Successful And Happy

As far as I can see, degree of success is less the achievement of goals, and more how much time, attention, money and other stuff you can legitimately claim from other people for something you do, provide or are. You make a good product, more people will buy it from you. You put on a great show, more people will spend time out of their day to watch you. You have a great story, more people will listen to it. The idea is getting more of what you want than others who are doing the same.

You still need to determine what it is exactly that you want to claim and how you want to do it. If you're in love, you are only successful if you actually get the attention from the one you're in love with (instead of anyone else); If you are looking to get famous, you might consider a movie career rather than garbage collection.

While success in this sense is externally driven, happiness is something personal, internal... and independent. Being happy is a state of mind. Sometimes it's even completely irrational. It can have something to do with meeting goals or being successful, but the absence of either does not preclude happiness. You can be happy without being successful; you can be successful without being happy.

If you are both successful and happy, consider yourself fortunate. Can't really say I've seen it much around me, for extended periods of time. At the moment I consider myself pretty average in both respects, and I am not too sure whether I should emphasize one over the other, or go for broke on both... or just leave everything be. The latter seems the most relaxed option, but relies heavily on luck (and possibly fate)... and I'm simply not the gambling kind of guy.