HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL AND HAPPY

By Ogiri John Ogiri

We live in a world where many people have come to associate success and happiness with doing what others do that makes them successful and happy. They simply look around, find who's succeeding and start struggling to do exactly or something similar to what those successful people do without considering the importance of hobbies and passion in the whole thing. Imitation has virtually replaced raw ingenuity and learned innovativeness.

The question is "can you ever find fulfilment in doing those things not in tandem with your hobbies? Can you ever be happy pursuing and living someone else's dream not in sync with yours? The answer may be left to time and experience. Over time, many of my friends have expressed interests in doing what I do that makes me happy. As a gospel singer, teacher and entrepreneur, I understand what it means to stick to ones dreams. So I've always advised them to draw a list of their hobbies and turn them into profitable ventures.

The truth is, in order to be successful and happy, you don't have to do what I do, and I don't have to do what you do. Success is personal; happiness is also personal. It's unique to an individual.  Don't study a particular course in the university because I'm studying it. Choose your course of study based on what you'd love to do after school. Don't take to a particularly rewarding career because I'm succeeding in it. Choose your career because it meets your interests. Don't go into a line of business because I'm doing it successfully. No, don't do it because I'm doing it. You're not me. I'm not you. I choose and do what suits my hobbies and fires my passion. There's fulfilment in choosing careers that reflect our hobbies. 

Before starting my business, I checked my hobbies. That's why I'm happy doing it regardless of how insignificant the earnings are now. I may succeed at it and be happy but you may not. That it makes me happy doesn't mean it'll necessarily make you happy. What are your hobbies- I mean those things you do often without getting bored or tired? Let me, specifically, define hobbies as those things we do, those activities in which we consciously participate without losing enthusiasm. When we do what reflects our hobbies, we don't think of boredom. We don't easily quit even in the face of failure. If what we do is one of our hobbies, we don't easily get fatigued by failure or discouraged by challenges of resources. Not even voices of distractions can make us quit. Yes, we may fail or get challenged by a lack of working resources or unhelpful counsels of discouragement from friends and family members but we do them anyway. 

So, identify them and turn them into great business opportunities for profitable exploitation. It is difficult for a business built around one's hobbies to fail. Choose what suits your hobbies and fires your passion. Do it. Start a business based on them and watch yourself coast to success and fulfilment.

©Ogiri John Ogiri.