The Best Way for Goal-Oriented People to Improve their Happiness
Most athletes and former athletes are goal-oriented. I’m a prime example of this. Almost everything I do centers around achieving a goal. If you are anything like me, purpose drives almost everything you do. If you don’t understand the purpose, then you will have little motivation. What’s more, it’s hard to live in the moment because you are always thinking about the next step in the process of achieving your goals.
On the one hand, goal-oriented people are known for getting things done. Which is great. On the other hand, they tend to not be very happy people on a day to day basis. Which is not so great. The reason for this lack of happiness is the pressure they put on themselves. Pressure to win, pressure to get to the next level, and pressure to make progress.
This is one of my personal struggles. In my experience, one of the best ways to deal with this issue is to use what psychologist David Niven found in his research on the topic. Niven’s research shows that “life satisfaction is 22 percent more likely for those with a steady stream of minor accomplishments than those who express interest only in major accomplishments.”
Goal-oriented people achieve so many goals that they only focus on celebrating the major accomplishments and basically ignore achieving all of of their minor accomplishments. This is the reason why they don’t feel happy even though they have many reasons to celebrate.
For Goal-Oriented People The Moment of Accomplishment is Temporary
The fact is the moment of accomplishment is temporary for goal-oriented people. It only last for a few minutes at best. It doesn’t matter if it’s a major or minor accomplishment.
So if a goal-oriented person only focuses on celebrating the major accomplishments, their entire life will boil down to only a few big moments that matter. This is not going to help you live a happy life.
Therefore if you are a goal-oriented person, the key for improving happiness is to celebrate all of your many small victories. Don’t take what you achieve on a daily, weekly or monthly basis for granted. Stop and taste the spoils of victory by viewing your minor accomplishments as winning with preparation, practice and persevering towards pursuing major accomplishments. It’s in these tiny moments of victory where you will find your happiness and thus be a happier person overall.