles of positive psychology and how happiness can lead to success. Next, we will look at other common traits associated with successful people. And finally, we will give a broad definition of success and conclude why happiness is not the only factor that leads to success.
