The Secret to Achieving Your Dreams No One Tells You About

By Emma M. Seppälä Ph.D,
Author of The Happiness Track

A Stanford student announced that she had to drop out of the Happiness class. “When I asked her why, instructor Carole Pertofsky shared with me, she said that it went against everything she had been taught: ‘My parents told me that my job in life was to be very, very successful. As I got older, I asked my parents what I needed to do to be very successful, and they said to work very, very hard. As time went by, I asked them, how do I know when I’m working hard enough, and they said, “When you’re suffering.” While this answer may seem shocking and wrong, many of us have bought into the idea that, in order to be successful, you have to sacrifice your happiness.

After working in many high-achieving environments like Yale, Stanford, Silicon Valley, New York City, I noticed too many people were pursuing “success” at a cost to themselves. They were postponing their happiness now in pursuit of success with the idea that, when they attain success, they will be happy. Yet they were burning themselves out (and others) in the process. I, too, joined the rat race because it seemed like what everyone was doing. It seemed like the right thing to do. But it wasn’t.

When I looked at the research, I saw that—overwhelmingly— happiness is actually the secret to success.

Success looks different for each person - for one, success is being able to attain a professional goal, for another it's a personal goal - like being a terrific parent. Either way, if you prioritize your happiness, you will actually be more productive, more creative, more resilient, more energized, more charismatic and influential. You will have more willpower and be more focused, with less effort.

That’s why I wrote my book The Happiness Track.

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