This One’s for My Robbinsville Lady Tennis Ravens…

According to the Harvard professor, Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, there are four types of people in the world…a “rat racer,” a “hedonist,” a “nihilist,” and people that are just “happy.”

An example of a rat racer is someone who is focused on some future benefit and unable to be happy in the present. Many people say to work hard and get good grades in school so you can get into a good college. Once you are in a good college, you have to do well to get a good job. Once you get a good job, you need to work hard to make more money and work your way up the ladder. The downside to this approach is that you are always chasing the future and think that once you get there, you will be happy. The truth is, that that is only temporary and it is not TRUE happiness. There are many people in the world that go through life like this and are miserable. I’m not saying you SHOULDN’T work hard in school and think about the future, what I AM saying is that you should enjoy the process of learning. You can have good results and not be happy. Wouldn’t you rather have BOTH?

A hedonist is someone that just focuses on present pleasure and tries to avoid pain. He doesn’t worry about the future. The downside to this is it’s easy to avoid difficult situations like working hard and sway towards temorary pleasure, like materialistic things or drugs/alchohol.

The nihilist is someone who, because of repeated negative events, has given up on finding happiness. The obvious downside to this is that if they continue this mindset, they really WON’T be happy.

The final type of person is the one that is HAPPY. This person has meaningful goals for the future, but enjoys the learning process of the present as well as the journey. So if you’re getting ready for your tennis season, instead of focusing on the end result, enjoy the process…the process of learning and improving. It is THEN that you will be happy and as a result, you will improve at a rapid pace and become a success. You can also apply this to your academics and once you begin to be “into school” versus just “in school,” you will achieve greatness. There really is no downside to this, so I challenge you to be happy…happy about your bright future and the bright present. Successful people know that the best is NOT yet to come, it is already here. Don’t think the past was “the good ‘ol days.” TODAY is the “good ‘ol days.”

Homework: Focus on working hard, but ENJOY the process of learning AND improving.
Go Lady Tennis Ravens!