Success vs. happiness

[RainbowMau 291]

Which of them do you think it's more important?

 

I have two college grades, I graduated as a journalist some years ago and recently I graduated as an ad designer, and with journalism I had the chance to make an article for a couple of newspapers, and while studying I made some work for the college news channel and when in professional practice I could work as a journalist for the local soccer league and could interview international players.

 

However, I have no friends, I have no social life, I have no girlfriend, I'm sorrounded everyday at work for people who doesn't understand me and laughs about everything I say, and I really feel so alone and not supported since I'm an age where I don't do things to be happy but to accompllish adult-society standards, so nobody cares about my happiness.

 

And how about you? What's more important to you?

Edited October 5, 2014 by RainbowMau

[Discordian 6,013]

Implying that the two can't be synonymous? I think I'd rather have both. If you aren't happy with your life right now, you do something to make yourself happy. You know the problem so now's the time to fix it. Surely you have some free time to yourself to indulge in entertainment or some level of a social life.

[lelouch. 625]

To me, success is more important. But my idea of success is a little exaggerated and different to most people... so yeah. And anyways, when i succeed, i do end up smiling. Whether its an evil sneer or a sincere smile, i do become happy after winning.

[boiteporte 591]

To speak the truth, I do not like my current job. Not that I do not like what I am doing, it is just the really bad atmosphere at work which I guess is affecting me. But, it is well paid so I stick with it. So, for me, it is success over happiness, since it seems from past experience that I cannot have both...

[Darker 1,351]

Both.

 

In your life, you can get both with hard work. You can be happy, after accomplishing success.

[Zejgar 25]

To put it simple, one tries to succeed in order to be happy. One is happy due to something related to their life, and the fact that this something has managed to exist is a success, in a way.

If success means keeping one's life stable, safe and sound, then I can see how it might exclude happiness, but in this case happiness can be extracted elsewhere, at least from a plain "Hey, it could've been worse, but it isn't, so hooray".

[Invincible 2,090]

Well, success leads to happiness, so there's that, too. When you're saying success, you should also count working in a nice job with a good fulfilling role a success. I think you should aim for a job you truly find pleasure in to count as 'success'.

[Sir Hugsalot 8,619]

Success often goes along with happiness as achieving happiness itself can be considered a success.

 

I am 22 years old, have great school, good friends, both in the internet and irl and I am growing more optimistic about my future every day. I have no girlfriend, but everything can be fixed and I am not going to bring myself down because of that. I consider my life as a success so far. I made mistakes, but I think I've learned from most of them. Overall - I feel happy even if I have my fair share in sad days. 

 

So I have to say - both. Success can't exist without happiness and vice versa. If something does not make You happy - then it is not a success. If You don't feel successful with life - You won't feel happy neither. 

[NecroSare 4]

As far as I'm concerned, I may be completely nerdy when it comes to studies, thus being treated as so by the others. Working on C++ instead of going at nightclubs with my classmates.

 

But I only see it as a temporary state, because if I'm doing these studies, this is to get a great job and then profit for the rest of my life. It may seem hard at first but I think it's worth the shot.

 

Success leads to happiness sometimes

Edited October 6, 2014 by NecroSare

[Smokie-Horse 83]

Wow, you guys have it figured out. If you do what makes you happy, you've succeeded, and if you've succeeded, then ideally that success means that you've finally achieved what will make you happy. Life is a short thing, but at the end of the day all that does is make things simple: we're all humans, all made of the same highly compacted space matter and therefore fundamentally equal, and all that matters is that at the end of the road we look back, think about the decisions we made and the effect we had on the world and think to ourselves, "In the grand scheme of things, I think that turned out all right". Maybe that means you drive a sports car and work on the top level of a skyscraper. Maybe that means you live in a wood cabin with some chickens. Whatever works.

 

I have two college grades, I graduated as a journalist some years ago and recently I graduated as an ad designer, and with journalism I had the chance to make an article for a couple of newspapers, and while studying I made some work for the college news channel and when in professional practice I could work as a journalist for the local soccer league and could interview international players.

 

However, I have no friends, I have no social life, I have no girlfriend, I'm sorrounded everyday at work for people who doesn't understand me and laughs about everything I say, and I really feel so alone and not supported since I'm an age where I don't do things to be happy but to accompllish adult-society standards, so nobody cares about my happiness.

 

I'm genuinely sorry to hear that, dude. For what it's worth, I hope that you have at least one person, online or in real life, who'll listen to your thoughts about yourself and your life and help you sort them out into something that makes sense to you. And if not, there's always a few sympathetic ears out there, as hard as it can be to find the bloody things... 

[Fluttershyfan94 5,738]

Well to me both are important as I can't see myself happy without success just like I can't see myself successful with happiness. So they are two things that I feel are connected and depend on what you consider success. Is it success to have a lot of currency? Some might think so. Is it success to have people who care about you? Some might think so. What I'm saying is that what we consider success is entirely what we think makes us successful. So we should not base our success by how others define it.

[SparklingSwirls 21,261]

I think happiness is more important. I think it's important to do things that make you happy, like joining a club for something you're interested in or something.

[Starshine 16,330]

Happiness. I like to think that happiness is an universal multiplier on how well things are going in our live. While success among other things can be important, what good do all that do if you can't enjoy it at all?

 

If you have attained one, getting the other one shouldn't be too hard. Being successful means you'll have much better opportunities to pursue happiness over different fields, while being sincerely happy would open a lot of doors for future success

[Fawkes The Phoenix 737]

Well, i think that being "successful" implies being happy.

[Steel Accord 6,658]

Well it depends on the person and on the situation.

