Saturday 2 November 2013

“Do You Want to be Successful or Happy?” - Professor M.S.Rao



“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” – Ernest Hemingway


Recently one of my students Madhuri asked me a question: is it better to be successful rather than to be happy? I replied her as follows:

Everyone craves for success and happiness. However, presently most people prefer success to happiness which sounds like putting the cart before the horse. In fact, people love to be happy with their lives. At the same time, they cannot ignore the human need to be recognized by others. In order to get recognized,  people often crave for success. During the course of their success journey they sacrifice a lot and at the end they realize that they lost so much including happiness. It is like losing too much for too little. They must learn the fact that life is very short and they must make it sweet. They must treat success as journey to achieve the end of happiness. If the priorities are changed then there is no meaning to life.

There are people who work hard only for satisfaction, not for recognition. They treat satisfaction as an end product and recognition as a byproduct. They don’t work with an intention to get recognition as their basic drive is satisfaction. They work hard and smart irrespective of the outcome.  They strive hard to achieve outcome through excellence. Finally, they achieve satisfaction, success and recognition.  Hence, it is always desirable to strive for satisfaction rather than recognition and success.

To summarize, success is something far away whereas happiness is in your hands.  There are people who search for stones leaving gems at home.  They regret at the end of their lives.  Hence, emphasize on means, not ends. Emphasize on satisfaction, not success.


“The journey not the arrival matters.” – T. S. Eliot









Life is great!

Listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World in 2013
Professor M.S.Rao Born for the Students
21 Success Sutras for Leaders: Top 10 Leadership Books of the Year (San Diego University) Amazon URL: http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Leaders-ebook/dp/B00AK98ELI




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