Seppala has examined high-success environments such as Yale, Silicon Valley, and Stanford to find the link between happiness and success. Though these places were producing some of the best work business-wise, Seppala found that burnout and delaying “the search for happiness” were common. The belief, instead, was on focusing on commercial success and hoping that inner happiness will follow – ultimately flawed when pursuing happiness. Instead of focusing outwardly, Seppala advises that we look inward, and embrace being kinder to ourselves. She details all of her findings on happiness and success in her latest book, The Happiness Track. Our dependency on high-intensity emotions was also found to be a link to unhappiness, according to Seppala’s research. In Western culture especially, these high-intensity emotions are closer linked to ideas of success. But while these high-intensity emotions can be motivational in the short-term, they can also lead to stress and harmful effects in the long-run.
Seppala also recommends taking time to “rest and digest” to restore health and embrace more inner positivity for long-term success. This supports other evidence and experts that say to create good habits or quality time with puppies to encourage happiness. Even if we incorporate these ideas slowly, we can create a drastic shift in our ideas of success as well as our long-term happiness. (H/T World Economic Forum Blog)
