Happy People Are Actually More Successful

I'm sure that at some point in your life you've heard the saying “money can’t buy happiness,” however according to CNBC Make It it's actually the other way around; most happy people actually seem to be more successful.

Tami Muller is a positive psychology coach and happiness trainer who has been studying the science behind happiness for five years. According to her, trying to become happy through getting a better job or earning more money isn’t the right way to earn it.

“Happy people make more money, have better relationships [and] are more successful in life, not vice versa,” Muller claims.

Arthur C. Brooks teaches in his Harvard course on happiness that unless you use your money for certain things like buying experiences, donating to others, or getting extra time, then you really can't buy happiness.

Creating strong social connections and doing activities that fuels you and finding purpose are actually the things that lead to happiness, not financial goals, Brooks says.

Being happier does seem to lead to higher success and financial increase though. Muller says that “happiness is the thing that’s actually causing us to succeed.”

A systematic review in 2005 of 225 papers actually found that those who were happier tended to have more success in many different areas like health and income.

“We really need to focus not on how to be more successful, but how we can be happier,” Muller states, “then success will follow.”