Post # 064
Happy and successful!
Vishen Lakhiani's outstanding book "The Code of the extraordinary mind" really throws some brilliant insights into the minds of happy and successful people. Here are a few...
First, we don't have to choose between happiness and success. We can have both. Like everything else, it is a mindset.
Next, Vishen says that successful people set goals, but do not hang their happiness to their goals. They don't say I will be happy after I reached so and so goal. He says such a goal setting method leads to postponement of happiness. He calls that the forward gap.
Instead, Vishen says successful people look back and express gratitude at how far they have come from their past, no matter what the present circumstances. He says that such an attitude of gratitude always leads to happiness in the present. He calls this the reverse gap.
Now, does searching for happiness in the present make people complacent and meek? Vishen says - on the contrary. Happy people are more productive. He explains how successful people use their current state of happiness to shape their future.
X axis : No vision or Strong vision
Y axis : Low or high states of happiness.
No vision & Low happiness = "I am lost & listless."
Strong vision & Low happiness = "I am driven, but stressed out."
No vision, yet very happy = "I am complacent and caught in my present."
Strong vision, yet happy in the now = "I have a purpose, I am committed and passionate, but my state of mind is not a hostage to the fluctuations in external factors."
Such a mindset can "bend reality" or "make a dent in the universe", says Vishen. Amen to that!
Credits: Vishen Lakhiani and his superb book.