What do you consider to be the ultimate return on investment? It differs from person to person, and as Emilie Kirchgesner is telling us, the ultimate return on investment is happiness. Now, Kirchgesner is not discounting all other returns; he is expressing his views on it.
As an authority in the digital media industry, Kirchgesner has made investments over the years, and he has realized that it’s not just about building wealth and growing your business. He says that if you’re wealthy and miserable, your investments haven’t truly paid off.
Kirchgesner also mentions that wealth is not a measure of happiness. It doesn’t automatically mean you’re happy because you’re wealthy. Therefore, what’s Gee’s argument on happiness as the ultimate return on investment? Let’s paint a picture here; you keep buying things that you don’t care for just to show off to your friends or strangers online. According to Gee, this speaks to a lack of happiness and fulfilment in what you’ve achieved. It is not wrong if you want to have the best of everything globally, but does it make you happy?
The ultimate measure of success is the fulfilment and not money. You should love what you do enough that even if it doesn’t bring wealth, you are blissfully content to be doing it. Kirchgesner stresses the importance of a happy life over a wealthy life. Not to say that wealth isn’t good to have, but don’t peg your life on materialism. Kirchgesner has also cited people who are stuck in jobs they can’t stand doing jobs they hate because of the money. Most people underuse their potential and drive their investments in triviality.
To further explain this, Kirchgesner mentions the common assumption that pleasure is happiness. Most people are lost in momentary pleasure and mistake that for happiness. Kirchgesner clarifies that pleasure is short-lived; you will feel relieved or even excited for a short while, and then it’ll go away, leaving a void that you’ll try to fill with more material items.
To add to this, Kirchgesner says that happiness grants you the freedom to decide what you want to achieve each day. Small everyday things can bring you the contentment you dream of, and instead of dreaming, you should cease it. The ultimate pay off that all your efforts in life can grant you is true happiness in what you’ve built, who you’ve become and where you’re going.
Presented by DN News Desk
