The Winning Edge

Happiness First, Then Success January 8, 2009

There are millions of people out there with essentially the same thought process, and that thought is , “If I only had more money than I would be happy.” There is only one problem with this kind of thinking, and that is that thinking this way is complete and utter crap. All it shows is that these people don’t understand money, don’t get me wrong for me at least having more money makes it easier to not be stressed, but it does not bring the happiness, money just magnifies what is already inside you, so if you are looking to money to be the solution to all that ails you, well you will have a rude awakening in the future.

It’s easy to see where this common misconception started, you see a rich person, they have a sweet car, a big house and go to Hawaii every year, you think to yourself, “gosh, I’d like a nice car, an awesome house, and to go to Hawaii every year would be great! Those things would really make me happy.” So then you assume that this particular person in having what you perceive as wealth must be happy, when all too often that person is living paycheck to paycheck the way millions of people do, and they are just as desperate to create long term wealth as you are.

Also you can look around you at people who are rich and unhappy as proof that it’s not the money that brings happiness, money is not the magic bullet, but that said it is a necessity once you’ve taken care of your inside game. Because ultimately money is the medium through which you will be able to achieve the success you so longingly hope for, it’s hard to affect the positive changes that people want to without the aid of a good size bank account, so just remember that the money is to help you fulfill your major purpose in life, and nobody’s purpose is to sit around and live like a hog.

But back to the question of how to change what is inside you so that money can come to you, and when it does it will magnify the wonder and happiness that is already inside you, as opposed to the fear that most people carry around in their chest cavity like it’s some sort of fear storage, let me tell you that as you move forward you may feel an emptiness in that area, because the fear will be gone, and you may not know how to immediately fill that space with happiness, just know that having nothing there is much better than having a bunch of crap there making you crazy.

There is a science to happiness, you see most people look around themselves, see what is happening and then decide to be happy or sad based on what they see. If they see war, and poverty and death they will likely choose sadness, if they see joy and happiness around them then the obvious choice is happiness. The only problem with this is that it is backwards! You can’t look around you and then determine whether or not you will be happy, all you do when you do that is hand your free will to someone else, just like deciding to be rich before you become rich you must decide to be happy before you can really become so.