I’d like to share what I think is an important secret to happiness. Perhaps it was a bit of hyperbole to call it “THE Secret of Happiness” but it sounds a bit better than “A Secret To Happiness.”
There’s nothing worse than someone hawking a secret to happiness and then giving a vague answer that is stuffy and vague answer that just isn’t too helpful and applicable to real people’s lives. So with that said I’ll try to be concrete and to the point.
I think a major contributor to happiness is to at any point in time, have something worthwhile that you are looking forward to in your life.
Let me go a bit deeper. It could be a goal. It could be just a fun event that you are looking forward to like a vacation or a big date or family get together.
It’s probably not possible for every moment of life to be blissful and filled with leisure, adventure, and pleasure. There are times we simply need to work. But it’s when it seems like there’s no end to the work that we start to really suffer through our daily tasks. Knowing that we have a goal we’re working towards makes the work meaningful.
So if you’re not loving life at the moment, set a goal in the near future..try to make it less than six months out and see how you can work towards that goal every day.
Here are some ideas for things to look forward to in the near future.
- A vacation or mini-retirement
- Starting a project that is personally fulfilling or financially rewarding
- Set up a social engagement that should be rewarding or exciting
Recently, I’ve found myself less than inspired. After traveling the world for several months and returning to the US, I set a goal to rejoin the workforce and save. I found a great job and have been learning a lot and everything felt great. Then suddenly, the monotony started to return.
The daily grind started to wear. The days started to feel like carbon copies of the previous day. I realized that I set some goals and accomplished them and then just sort of stopped.
Times for some new goals or things to look forward to
So the moment I realized this I felt like I found my place and am feeling better about the future. At the least, I want to travel in the near future before the year ends. Additionally, I’m going to set a goal to try to go full time remote within less than a year. If I can’t go full-time remote I may have to cut the corporate cord again and return to full-time freelance and pack the bags again. Either way, I think I’ll be back on the road again soon enough. And of course, it’s possible I might get canned again.