Do you believe that money can buy happiness?
Do you find yourself working hard to get more money to make yourself happy?
Yet you find yourself more miserable the more money you have?
Unfortunately that is because unless you are already happy and content with your life before money arrives then money cannot buy happiness.
According to Tom Stanley author of Stop Acting Rich a better indicator of happiness comes not from more income but on living on less than you make and already being happy with yourself and your life before money comes along.
When you are taking care of your money and yourself before more money comes along then, more money can make you happier. How does this happen? By allowing you more life experiences.
What is Happiness and Contentment
Before you work too hard and get burned out chasing money, make sure you are happy today. Specifically work on:
- Loving who you are today.
- Loving what you have today.
- Loving what you do today.
- Accepting your past as a necessary step in becoming the best possible you.
We should always strive to be a better person, and try to reach bigger dreams but if you cannot say you are happy with yourself now, you can very easily fall into the belief that the grass is always greener on the other side.
This creates a vicious circle of trying to achieve what you think will make things better, getting it and then discovering you are still not happy. Then you set your sites on the next big thing and end up struggling with happiness all over again. Stop the struggle and learn love who you are today.
How to Work on Liking You Today
This is a journey, it does not happen overnight. Through this journey you can make progress by hiring coaches and counselors, reading books, taking classes and through spiritual practices that involve not only prayer but yoga and meditation.
Four Specific Things You Can Do to Find Happiness & Prep Your Money
- Start a gratitude journal – every night before bed write down what you were grateful for that day. It can be as small as a eating a fantastic tasting strawberry or as big as getting a promotion. Get as many things written down as possible. You will find that after about a week or two your attitude will begin to be more positive! If you are stuck on how to accomplish this, check out the book Thank and Grow Rich, it always helps me narrow in on what I am grateful for.
- Select one area where you are miserable and change one thing to make it better. If you struggle to enjoy your daily life because you have no energy, address this problem by starting a workout program or eating healthier. Reach out to friends, family or paid help to get an accountability partner to help keep you on track and help make the change easier.
- Read – reading can and will change your life. I am not talking about fiction books, but non-fiction that will help you learn and grow as a person. Start a book list of books that can help you become happier and commit to reading them 10 minutes a day. You will be amazed at how many books you can read by simply committing to 10 minutes a day! See below this post for some books I recommend.
- Work on managing what money you have today. If you are not able to manage what you have to day it is hard to manage more. Remember more money does not make you happier or fix your problems. So while working on finding inner happiness, work on learning how to manage your money.
Is this journey easy? Not always but I promise it is always worth the effort. Striving for happiness and contentment is more than worth the work; with the added bonus of when you get there you will be happier as more money comes your way.
