Achieving success does not need to happen right now. April Shprintz talks about unlocking genuine happiness through later success and being content with the present.
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Later Success Equals More Happiness
Achieving Success Later In Life
I am so glad you’re here. Thank you for joining me for episode 200. I’m excited to be here. I have to be candid. When I first started this show, I don’t think I thought as far ahead as episode 200. I love that we’re still together. We’re still doing this, and we’re still working on having the mindset and the life that you want. This past week was a tough one for me. I don’t have that many tough weeks anymore, but I do have them. Interestingly, a lot of times, when I have tough weeks, I’m worrying about someone else, not so much myself.
One of the things that I do when I’m struggling is that I become one with my couch. We become one, and I tend to watch a ton of documentaries. I don’t know why I’ve gotten into those in the past few years. I love to see how people became successful, what that success was like in their life, what their life was actually like, and who they really are, especially if they’re people from the past that I don’t have a lot of awareness of. I also like to watch documentaries about people who are more relevant now as well.
One of the things that I noticed that I thought was so incredibly interesting, especially if you’re one of those people who always feel like you’re behind in life. You’re like, “I have to hurry up and get here.” That was my 20s and a lot of my 30s, where I felt like I was racing for success, I had to get here so fast, and it was so important.
In watching these documentaries of all of these people who have been extremely successful by our society’s standards, what I’ve noticed is that the ones who are the happiest experience their biggest successes later in life. When I say later in life, it could have been their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, or even 80s, some of them. It’s incredible.
Those who are happiest are the ones who experience the biggest successes later in life. Share on XIt’s such a great lesson because the people that I noticed who experienced tremendous success in their early life, whether it be teenage years, 20s, or 30s, sometimes were so wrapped up in the busyness of it. They didn’t enjoy it. They didn’t feel understood and appreciated. Later in life, it’s like they were always chasing that first success or first feeling. Since they weren’t allowed to appreciate it or they weren’t letting themselves, they didn’t get out of what they would have if they had taken longer to get there. It seemed like they were always chasing something that they weren’t going to find.
What I realized in watching this, and I’ve been studying this for years, is that, as many people will tell you, especially people who have both experienced happiness and success, success does not lead to happiness, but happiness leads to success. What I’ve found is that the people who focus on being happy early and getting themselves to a place where no matter what they’re doing in their life and no matter what they have material possession-wise, their relationships, their life, and what they enjoy about life is their focus. They are truly at peace and happy. Those people always end up finding success, many of them in huge ways. The people who have success first sometimes chase happiness for the rest of their lives.
Be Happy Where You Are Right Now
If there was one piece of advice I could give you on episode 200, it’s to look for the things that make you happy and trust that success will follow. I’ll tell you, this is my second show. This one has been in the top ten internationally. It has gotten tons of downloads. My first one, where I tried hard to have a successful show, was an absolute flop. I got more downloads for this episode in maybe the first week and a half than I did the entire time I had the last one.
Find ways to enjoy and be happy with where you are right now. This impacts your ability to succeed and find joy in it. Share on XWhat’s interesting is that I had fun with this one. I wanted to help people. I had a friend of mine who said, “You always hear people talking about mindset, but nobody talks about how you do it. I wish somebody would talk about how you do it.” I thought, “I can do that. I’ve studied this for years. I’ve gotten good at it. I love helping people do this.”
When I enjoyed this, it was so much more successful. That has been true in every other area of my life. My assignment for you is to find ways that you can enjoy and be happy with where you are. When you do, watch how that impacts your ability to succeed, and not just have that success, but enjoy that success, which is the point of everything anyway. Here’s to your success.
