Sense of Purpose
by Dr. Doug Cardell
A recent Gallup survey found an exciting new trend. In a poll of 2271 Americans between 12 and 26, Gallup found that having a sense of purpose at school or work was the most influential route to happiness. If you've read many of my previous articles, you'll recognize this 'sense of purpose' as what I call creating value. It's inspiring to see young people getting hooked on one of the critical factors in a happy and fulfilled life. From my very first article 'Work Adding Value' to the more recent 'Defeating Poverty' and many in between, I've been telling my readers that the success of the individual and society is the individual focusing on creating value for others as a crucial element of their being. Did you ever wonder why so few billionaires retire? They don't retire because they've spent their lives creating value for others. If you don't believe me, read a few biographies, and you'll see. Here's an example from billionaire Richard Branson, who is 73 years old and not ready to retire. "Maybe in America, 'billionaire' is a sign of success, but that rankles me," says Branson. "I think that your reputation is what you create." "Your reputation is [whether] your team of people who work with you are proud of what they've created," Branson says. "Paying the bills at the end of the year is important, but what entrepreneurs are doing all over the world today — and the only reason they're succeeding — is that they're making a difference in other people's lives. And that's all that really matters." Branson's rule for starting a new venture is: Can I create something better than what already exists, and will the world be better off if I do? A two-part study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that lottery winners gained money but not happiness. "Study 1 compared a sample of 22 major lottery winners with 22 controls. As predicted, lottery winners were not happier than controls and took significantly less pleasure from a series of mundane events." "Study 2 indicated that these effects were not due to preexisting differences between people who buy or do not buy lottery tickets or between interviews that made or did not make the lottery salient." The happiest wealthy are those who gained their wealth by purposefully pursuing projects designed to create value for others. Contrary to widespread assumption, they are the opposite of greedy; they get rich by serving others. Do you use a computer? Steve Jobs and Bill Gates did that for you. Do you shop on Amazon? Jeff Bezos did that for you. Do you use Facebook or Instagram? Mark Zuckerman did that for you? Is Starlink your internet provider? Elon Musk did that for you. Do you Google? Larry Page and Sergey Brin did that for you. Yes, they are all multi-billionaires, but they got there by creating value for you. Will creating value make you rich? No, it won't, but it will make you happier, whatever your income or wealth. Getting rich requires more than creating value; it requires an innovative mind, an enthusiasm to learn and adapt, a lot of hard work, a willingness to take big risks, and a little luck. However, if you are focused on creating value for others, you will do better financially than doing the same 'job' without that focus. Creating value for others is an accomplishment to be proud of, and money is the reward. You can go online today and order a wall full of trophies that say you won the Superbowl, ran the fastest marathon, got twenty Olympic gold medals, and much more. You can photoshop yourself into pictures with famous movie stars and musicians. You print a wall of 'degrees' from outstanding universities. After you covered your walls with these artifacts, would you be happier? No, of course not. Why not? Because it's the accomplishment these things represent, that imbues one with a sense of achievement. Having money without creating value for others is a room full of unearned awards. It produces what I call 'hollow' happiness. We all know people who have money they didn't earn that post daily online how they travel the world and spend, spend, spend. But when you look closely at the selfie, you can see the hollowness in their smile and in their eyes. We also all know folks who work hard to create value for others every day, and we can see true happiness and satisfaction in their smiles and eyes. Margaret Thatcher put it this way: "Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's a day you've had everything to do and you've done it." The Beatles said it this way: " And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." But this is not just true for love. It's true for anything of value. Some of my other articles along this line cover the same ideas in other ways and at different depths. You may enjoy reading those, too, but they all contain this fundamental truth. Living a life of creating value for others is the true spirit of free-market capitalism. You can have a creating value attitude in any job, but if you can't find it in the job you have, it's time to get a different one. Focusing on creating value for others will reward you financially, but more importantly, it will make you happier because the trophies on the wall will be the ones you earned. It's exciting to read that young people recognize that a sense of purpose leads to a better life.
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