Good Vs. Happy

“Things that make you happy in the moment are not always good for you, and things that are good for you don't always make you happy in the moment.”

Ice creams makes me happy instantaneously, but eating it regularly isn't that good for my health. Equally, exercising doesn’t always make me happy in the moment, but is great for my health and wellbeing.

In a similar fashion, we need to distinguish between what makes us happy in our professional life and what’s good for us to build our careers.

For instance, you may want to continue in your current role feeling comfortable with everything. But it’s worth asking, does doing so make you happy or is it really good for you? Would moving into a different role or function, even if it appears daunting in the moment, be more beneficial for building your career.

Another example is networking with peers in other teams. It may take effort, but is it worth doing for strengthening your reach within the organization and build an ecosystem that is mutually beneficial.

This doesn’t mean we always need to do things that are good for our careers, and never indulge in things that give us pleasure. But rather, choose wisely when we want to indulge and when we want to focus doing what’s good for us. A little bit if indulgence can break the monotony, while too much to indulgence may break our careers.