Why Focusing on Happiness will Increase Your Success

In today’s world, our children clearly have too much access to media and technology.  While we don’t know the full impact, we can say that ubiquitous access has created unrealistically high expectations on our children and an insatiable drive by many parents for their children to excel at everything!  Often, we assume that more is better or striving to emulate a celebrity or online influencer is worthy of pursuit.  In addition, we are continually told that academic excellence equates to happiness or gaining acceptance to the best University will automatically lead to a 6 figure + income that will guarantee security and happiness.

At BIZNOVATOR we teach and empower youth in many countries throughout the world.  We see that many of today’s young people are overwhelmed and filled with anxiety and depression.  As parents, educators and adults in general it is incumbent upon us to tone down the intensity and refocus our children on what is most important – – connecting them to their passion and purpose and empowering them to realize happiness through connections with others.

Below are a series of things we can do as parents, educators and adults to foster and encourage happiness for our children at a young age:

• Promote movement and exercise in your children. The act of movement and play, whether recreationally or competitively, stimulates the release of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. These brain chemicals play an important part in regulating your mood in both adults and children.
• Playing a musical instrument. Studies have shown that playing a musical instrument helps stimulate gray matter in various regions of the brain. A recent University of Montreal study showed that playing an instrument, especially at an early age, helped with long term memory and improved brain development.
• Keep your family and friends close to you. At BIZNOVATOR workshops and summer camps we continually teach the mindsets that, “We are Connected”. It is imperative that young people build long term trusted relationships and that we as parents and educators help foster this important mindset in our children.
• Set clear and attainable goals for life at a young age. In our experience we know that children as young as 8 years old have the capacity to begin building time management and goal setting skills.  As parents we need to foster this ability at a young age as we know that the pursuit of passions and career choices can influence one’s happiness.  When setting goals with children, include wellness and happiness as key milestones within your framework.  This will allow you and your children to prioritize what is most important.
• A key ingredient to happiness is being able to overcome adversity. Regardless of our pursuits in life, all of us, many at young ages, will encounter adversity. As parents and educators we must always encourage our children to never ever quit, no matter what!  By having a mindset that “Anything is Possible,” we believe that young people can achieve their passions that will result in long term happiness.
• Don’t covet money as the only barometer for success. While we know that money is important and can be used for good, we also know that more money doesn’t buy absolute happiness. Wealth and the pursuit of money should be viewed through the lens of giving and empowering others.  This is why at BIZNOVATOR we empower our young people to develop business opportunities and social ventures that impact their communities.

ABOUT BIZNOVATOR:
BIZNOVATOR is a youth empowerment platform that offers a year-round experience for young people interested in entrepreneurship, social innovation, and global leadership. Through our seminars, workshops, summer camps and in school Academies, BIZNOVATOR helps young people to DISCOVER their purpose, TRANSFORM their mindset and CONNECT to their future. We invite you to visit our website to learn more about our programs – www.biznovator.com

Juan Pablo Casimiro is Founder and CEO of BIZNOVATOR. With more than 30 years of empowering youth and adults globally, Casimiro never misses a moment to teach, coach and challenge his clients to live their dreams. Casimiro was born in the Dominican Republic, grew up in New York City, and resides in Miami, FL