The Success-Then-Happiness Fallacy

Without going too far out on a limb, I believe almost everyone would like two things from their jobs and careers: success and happiness. They want to do well financially, receive recognition for their accomplishments, enjoy their work as much as one can, and become happier as a person as a result. These are reasonable goals, but they can be a lot to ask—so many people, especially ambitious, hard-working leaders, simplify them in a logical way: They first seek success and then assume that success will lead to happiness.

But this reasoning is flawed. Chasing success has costs that can end up lowering happiness, as many a desiccated, lonely workaholic can tell you.

This is not to say that you must choose between success and happiness. You can obtain both. But you have to reverse the order of operations: Instead of trying first to get success and hoping it leads to happiness, start by working on your happiness, which will enhance your success.

Success and happiness are generally positively correlated, as many workforce studies have shown. From this correlation, many assume causation—from success to happiness. During my years as an executive, I found that people strongly believe that pay increases—especially big ones—will have a large and long-lasting effect on their job satisfaction. The data tell us a different story, however: Large wage increases have only a small and transitory effect on well-being. One study, for example, showed that if your job satisfaction is a 6 out of 10—not bad—then even if your boss doubles your pay, it will get you to about 6.5, and then it will fall back to about 6.2. Maybe getting a raise isn’t the best strategy to help you love your job.

Much stronger and more positive results emerge, however, when researchers reverse the order, looking not at success’s effects on happiness, but happiness’s effect on success. Scholars in 2005 surveyed hundreds of studies—including experiments to establish causality—and concluded that happiness leads to success in many realms of life, including marriage, friendship, health, income, and work performance.

Whether you are an employee or employer, it is a better investment to increase happiness at work and in life, rather than simply trying to increase measures of success. Of course, in practice, you can’t just choose to be happier. I should know: One of the reasons I study happiness for a living is that I’m not naturally happy. No researcher worth his or her salt will claim that shortcuts exist, whether personally or professionally. Developing proper happiness hygiene requires serious work over time, which, in my view, is part of the adventure. But we must start somewhere, and I would encourage you to start today. Here are two “Happiness Exercises”—one for your own happiness and another to help your team’s well-being—that you can begin and complete in a week.

CONSIDER HOW YOUR JOB SERVES OTHERS

One way to disentangle the success-then-happiness fallacy is to focus less on the visible “success metrics” of your work: your salary, your benefits package, your stock options, and the like. Instead, start focusing on the less visible “happiness metrics” of your work.

In my own research, I have found that the most meaningful jobs—which bring the most happiness—tend to be those that are service-oriented. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that “service-orientation” is reserved for charitable organizations. It’s harder to find the link to service in some professions than others, but it can usually be done. Years ago, I was working with a team of academic researchers creating bank regulation policies. One scholar who was particularly passionate about the project told me he always remembered that his work mattered, because poor people need access to reasonably priced credit, and that requires less bureaucratic red tape.

This week, contemplate seriously how your job serves others. Do you make a product that improves lives? As an investor, do you back pension funds or facilitate economic development? Even more simply, as a leader, do you provide well-paid jobs for your employees, so that they can raise their families comfortably? To make this tangible, I recommend writing this down. Keep that note in the inside drawer of your desk, where you see it every day.

SHOW YOUR EMPLOYEE HOW THEIR WORK SERVES OTHERS

Understanding how your job serves others isn’t easy for everyone. In the for-profit world, up to 77% of corporate employees feel as though they are a cog in a machine. It is your responsibility as a leader to show employees how their jobs serve others.

I have seen this done in ingenious ways. A few years back, I met an Amazon warehouse manager who was keen to show his packagers how their job touched the lives of customers. One day, the manager brought in a group of highly satisfied Amazon customers, who gave their glowing testimonials to the packagers. I’m told that this did wonders for the warehouse’s morale, because for the packagers—who were a step away from seeing how their labor served others—finally saw the fruits of their labor.

This week, identify one employee, pull them aside, and explain to them—very tangibly—how their work serves others. And thank them for it! Scaling this company-wide will take time and effort, but in the next seven days, you can undoubtedly make one employee see how they make a real difference. This will help them see the happiness benefits of the job, which will in turn improve their engagement and effort with the work itself.

In the end, happiness leads to success—not the other way around. I explore themes like this in my new book The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life and my upcoming six-week newsletter, “The Leader’s Happiness Reset.” Like this article, each week will conclude with concise, practical “Happiness Exercises” you can start and complete in a week. By the end of our six weeks together, you will have a roadmap for improving your work life for the better, and for helping your team feel happier and be more successful at work.

———

Arthur C. Brooks is a Harvard professor and a number one New York Times bestselling author. His latest book is “The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life.”.

For more great articles, go to HBR.org.