At the core of every want, every goal, every perceived need is our BELIEF that getting it will make us feel good. When we feel good, we say we are HAPPY!
So, what makes us feel good? Getting a raise at work can make us feel good, as can getting a new car or winning at a sport we like. These are certainly experiences (achievements, gifts, rewards, acquisitions) that help us feel good, at least temporarily.
This seems simple enough, but accurately assessing our feelings or emotions is anything but simple. That’s because there is “temporary” happy, and there is “enduringly” happy.
The experiences that bring us temporary happiness are unpredictable. An experience that might make them happy one day might not make us happy the next. When a company opened a manufacturing facility in Viet Nam in the 1970’s, they filled the workforce with enthusiastic workers…for about six months. Suddenly, most of the employees stopped coming to work. When supervisors went to their homes to investigate the workers told them they had made enough money to buy everything they wanted. So they just quit.
A clever manager gave every employee a Sears Catalog, and quick enough the people came back to work, motivated by the anticipation of the “feel good” experience of more cool stuff.
The motivational value of this “give to get” transitory happiness is, of course, unpredictable, and unreliable. Even when the motivational value of receiving a paycheck gets people to work, in the absence of numerous other factors, it won’t necessarily motive them to be very productive.
In contrast, the happiness we call enduring is entirely different. A person who is enduringly happy, (happy to their core) is motivated because giving of their talents and skills is of far greater significance than receiving a paycheck.
Their work brings meaning and purpose to life. Their giving unreservedly of themselves benefits their family, friends, colleagues, and community far more than just financially. Benefiting others provides a deep satisfaction and inspiration. Its this satisfaction and inspiration that stimulates them to become even better, greater, more essential.
These people enjoy a happiness that is an essential part of who they are. It isn’t the “experience of getting” that motivates them in any way. It is the act of giving, helping, supporting, of making things better, easier more pleasurable for others.
These are the folks who become most influential, essential, and vital. They naturally are rewarded in countless ways, including financially, because they bring meaning, inspiration, and creativity with them wherever they go.
These people are the very ones we identify as highly self-aware. They know themselves thoroughly; They know others well…family, friends, and colleagues. They recognize their needs and wants, their hopes and dreams and work to fulfill those needs as well as their own.
Hardly any personal improvement effort is as important today as raising our self-awareness. Strong self-awareness produces a quality that society realizes is critically valuable today – inspired, competent leadership. Wise, productive leadership.
You have every capability to grow into that type of leader. Our society needs you to become that leader. Our online course, 5 Steps to Elevate Your Career and Professional Success, can give you the boost you need. One single discovery can change everything for you. Click on this link www.OneSingleDiscovery.com today.
Tom Searcy BCC
574-850-9912
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