A young man is having a conversation with his dad.  His dad is telling him how proud he is of him.  “Son, you’re the first generation to graduate from college and you’ve been able to get your dream job, the type of job you always talked about since you were 12”.  “I know, thanks dad.”, his son replies.  “So why do I rarely see you happy?”, his dad asks.  “I know this is the job I always wanted, but I found out about another opportunity within the company that I would like much more and I’m not going to be happy until I get it.”, says his son.

What is wrong with this response from the young man?  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with always setting goals for bigger and greater things, after all, having a want to grow is part of being human.  The problem here is how the young man is approaching it.  He has set himself a condition for happiness by not being happy until he lands the better opportunity that he mentions, even though there’s no reason why he wouldn’t like his current job.  In most cases, when we find ourselves saying “I’m not going to be happy until…” we are setting ourselves up for failure.  The reason being is the attitude and mental health we carry with us while trying to gain the one thing we think will make us happy.

Bottom line, be happy now, be happy with what you’ve accomplished so far, with how far you’ve gone.  Then take that attitude and pursue those bigger and better things.  You’ll find that those bigger and better things will come much easier when you start by being grateful for what you already have.