Running head: Success from Happiness

Success from Happiness Redha Al Ibrahim University of Kansas

Success from Happiness

Introduction People nowadays are traveling from place to place in order to find stability. They move to follow their dreams, jobs, education, and comfort. However, when people move to another place they face the challenge of adapting to the new culture and the new environment (Kim, 2004). When Students move to a new country, an enormous number of them quickly go back to their homes because they cannot adapt to and learn the new culture. Therefore they cant be successful and achieve their goals. Thus, in order to be successful, one must accept the challenge and learn the skills to over come the new culture (Kim, 2004). Success comes from not only learning to adapt, but it also comes from learning to be happy. According to Jason Schanittker, happiness is the main key to success. Most of the students, and families who travel to another country to work or study do not adapt because they fear change and because they always find people from their hometown to socialize with (Kim, 2004). But, these acts do not create happiness nor help students adapt to the new country. For people to be successful when traveling to another country, they must adapt to the new culture in order to find the happiness that leads to success.

Adapting The first key to adapting to a new culture is to learn the skills the native people use in social life and to use them. One must change his habits and take full advantage of being in a new country to add to and improve his own social skills. Each culture has its own set of social skills that

Success from Happiness

everyone share and value (Wierzbica, 1997). When learning the skills one might find it easier to understand others, communicate, and react. Students who achieve to learn these skills are those who achieve to finish their studies and reach their goals, because they can put their full power in achieving rather then hiding the feeling of discomfort or feeling homesick all the time.

Happiness Humans might find it easier to achieve when they are happy and secure. Therefor, those who move to another country and do not adapt to it are hardly successful. The secret behind being successful and being able to produce stunning ideas and reaching desired goals is being happy. According to Juila Boehm, happy people can be noticed through their work and performance. Teresa Amabile, a professor at Harvard says Employees are far more likely to have new ideas on days when they feel happier. Conventional wisdom suggests that pressure enhances performance; our real-time data, however, shows that workers perform better when they are happily engaged in what they do. Also, according to Haase, people are motivated with the state of happiness. Thus, those who move to another country can use happiness to motivate them to adapt the new culture and use the happiness to lead them to success.

Success from Happiness

Conclusion The feeling of being happy, in a new place, is only achieved when the culture is adapted. When the culture is adapted the person can then use the skills that are need to be successful and achieve the goals. Also, a new culture will help the person in his life and the person will develop different social skills that can help in problem solving. Skills can be easily learned though books and social life but they cant be easily applied if the person is not happy. Because humans can achieve when they are happy and secure, and happiness can only be reached if the person is in a place where others accept the person.

Success from Happiness

References Amabile, T., & KRAMER, S. (2011, September 3). Do Happier People Work Harder?. The New York Times, p. SR7.

Boehm, J., & Lyubomirsky, S.(2008) Does Happiness Promote Career Success. Career Assessment, 16.

Haase, C., Poulin, M., & Heckhausen, J. (2012). Happiness as a Motivator Positive Affect Predicts Primary Control Striving for Career and Educational Goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38.

Kim, Y. Y. (2004). 16. Theories Focusing on adjustment and acculturation.

Schnittker, J. (2008). Happiness and Success: Genes, Families, and the Psychological Effects of Socioeconomic Position and Social Support. American Journal of Sociology, 114.

Wierzbica, a. (1997). Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words: English, Russia Polish, German, and Japanese. : .