We all know those two notions and states of mind are like siblings: they have a profound connection but do not always go together.
It seems that the more one dwells on those, as I have done in every possible way (from daily life choices to professional milestones or failures, and from examining them through various models, my writings, and podcasts, as well as discussing them in interviews with top professionals), the more difficult it becomes to reach a good definition. One could say that happiness and success mean different things to different people.
As a high-performance trainer, however, one must come up with a definition that can be unanimously beneficial. It must be broad enough to fit individual needs and specific enough to provide parameters. In that light, success can be nothing less than being validated and vindicated for your choices. And happiness can be nothing less than you being euphoric for long periods, having made such choices.
Each one of us will need to answer the following questions in our pursuit of happiness and success through this definition:
- Validation and vindication from whom?
- What about validation for choices we didn’t make or avoided? When does such validation serve as a retrospective excuse for everything we didn’t do and should have?
- What is the validation process? How can we avoid making up internal stories to justify wrong choices?
- What do we do when the success rate differs from the happiness rate?
All the questions above can be answered individually and lead to tremendous success and happiness with the help of a ‘High Performance/Outcome Trainer.’