Pursue happiness
That’s my advice for the coming year. Now before you click X while muttering, Lenka, the world is going to **** and you’re dispensing sunshine and lollipops, bear with me. I’m going to make this article short and sweet, clarify what I mean by happiness and suggest why you might want to make it a priority for this year.
So first, I am not talking about mundane happiness, though hanging out with the kids or your dog isn’t bad either. I’m talking about the satisfaction we feel when we actually accomplish something we value or have been plotting for some time. It’s about getting to it and actually getting to an end point. What does that have to do with happiness? A lot, actually. Having agency, being in control of our destiny and achieving our goals, be they large or small, has a profound effect on our well-being – and the bottom line, which has a nice amplifying effect BTW. I’m sure you have experienced it.
The human spirit needs to accomplish, to achieve, to triumph to be happy." -- Ben Stein
This being LinkedIn, you might say, I do that all the time. That’s my day job and I’m pretty damn good at it. I get on my calls; I meet with my team; we work our plan. Okay, maybe you do. But, seeing as many corporate initiatives fail (projects running over time and budget, strategies that fail to launch to name a couple biggies) you can’t all be getting to results. Now you’re probably thinking, it’s January, our collective to-do list is pretty gnarly, can we get back to the happy part?
Reading posts on LinkedIn, I’m frequently inspired by the audacious stuff you want to take on. I’m just urging you to get it done. The world needs not just your effort but, real results. That means not just launching your fill-in-the-blank but actually getting your whatever to the people who need it. It means stopping the busy work (that is likely scrupulously outlined in everyone’s job description) and actually delivering meaningful results to whoever your end customer is. It means stopping the incessant consultation and paralysis by analysis and making key decisions and sticking with them.
Of course all of this matters, no matter the time of year. But my prediction is that, this year, wresting control of as many things in our lives that we can will make a big difference in how we feel navigating the macro convulsions that are likely to come. So this year, prioritize action, timely, right action. I promise that in doing so, you will be happier.
