We all want to feel successful, but how that looks is changing. Do happiness and success go hand in hand?

It is commonplace these days for business owners and those looking to climb the corporate ladder to hire a business coach. But this looks a lot different today than even a decade ago. Rather than simply focusing on tactics that can get you more views, sales, likes, or subscribers, coaches these days are sharing a new viewpoint.

Happiness and joy in what you do is at the forefront of modern business coaching. Our priorities are definitely shifting and bringing a different view of success along for the ride. What we used to deem a successful life (good job, family, house, car, vacations, retirement) now looks more like health, fulfillment, and happiness. How you define that happiness is up to you.

The move toward a more holistic way of thinking and living has almost made “success” a bad word. Many business/life coaches steer clients away from using the term because of its vague and negative bottom line implications.

Is money, renown, and lots of cool stuff the equivalent of success? Sounds pretty great, right? But what if you are miserable at your job every single day of your life in exchange for these things? This may not feel successful even if it looks that way on the outside.

For example, would you feel truly successful as a dentist because it makes your father happy, when you’d really like to become a writer? Dentists make pretty good money. You’d likely be able to afford a nice house and live a more than decent lifestyle. You’d also garner the respect that goes along with being a doctor. But you absolutely cannot stand working on people’s teeth and miss the satisfaction you get from writing. Success? Maybe. Feeling successful? Not so much.

As Alain de Botton explains in his TEDTalk on this modern day conundrum, the true feeling of success boils down to one thing. And that one thing can only be determined by you. What is important to you?

Business and life coaching guru Marie Forleo says what you do for work doesn’t equal your worth, it comes from who you are as a human being. Aha! Check out the video for the rest of Marie’s steps on defining your own personal version of success.

So it seems modern day success looks a lot more like happiness and peace of mind. Not only does a higher measure of personal happiness make you feel more successful, it may actually rub off on a larger scale. Corporate happiness, or a more positive work environment, can mean greater business success organization wide.

As author, Paulo Coelho, puts it “What is success? It is being able to go to bed each night with your soul at peace.”

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We are all born with a unique temperament. Most of us naturally sway toward either positive thinking or negative thinking. Which state you spend most of your time in can affect your life. And your health.

Studies have shown that your thoughts, and whether they are optimistic or pessimistic, affect your health and well being. Are you a glass half empty kind of person by nature? The good news…you can change that negative way of thinking and learn to be more positive.

Positive mental attitude, or PMA, is shown to hold mega health benefits. It reduces stress, boosts immunity, reduces risk of heart disease, lowers chance of depression, improves coping skills, and could even increase your life span. How about that for a list of kudos?

For those who veer toward the positive end of the spectrum this is good news. By making a few adjustments to their thoughts and retraining their frame of mind, those who tend to look at things in a more negative light can also reap these amazing advantages.

First, let’s get something straight. Developing PMA does not mean you hide out in denial. Not even the most sunny amongst us are positive all the time. We are not talking constantly upbeat and happy, happy, happy. It’s more about perception and expecting a good outcome. That is the real goal here. Difficulties and annoyances are going to come up in life. It is how you deal with them that is important.

A study on the effects of positive thinking on heart patients shows that an upbeat outlook is essential in improving long term health. Those with a more optimistic attitude tend to have more energy and confidence, which means they are more apt to eat right, exercise and take care of themselves in general.

But can positive thoughts help you in ways other than motivating you toward a healthy lifestyle? Experts say they can. The placebo effect has proven it is so. While it may be largely up to the individual, an average of 30 percent of people who are given a placebo by a doctor in studies report a positive response to the “medication”. Of course, a sugar pill cannot do anything to you physically. It is the mind telling you that you feel better. However, we cannot placebo ourselves. If we give ourselves a sugar pill we are on to it. It does not have the same effect as when delivered by a doctor.

Still, this mind body connection is hard to deny. Many experts, like Deepak Chopra, believe the mind has the power to heal. Chopra advises relaxing the mind to a more peaceful state, rather than constantly trying to think positive thoughts. He advocates meditation as a great way to calm the mind and gain focus.

Positive thinking is a powerful tool in prevention of disease. It also helps you to enjoy the moment, take things as they come, and set desired results in motion.

Of course, there are skeptics. Some professionals believe there is no significant health benefit to a positive outlook. This is something you will have to decide for yourself. Either way, it certainly feels better to enlist a little PMA.

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