Note: This article is based on the work of Colin Darretta, founder of Wellpath and author and co-founder of several marketing platforms.
Many claim that money cannot buy happiness, but it is more complicated. Recent research confirms that while higher income is associated with higher life expectancy and higher satisfaction, there is a turning point. Once our immediate material needs and financial desires are met, accumulating more money does not lead to more joy.
I had reached the point where I wanted to create something tangible that combined my love of well-being and my desire to improve people's lives. My first endeavor as an entrepreneur achieved that by offering supplements that would do that, while having time to see my family, travel the world a few times a year, and do things that contribute to my happiness even after a few more business successes.
It all started with a simple discovery: I had been lying to myself about how successful I was, becoming less concerned with how much money I could make and more concerned with how much impact, time, and happiness I could create with that money.
Do not Pay Happiness as a Price for Success
Once I realized that my measures for success were happiness and self-esteem, I knew how much time I wasted chasing the wrong goals. Now, I help other employees and entrepreneurs discover what defines their success beyond money with these three strategies:
1. Connecting your current path with your life goal
We are all ultimately seeking to find meaning in our lives. It is very different for all of us. For some of us, life might mean raising children or giving back to the community. For others, it might mean access to the world's latest technological innovation.
There is no right or wrong answer for everyone, but there is a right and wrong answer for you alone. So, your first step should be to identify what gives your life meaning and evaluate whether your current path allows you to achieve these results.
If your life's goal is not to be at the top of your current field, this conflicts with whatever is most important to you. When I evaluated my life, I asked myself whether sitting in a boss's chair at work 10 or 20 years from now would make me happy. The answer was no.
This does not mean that I might never return to my work in finance. It is impossible to know what purpose will define my life for the next thirty years. Finance was not compatible with my individual purpose at that stage in my life. It might be reorganized in the next stage. Try dividing your life into 5-year periods because your goals and aspirations might change over time.
My true desire was to see that I was making a positive impact on people's lives, the sense of accomplishment from building a profitable, self-sustaining business, and the satisfaction that comes from building a team that enjoys their work and does worthwhile work. I was making mistakes in organizing projects, but not finding a solution almost left me wondering, “What if?” for the rest of my life.
2. Putting an economic value on your values
Your values guide the decisions you make to balance your life and career. The best way to decide what is worth working for is to assign an economic value to each decision. If rest and spending time at home add meaning to your life, it might be beneficial to work remotely.
Ask yourself, “Am I willing to lose a few thousand dollars in annual revenue to maintain these things?”, and value those benefits so that you can determine whether remote work is the ultimate convenience or one of the things you would sacrifice. A higher salary can provide you with more home comforts. When you compare money and benefits, give the benefits a similar value.
At the same time, identify non-negotiable values, meaning that any amount of money is not worth sacrificing it for. For most major decisions and many minor decisions, I make comparison lists.
When I first decided to work in finance, I was in New York. I felt like I was in the right place. Walking to work was worth more to me than a higher salary in a different city. When I realized I could do that and still have a meaningful job, the choice was clear.
3. Making moderate changes first
Once you have made a list of your values and linked them to relative economic value, rank them and ask for opportunities to increase the time you spend practicing the most prominent ones. Before you make any drastic changes, see if subtle shifts will do the trick.
If you want to work remotely, ask your boss if it's possible. If not, let's consider whether looking for a remote job is worth taking a pay cut.
Some values might be presented unnecessarily. Happiness and success in this case might be closer than we imagine. Classifying your values will show you the changes you need to make to align with it.
You might be able to achieve the most important and valuable goals on your list in your current career, which is worth exploring before setting off on a new career path. These discoveries will also lay the foundation for your next moves. For example, I was advising a friend's startup company at the time when I was still working at a private equity fund. It was great to get an idea of the entrepreneurial path while building experience in a new field that serves as the cornerstone for projects that I have a passion for.
Success (by most society's standards) and feeling successful (your own standards) don't always intersect, but you can choose your own adventure and chart your own path.
The only thing I know that doesn't work is lying to yourself. If your success measures don't include the values that are important and meaningful to you, true success will always be out of your reach, no matter how much money you make. The funny thing is that when you do something you love, financial success tends to follow and you might end up increasing your bank account along with your happiness.
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