What does it mean to have a successful life? Indeed, we feel a little lost when it comes to this definition. So we throw ourselves into a whole host of projects, chasing after numerous goals, but at the end of the day, we’re left with doubts: is this what it means to live a successful life? Here are 6 tips for living a happy, successful life.

1 – Understanding that life isn’t as serious as you think

Ever since school, we’ve been told that life is serious. We need to make serious choices and take things seriously. In fact, if we make the wrong choice, we’re wasting our lives.

But what if life isn’t as serious as we’re led to believe?

What if we could say to our minds, give me a break with all your choices, your goals, your pressure?

Indeed, to succeed in life is to realize that life isn’t as serious as we think, that we’re not here to be serious, to pretend to be perfect and to lead a perfect life.

In fact, we’re here to experiment, do things and see where they take us.

2 – Understanding that we don’t just have a mind

We have learned to think with our minds, to feed them with new ideas, to plan things…

But all too rarely have we learned that we also have a heart. A heart that needs joy and fun.

And we’ve learned even less to listen to it.

In fact, when we were children, we naturally lived according to our hearts. Yes, we went for our joy. But, today, we’ve become serious and always turn to our thinking mind.

Success in life means moving towards our joy. It’s to stop always making serious choices, reasoning, thinking about the judgment of others…

In fact, to live a happy and successful life, we need to ask ourselves just one question: does it make me happy? Yes or no?

3 – Accept that our mission is to be happy

Living a happy and successful life means understanding that we have only one mission on Earth, and that’s to be happy.

In fact, we don’t have any boxes to tick. Yes, we won’t be happy because we have a perfect body, a perfect job or a perfect family life.

We’re happy because we follow our joy. In fact, because we are totally ourselves.

Indeed, let’s stop chasing goals to become another person: more beautiful, more intelligent, more loved.

Let’s simply run after our happiness.

That’s why I wholeheartedly invite you to let go of your expectations of happiness and simply be happy, here and now.

4 – Learn to listen to your heart for a successful life

Ever since school, we’ve been asked to reason with our minds, to make serious choices that will affect our whole future life.

So, when we understand that living a happy and successful life means following our joy, we get a little lost. So how do we go about it?

First of all, we need to stop filling our lives with goals and obligations. In fact, we have to learn to make room for doing nothing and let joy express itself.

To do this, let’s learn to ask ourselves these questions: what would make me happy? If I were a child again, what would I want to do right now?

Next, we need to let go of our fear of being judged by others, but also by ourselves. Don’t judge yourself. Do things that bring you joy, without thinking in terms of usefulness or profitability.

Do things that serve no other purpose than to make you feel joy.

Because that’s what life is all about. It’s not about doing things to tick boxes, it’s about feeling emotions like joy that make us feel connected to everything.

5 – Getting back to basics for a successful life

In fact, we don’t always realize it, but we don’t really allow ourselves to be happy. Yes, it’s not our priority.

In fact, our priority is to build a life that seems perfect to us and to others.

In other words, on a daily basis, we do things not to be happy, but to pretend to be.

So, to succeed in life, we have to face ourselves and ask ourselves: what if my priority was to be happy, really to be happy, what would I do differently?

Close your eyes and think only in terms of happiness. Forget other people, forget judgments, forget what you think is serious or futile. Just follow your happiness. Really take charge of it.

6 – Allow yourself to do “anything” to succeed in life

All too often, we believe that life is a foregone conclusion, and when we reach a dead end, we feel terrible. Yes, we blame ourselves, because we think we’ve made the wrong choice. What’s more, we’re afraid of the judgment of others: what will they say when I turn back?

To live a happy and successful life is to understand and accept that life is a multitude of paths, which we can follow or not, which we can start and not finish.

In fact, a successful life means accepting that we are not like this or like that. We are everything at once.

So, it’s time to allow ourselves to follow our joy and do what feels like “anything”. That is, to allow ourselves to do things, without really knowing why we’re doing them or even where they’ll take us.

In fact, it’s doing things because they make us happy. No more, no less.

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover Spiritual development: 8 helpgul tips for getting started
Discover Personal introspection: 80 questions to help you get to know yourself better

I recommend this inspiring book:

Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World by Admiral William H. McRaven
In Make Your Bed, Admiral William H. McRaven distills life lessons from Navy SEAL training into practical advice. The book emphasizes the power of small, disciplined actions, starting with the simple act of making your bed. McRaven’s insights show how these seemingly minor habits can lead to greater success, resilience and a sense of accomplishment. Focusing on the importance of discipline and attention to detail, Make Your Bed offers a blueprint for success that starts with small, everyday choices.

You must read this book! It will cut through your doubts and absurd limitations. It’s one of those books that makes you feel like you can make things happen in your life.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself