Is Success Happy?
By Sophie Makonnen
Most of us want two things from our work: to do well and to feel well. We want to earn enough to live (and sometimes more….), see some recognition for what we contribute, and find a measure of satisfaction along the way. None of that is incidental. For most of us, success is also how we keep a roof over our heads and something steadier underneath.
What If We Have It Backwards?
But somewhere in that mix, the markers of success: the title, the promotion, the visibility on the right project, the renewed contract, the pay raise get confused with happiness itself. We treat reaching the marker as the path to happiness. Get the promotion, get the recognition, and assume the happiness will follow on its own.
But what if it works the other way? What if happiness isn't something that shows up after professional success as a reward, but something success actually depends on?
This isn't just a hopeful reframe. Researcher and author Arthur C. Brooks has spent years studying the relationship between the two and the evidence goes against how many of us instinctively reason. We assume that success and happiness tend to move together, and from that, we conclude the first causes the second. Brooks points out that the data tells a different story. Pay raises, even substantial ones, tend to lift job satisfaction only briefly before it settles back close to where it started. The boost is real, but it doesn't hold.
What does hold, according to research Brooks cites spanning marriage, friendship, health, income, and work performance, is the reverse sequence. Happiness consistently predicts success, not the other way around. People who are doing reasonably well, who have some baseline of sense of satisfaction and wellbeing, tend to perform better, build stronger relationships, and advance further than those chasing achievement as a route to feeling better.
Maybe it's time to look at this from a new angle. A lot of us think that once we reach our own idea of success, everything else will work out. We picture ourselves finally happy, able to relax, and enjoying life. Hence, we end up waiting and hoping for that moment to arrive. This way of thinking also keeps us focused on the past or the future, and we forget how important it is to live in the present, a topic I explored in Before the Next Goal: The Power of the Present.
Why Markers Carry Weight?
This matters more now than a year or two ago, when the job market was stronger. Indeed, budgets are being cut, contracts are not renewed, and entire programs are restructured or shut down. In such a climate, the markers carry more weight than usual. Keeping your title, getting reappointed to the team, being kept on when others are not, these start to feel like proof that you still matter, that the work you do still counts. Holding on isn’t irrational; it buys real security. On the other hand, it does not necessarily equate with happiness.
This isn't only a function of today's instability. It also reflects something we've been taught for far longer: that the markers themselves, visibility, title, constant motion, read as proof of competence, the very things that get noticed, rewarded, and promoted. I described this pattern in Fire and Stillness in Leadership, where speed and visibility had become signals of value in many workplaces, and again in Multitasking: The Productivity Killer, where busyness itself gets mistaken for proof of contribution. The pressures in the job market didn't create that mindset. They are simply tightening their grip on markers we were already trained to chase.
Tending to It Now, Not Later
Brooks gives a clear idea of what this means. He says happiness does not just show up when your situation gets better. Instead, it is something you create on purpose, over time, much like learning any valuable skill. He bases this on four main pillars: faith (for Brooks, faith does not have to mean religion. It is whatever connects you to something larger than your own struggles, whether that is prayer, meditation, a philosophy you return to, or music that does the same work), family, friends, and work. According to his research, strong relationships, a sense of connection to something bigger than yourself, and work that has meaning beyond professional success help people stay fulfilled in ways that recognition and status alone usually cannot.
In practice, this requires pausing before automatically accepting new assignments or requests, especially when saying no feels risky. Instead, consider the impact on relationships and commitments beyond your inbox. Be honest if your role has shifted away from direct engagement with the people or outcomes your work is meant to serve and seek opportunities to restore even a small part of that original connection. It means still returning the calls and keeping the plans that matter, even in a week that feels too full for either. Most of all, it is about seeing these efforts as regular upkeep, not something you will handle only when life gets less hectic.
This doesn’t mean that markers aren’t important. They help pay the bills, open doors, and they give you something real: stability, recognition, a place to stand. The point isn’t to stop caring about them, but not to equate them with happiness.
Brooks's research shows that most of us have it backwards. Happiness isn't a reward you get after reaching the top. It's more like the ground you stand on as you climb. Without it, the climb becomes harder, not easier. So maybe the real question isn't your next marker of success. Brooks's point is that it's the path traveled toward a goal that feeds happiness, not the arrival itself.
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