Do you want to make money or be happy?

In Mark Albion’s book, Making a Life, Making a Living, he describes a study of 1500 business school graduates that took place over twenty years.

Based on their responses to a survey, the students were grouped into two categories.

Group A (83% of the respondents) wanted to make money first, then pursue what they really wanted to do later when they had more resources.

Group B (17%), intended to pursue their true interests first, sure that money would eventually follow.

Twenty years later, there were a total of 101 millionaires in the two groups.

Only one came from Group A. There were 100 millionaires out of the 255 people in Group B.

It appears that choosing happiness over money can be a valid business decision.

There are some caveats, of course.

You need to make sure that the course of action you are considering is a viable alternative, not an altruistic fantasy.