Research has shown that having higher and more challenging goals leads to getting more objectively done, but feeling more distressed and dissatisfied overall throughout the process. [1]
This suggests that cranking up your standards higher will lead to more results, but less experiential happiness throughout the process.
Setting lower standards and exceeding them quite likely leads to less results, but more experiential happiness.
Not an easy call to make for most people. [2] But let's say you go a little bit off the deep end and say, "I want to achieve the best results possible and make the world a better place; a decrease in my experiential happiness will be worth it."
Well, it gets trickier.
Oftentimes, as a manager, leader, or executive, you can get hugely positive results with no glory by helping bring out the best in other people.
When I was first starting out in consulting, I'd always try to show how brilliant and clever I am. Lately, I find myself doing a lot of asking questions that lead to bringing out the best actions from a client. Instead of trying to look brilliant, I want my clients to be brilliant.
This is incredibly satisfying on a macro level, but to be honest -- giving a long, true, and brilliant monologue or analysis has a certain characteristic to it that the more effective method lacks.
And what's that? Glory.
Glory can be expensive in terms of making you less effective, but glorious things probably have a slight spillover effect into happiness. You get all the pride and euphoria from achievement. Having really high standards sucks a lot of the time, but at least you get the immense glory at the pinnacle moment.
And that's the kicker. If you really are serious about generating results, the best path is frequently by routing around the glory. As soon as you start stacking up too many public glory points, someone wants to come knock you down a peg -- and thus, claim some of the glory points for themselves. It triggers ego battles and often gets your work viewed with suspicion.
So when you say you'll trade happiness for results, do you really mean that you want the results? Because working for the glory, the big payoff and huge spike of the world-conquering moment, that isn't being in the game for the results at all.
Hard questions to answer, but immensely valuable to think through. What are you in the game for -- happiness, results, or glory?
[1] I was just re-reading a book last week that mentioned this research, but can't find it in Google. The Art of Learning, possibly? I thumbed through a lot of books lately; please link the book or research it in the comments if you recall it.
[2] An encouraging thought is that training in equanimity through traditional Buddhist, Taoist, or similar methods can lead to both a centered happiness and great results-producing work. Though, this training seems to be quite challenging to start and sustain in the beginning.