I wrote this blog 6 years ago, but it’s just as relevant now as it was then.

During my career, I’ve met many professionals, who have chosen to ‘hand in their career’ with large organisations in order to ‘do good’ elsewhere. These accountants, lawyers, analysts and branding experts, felt that they were trading success for happiness, but were they?

I have always been convinced that the happier you are, the happier you can make other people and the more successful you can be. So, you can imagine the pleasure I had watching Shawn Achor’s TED talk, The happy secret to better work, pretty much confirming my ‘sunny’ point of view.

Happiness is on the opposite side of success. We often think, that we need success in order to be happy. Whereas, all we really need is the happiness advantage. The happier we are, the more successful we can become.

I live my own life by my personal motto, “As soon as you start living your dreams, your dreams evolve.” By being happy, you can achieve anything you want to, especially your dreams and when you’re happy, you can make everyone around you happy too.

I would advise anyone to selflessly start by making themselves happy. Once that’s done, ensure that the people around you are happy too.

Let’s spread the happiness advantage!

Happy weekend.
Helen

Helen Martin is a qualified coach and trainer and lives in London. She is a member of the Association for Coaching and coaches individuals through change. Helen coaches two people per month at no charge. She can be contacted here.