Do you find yourself hurrying things up? You better slow down and tune in to this episode today because that is a sign of unhappiness. In this episode, April Shprintz explains how hurrying is a sign of unhappiness and what you can do about it. She urges everyone to pull yourself back to enjoy every moment as you move forward. Join April on your path toward success and happiness!
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Why Hurrying Is a Sign Of Unhappiness
I am so glad you’re here. I have one of those deep questions for you. Do you often try and hurry yourself to the next phase of your life? It’s like, “I can’t wait until I am in this job. I can’t wait until I have this house. I can’t wait until I have this relationship. I wish I was already there.” Do you find yourself hurrying things up like that? That can be a key indicator that you are unhappy. A lot of us tend to project our happiness and all the things that we want in our lives in the future. By a lot of us, I mean me. I did it too.
Two Ways We’re Limiting Ourselves
Instead of living and enjoying the moment that we’re in the experiences that we have, we assume we’re going to feel far more happiness at some point in the future. We attach it to something we don’t yet have. In two ways, we’re limiting ourselves. 1) We’re limiting ourselves from being as happy as we could be right now, 2) We are attaching happiness to something that doesn’t exist so that once we get there, we have this expectation of a much larger amount of happiness. That very often doesn’t come and it can be very disappointing. Everyone has experienced this. They hit a goal or they got something that they wanted. Right after that initial day or two of being excited about it, the excitement and the happiness are gone. You’re left with this deflated balloon feeling.
Instead of living and enjoying the moment and our experiences, we assume we will feel far more happiness in the future and attach it to something we don't yet have. Share on XWhat can we do about that? 1) Nobody wants to feel like that, 2) If we know we’re postponing our happiness and there’s a way to be happy right now, let’s do it. The first step for this is to realize that you’re doing it. This will resonate with you. If you are, I’m excited for you and I am proud that you do not have to deal with this. If you are doing this and you’re attaching your happiness to some future thing, what I need you to ask yourself is, “When I get that future thing, what will I have do or be?” This is step 2. I want you to keep asking yourself that question even if you get an answer.
Be Happy
Let’s say it’s a house. When I get this house, what will I have do or be? I will have a lot more space. I will throw more parties. I will see more friends. What will you have do or be when you have more space, have more parties, and see more friends? If I get to see my friends more, then I am going to have things to look forward to and be excited and I’ll be happy. You keep asking yourself that question over and over again until you get to the emotion. The emotion there is happy. We’re talking about happiness, but sometimes the emotion is safe, love, or healthy. You’re going to get to something.
Once you realize that it’s happiness that you think you’re going to get from having that bigger house, then you follow up with the third step which is, what are things I can do to feel a similar happiness to that now? Maybe you have a small home and you have a smaller gathering. You have few friends over and you have that same experience. You pull that feeling forward. That’s going to do two things for you. 1) It is going to make your right now much better because no matter what you want, there is a way to get that feeling right now.
I’ll use myself as an example. I want to have a jet. I love the idea of being able to go places wherever and whenever I want, and having my travel much less limited by schedules of commercial flights and things like that, but also that feeling of luxury of traveling in comfort that I have when I travel in a vehicle, but I don’t feel like I have when I travel by airlines. My first step was how you make your travel experience more luxurious. You can upgrade your seats. You can fly first class, business class, or however you want to do that.
Pull The Feelings Forward
I do those things, but you can also do things to make the experience better for yourself. Maybe you bring great socks, great snacks, or a blanket you love. What are the things you can do to pull those feelings forward? Step 2) Because as you’ve pulled those feelings forward and you are happy at this moment and you are enjoying your life as it is, when you get to that place or that other thing that seems better and even more exciting, you are doing more to ensure that you’ll be happy when you’re there.
Because you’re enjoying this, it will come faster. You will be in a mindset to see more opportunities, to create the thing that you want, and to make the thing that you want happen. You’ll enjoy the process along the way. The time will go faster like when you’re working with your besties at the office and it goes so much quicker than when you’re doing the part of your job that you hate. Those two things can make a remarkable difference. All of a sudden, you’ll notice that you don’t need to hurry to that next thing because you’re enjoying the thing that you have now and you know you’ll enjoy the next thing. The entire experience becomes amazing.
What if the vacation itself wasn’t the only amazing part? What if the travel to the vacation was amazing too, and then reflecting on the vacation after was amazing? How much better would your life get if you found more moments to enjoy? That’s my challenge for you. Instead of hurrying to the thing that’s going to make you happy, I want you to pull that feeling closer to you and find ways to feel it, even the smallest ways now so that you can get there faster. Regardless of how fast you get there, you’re going to enjoy every moment up to that. Here’s to your success.