The Happiness Advantage

What makes us happy? Is it success that brings happiness or is it the other way round, that happiness increases the chances of success?

In an earlier post on Success and Happiness, I shared:

Does success give us happiness? I still believe, yes, though with a caveat that it could be for a span of time. After certain time a success no longer may make us feel elated and the benchmark of defining our success changes.

Shawn Achor, author of the book The Happiness Advantage, did extensive research on this topic at Harvard and his findings were, and I quote from his book,

".. More than a decade of groundbreaking research in the fields of positive psychology and neurosciences has proven in no uncertain terms that the relationship between success and happiness works the other way round."

".. we now know that the happiness is the precursor to success, not merely the result. And that happiness and optimism actually fuel performance and achievement ..."

Happiness is a choice we can make for ourselves. Why not choose to be happy and be successful?