The Hundred Simple Secrets of Happy People [22 of 100]

22.....Pay attention.
You may have what you want.


We often forget to sit down and think about where we started and where we are now. The human tendency is to always want more. A better approach is to remember where you started and appreciate how much you have accomplished.

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Arthur was a hard-charging advertising executive. After three promotions in five years, he was working longer hours than ever before. He had gotten closer and closer to the top, and he could
almost taste it now. Six-day workweeks with long hours were not enough, so he brought work home with him.
When he woke up in the recovery room after a triple bypass heart operation, he began to reassess. During three weeks of recovery, his family and best friends saw more of him than they
had in decades. He cherished the time.
Arthur's wife asked him if he really needed to work the schedule he had. Did they need more money? Did he really need another promotion? Arthur, challenged to actually think about his life—something he never took the time to do when he was working—realized he had more than he needed and that the opportunity to reconnect with his family was the greatest gift he could be given.

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In research on highly educated professionals, almost half of the subjects could not become satisfied even as they accomplished their apparent goals because they did not recognize their
accomplishments and instead created an irrational negative image of themselves.

Thurman 1981