What's the Difference between Happiness and Satisfaction?
15 July 2024
H.R. Guy Advice: Seek Satisfaction rather than spending your life chasing pure Happiness or Accomplishment.
Ask a lot of people the purpose of life and they'll say it's to simply be happy. Sounds lovely. But is happiness actually a worthy goal? And what is happiness, anyway?
Happiness
is a temporary emotion that is all too often CHASED through unhealthy or even self-destructive means (alcohol, drugs, verbal/physical/emotional violence, etc.). There absolutely are positive ways to be happy, even regularly... but funny enough, most of them require being satisfied with your long- and short-term choices or actions.
Satisfaction
is less an emotion, but rather a state of mind based on ACCOMPLISHMENT, even if it occurs through something most would agree is “unhappy.” Ex: Saving someone during an emergency, solving a problem for a rude/ungrateful customer, etc. Ironically, those that achieve a sense of accomplishment in what they do (especially at work) are much more likely to be happy overall.
H.R. Guy advice to help your employees:
Teach your employees to stop chasing HAPPINESS and start striving for SATISFACTION in all they do to allow happiness a chance to find them! Coincidently, the most effective way to teach employees this is to lead by example.
But be careful!
While most business owners aren't tempted by the goal of happiness alone (anyone who wanted pure happiness wouldn't take on the pressures of running a business!), they find themselves instead chasing accomplishment for its own sake, which can quickly lead to burnout. Satisfaction is NOT the same as accomplishment. Trying to do more and more and more can lead to stress rather than contentment. For many people (myself included), self-imposed stress through work is almost an addiction. When you stop working, your mind simply goes through withdrawal because you know it is still there and you can't stop thinking about it. So you stop relaxing and go right back into the thick of working again, and it never ends, and you never feel satisfied.
H.R Guy advice to help the stressed-out employer: It's like exercising to get in shape. Start small by allowing yourself to unclench a bit, and be okay with it. Slowly increase what you allow yourself to relax about, and for how long. The cool thing is that this can be done even while in the middle of stressful work situations. Easier said than done... but the psychology of it works.
Happiness is just a fleeting emotion. Accomplishment for its own sake can lead to burnout. Satisfaction is the beautiful balance, a more enduring feeling of fulfillment and contentment, and a worthy aim at any stage of your life or career.
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