Which Comes First In Business: Happiness Or Success? [Infographic]

If you are like most people, you probably spend more time at work than you do with your loved ones. Instead of working to live, you might feel like you live to work. Now that we are all connected to each other 24/7 via our mobile devices, it almost seems like we have to be available for work 24/7 also. It’s a huge change from the 9-5 workday of the ’80s. If you are feeling unhappy, you are not alone. Which do you think comes first, happiness or success?

It’s like a “chicken or the egg” question. We all want to feel happiness at work, and many times we think, “When I reach that goal, I’ll be happy” or “When I finally become successful, I’ll be happy at work.” However, science shows that it doesn’t work that way. It’s really quite the opposite, which may be a bit strange for you since it could require an entire mindset shift. When it comes to the question of which comes first, happiness or success, the answer is happiness.

According to a book called The Happiness Advantage by veteran Harvard lecturer Shawn Anchor, happy people are more likely to become successful than people who are not happy but still work really hard.

He spent over a decade researching this topic for Harvard University, and the findings in his book are insightful and fascinating. Recently Careertopia took the results of his study and compiled them into this infographic called The Happy Secret To Better Work. This is a jam-packed infographic, and I’ve divided it into two images for faster loading time.

The next time you wonder whether happiness or success is more important, just remember that your chance of success will be much greater if you’re happy, so that is an important thing to keep in check. If you want to read more about this topic, you can click over to Office Bliss: The Importance Of Happiness At Work.