Achievements vs Gratitude for Overall Happiness

The pursuit of happiness, or even contentment, is a common goal amongst humans. Naturally, people tend to want to lead the best life they can. However, it’s easy to become swept up in reaching a certain milestone, believing that if you “just do this one more thing” then you’ll be happy. While having goals is important, it’s also vital to slow down and appreciate the day-to-day. 

What’s the best way to approach happiness?

This is a very nuanced question. Rather than focusing on achievements vs gratitude, it’s good to have a healthy mix of both. 

The first step is to figure out what happiness means to you. What you value and prioritize, how you enjoy spending your time, and what you wish to achieve all influence what will make you content. Then, ensuring that you have some kind of balance is the next step to examine. 

When focusing on goals, incorporating them into diverse aspects of your life is important. It’s a way to protect your mental, physical and emotional health. Say, for instance, you don’t get that work promotion. If you center your worth solely on your career, this will have a far greater negative impact on your emotional wellbeing than if you were working towards milestones in various areas. 

Furthermore, focusing solely on achievements isn’t always the best approach. This is where gratitude for the little things comes into play. 

Studies have shown that people who practice daily gratitude have higher overall life satisfaction. In fact, a meta-analysis that examined 64 studies found that when gratitude was incorporated into daily life, individuals had better overall mood and decreased symptoms of anxiety and depression. (Diniz et al., 2023). 

They used interventions such as asking participants to record 4 events they were grateful for, to answer reflection-based questions, to state who they were grateful for, and more. (Baker, 2011; Bohlmeijer, 2021). These provided long-term positive effects on all age groups. 

Why Does This Work?

These little actions add up. By actively searching for them, your brain becomes better at looking for the positives. Think of it as training a muscle; the more you do it, the stronger it gets. The same idea applies to the brain. It builds stronger connections based on what you train it to do (a concept known as neural plasticity). This explains why it may feel difficult to feel grateful when you first set out to practice gratitude. It’s okay if it feels a little forced, or that you don’t quite believe it yet. Like anything else, practice is the only way to get better!

Where do I start?

If you’re not quite sure where to begin, open up your notes app on your device, or grab a piece of paper. If you have a journal handy, awesome. If not, that’s okay too! Try answering these four prompts:

1. What is one event that happened in the last week that you are grateful for?
2. What is one object you own that you’re happy to have?
3. Who are you grateful to have in your life?
4. What was one negative event that you learned from?

If you’re finding you need more help with gratitude, mood or overall mental health, reach out to one of our counsellors here.

References

Baker, M. (2021). It’s good to be grateful : Gratitude interventions at work. Ecu.edu; East Carolina University. https://thescholarship.ecu.edu/items/15ad4bae-4633-4d4a-9a11-e661d8e04202

Bohlmeijer, E. T., Kraiss, J. T., Watkins, P., & Schotanus-Dijkstra, M. (2020). Promoting Gratitude as a Resource for Sustainable Mental Health: Results of a 3-Armed Randomized Controlled Trial up to 6 Months Follow-up. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22(3), 1011–1032. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00261-5

Diniz, G., Korkes, L., Tristão, L. S., Pelegrini, R., Bellodi, P. L., & Bernardo, W. M. (2023). The effects of gratitude interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Einstein (São Paulo), 21(21). https://doi.org/10.31744/einstein_journal/2023rw0371