 

I mean in most situations one should try to have both. We are all good at something unique, see if you can't make a living off of it. That's why I'm majoring in Creative Writing, so I can do something I love while still supporting myself with it.

 

However, if pressed, happiness should come first. Keep in mind though that even then "happiness" can mean different things to different people. Some people are really good at management and business and enjoy their work, so for them "happiness" might mean actually refusing a more well paying position elsewhere because it would mean they have less or radically different responsibilities.

 

On the other hoof, one might have to give up on a dream or passion, but because they realize that accomplishing said goal will not make them happy in the long run. The former musician who has a steady job to support his family, because he's balanced the relatively short term high of touring with the ever lasting love of his partner and kids.

 

You know who are good examples of both? Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Both have been faced with obstacles, both external and internal that stand in the way of their end goals. To use the above specific examples, Rainbow Dash didn't join the Cloudsdale team even though it would bring her closer to joining the Wonderbolts because she knew abandoning Ponyville would mean she would never be happy.

 

Rarity was offered a more permanent position in Manehatten but because she would have to leave her friends she was hesitant. Luckily Coco Pommel offered to manage her Manehatten branch, so success and happiness in Rarity's case were the same. (In general this show has been a great teacher of even the adult mindset of integrity in the private sector. Though Flim and Flam and Suri go with ploys and cons to gain a short term upper hoof, it the honest/generous virtues of Applejack and Rarity that result in long lasting, stable, and mutually beneficial partnerships.)

[Quill Waver 1,408]

Happiness is by far the most important.

 

Now hear me out, I went to college at 16, work for Legends of Equestria as a technical writer (my childhood dream job of being a video-game dev), was a part of Duke's Talent Identification Program, and can code in seven computer languages. On the other hand, I have a shaky social life and never had a girlfriend or even a kiss.

 

Yet, even with all that said against happiness, I love my life as it is, and I know it can only get better from here on. I've accomplished my life dream before I'm even an adult, and fought against people twice as old and five times as qualified to do it. I wake up each day proud of myself for what I managed to accomplish in such a short time, even if it cost me some social time. I could dance sometimes. All I could ever ask for is a girlfriend who could truly love me...

 

... and I will be the happiest stallion alive. 

Edited October 6, 2014 by Starfall_Quillwaver

[Guest]

It totally depends on what you, as an individual, perceives as success and what will ultimately lead to happiness.

 

Some people perceive having lots of friends as success, others as having a nice body, others as having a well paid job, etc etc.

Edited October 6, 2014 by Guest

[Bright Bastion 241]

This is something I'm struggling with right now. REALLY hard. Success to me means that I'm not in any financial issues and have a steady income while being able to live off on my own. Hapiness is on the opposite side of the spectrum. Whereas success takes time LOTS- YEARS worth of time, I'm happy when I have free time. Time i get to spend goofing off, hanging out with friends, drawing and writing. In the future, time to travel and see the world. But, the free time, isn't exactly free. It's irritating.

 

I suppose the answer then is to work towards the same goals, success and happiness would both be waiting if I just worked for it, but what should I work towards, I guess that's REALLY what's keeping me form both, I don't know what I want to work towards and there is a huge margin for failure if I pick the wrong career and there are literally countless. It's just to much to think about, I don't generally have any strong interest in most things, I do them just to do them. I mean I had a childhood dream of making video games but I don't think I have it in me.

[IcyHaze 593]

Happiness is much mroe important, but both can be achieved together.

[LightningMana 146]

To pursue happiness is a right, to actually ever achieve it, is arbitrary. 

 

Go after success to get money to be able to live a comfortable life. 

 

Write off success, don't give two donkey dimples about politics/appeasing societal standards, and hangout in nature. 

 

There's ups and downs to both paths. 

 

To have the successful job where you have the money to live comfortably, then be able to keep meaningful people in your life who love you the way everyone deserves, are really all you can strive for~ 

[The Crimson Cross 7,532]

Many people are are under the impression that success leads to happiness.

Well in some cases it does, but happiness comes first. I wouldn't work in a job that makes me miserable just to be successful. 

[Handsome Changeling 1,851]

You can't be very happy without success being involved, if you failed everything there would be no reason the be happy.

I am going with success in the end, I am quite the determined person so success is more important to me than being happy anyway. Can't be happy without being successful.

[Unicorn Coffee 204]

Well... I have neither. So I would have no idea.

 

 

Well, except for when one person is around. I'm not gonna detail that, though.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Unicorn Coffee

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

Happiness over everything. Even my bodily needs.

 

My mind is important. My body is as well, but it isn't as important to me. I do not see the point in success if it is empty and hollow. And I don't have a survival-oriented mind. I don't live to survive. Success in this society is to enable survival. There's no point to surviving if you can't enjoy it. I'd rather die than not be happy.

 

Right now, I could be still working at a job three nights a week and making more money than I do now. That was the most success I've achieved in my lifetime. But I hated that, so I left the job. Even though I make us less money with my new job, I am much happier. My fiance could be making more money by working more days and being full-time. But he and I don't want that, because even though it's more successful, it detracts from the time we have to spend together, and in turn, our relationship. That to me is more valuable than anything. A smile over a cent.

 

Sure, I'd be happy if I were successful. That'd be nice. And it's my goal to become that one day. But I only want to become successful enough to live comfortably and improve the quality of my life. Not rich, not famous. Just to live so that I don't have to worry too much about bills, finances, and all that horrible survival stuff. I only want to be successful so I can eliminate the need for having to think about survival like an animal. And in turn, that goes back to happiness. That is what this is all about. And it is the reason to want to be successful in the first place.

[Magnum Flare 553]

A lot of people chose success, but what is success if you're not happy.

 

Chase happiness, then success will come by itself.