Happiness is not only for your Future-Self

"When I reach that goal - I'll be Happy"

We have all said that we will be happy when we achieve something, it can be a job, a pat on the back from a peer or an award. There are a lot of people I have talked to about this, and all of them have found themselves being happy for a short burst of time, and then it's back to reality and the grind again. But this time it's the worst, as it feels "Aim-Less" because you got the goal you were going for all this while and now it feels empty after achieving it. Why?

The goal-oriented mentality has haunted me and, I am sure, all of us for a very long time. We only get there to be more anxious about our next step, next goal and next move.

I have been reading and listening to a lot of books lately about "Going through life" which has topics about work, emotions and more. All of the authors have talked about their goals and how they felt lost. We all get super passionate about the goal but what about the journey? Isn't happiness in life the ultimate goal? then why do we keep it only for our future self to get shot down when the time comes?

I had so many questions.

When people say "Trust the Process" they really mean it! Process or the journey towards a specific goal is all there is. Once we start trusting our process and working towards refining it, it makes the world of a difference. While reading books like Atomic Habits, The Power of Habit - I got stuck with many quotes, but one was:

Loser and Winners have the same Goal

...So Goals don't define us or even make us successful, its the process, the path the journey! Finding happiness in the process makes us happy more often and even satisfies our cravings for success in a way that only lights up our passion more. We find more ways to get through a speedbump in our ways, meet more people who inspire us and help us and get more ideas which only adds to our goal which in the end turns into our journey. A cycle that never truly ends and never leaves us feeling empty. We all want to be happy and satisfied with our choices in life, and concentrating on our process is a sure-shot way to achieve success as a whole rather than an hour or a day in our lives, which we dream about and say "one day...I'll be happy"

I have been successful in finding happiness in everyday processes even if it is setting up daily to-do lists, connecting with people, sketching late at night and even reaching out to fellow creative people for collaboration. I see them as small goals I achieve every day, milestones to happiness and at the end of the day, I feel satisfied.

True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It's not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. - Atomic Habits by James Clear

Have you experienced this?