Success is your duty, obligation, and responsibility — and happiness is the way to achieve it.

If you’re a leader in business, I bet you tend to procrastinate on your personal wellbeing. You probably tell yourself that once you’ve got a certain amount of money then you can take care of your happiness.

I used to think that way too, and I wish someone had told me the truth — that being happier would skyrocket my professional success.

You see, science has proven that more success does not lead to happiness.

In fact, happiness is what breeds success.

New study shows how happiness leads to more success

According to MIT Sloan Management Review, a new study was published in the Journal of Happiness Studies about the relationship between happiness and success.

The research was done on 1 million US soldiers who were followed for five years. Researchers measured both their wellbeing upon entering the army and their performance over time.

The results were shocking — even for the research team, who stated in the MIT piece:

“While we expected that wellbeing and optimism would matter to performance, we were taken aback by just how much they mattered. We saw four times as many awards earned by the initially happiest soldiers (upper quartile) compared with those who were un-happiest initially (lower quartile), a huge difference in performance between those groups. This gap held when we accounted for status (officers versus enlisted soldiers), gender, race, education, and other demographic characteristics.”

The question you might be asking yourself right now is, “how can I be happy?”

Before I answer that, I want you to remember that you decide what feelings to have. Your feelings ain’t automatic or predetermined.

So, just keep it simple.

Think of small things that make you happy. Pretend you are happy, and eventually, you will be. Get out there and start smiling, learn from your ups and downs, work on yourself, help someone, and celebrate other people’s victories.

You do that and soon you’ll not only feel better, but you’ll be more successful as well.

Be Great,

Grant Cardone

H/T: Inc.com

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