I believe all wealth, knowledge, and safety comes from God, and the rest of the world is just the medium for it. So I try to not focus too much on financial planning, interview skills, trying to extract as much as possible from a job/client, or things like negotiation. I think these things will come; just focus on producing as much value as possible in this world.
I also try to avoid luxury and bragging. It's tempting for some to flex what they can offer, or enjoy what they earned. I'm reminded of the early Caliphs, who would turn down gifts from other sovereigns and take as little salary as possible, and donated all they had, because they didn't want to be held accountable for abusing their leadership role.
It sounds like a tough, monastic life, but maybe it's just a culture not many grow up in.
What if you could be happier on as little as possible, and feel secure? What if you didn't have to impress anyone? What if someone similar can be more successful, and you could sincerely feel happy for them? What if you could just go out there and help a complete stranger, and never ask for anything in return? Or just give away all your savings, because you can expect God to bring you more?
I'm not sure if happiness is the word for it, but there is a sense of peace and comfort.
After thinking long and hard about this very question a few years ago, this is the utility function I decided on.
Good time - this isn't just about fun and games. This is about making time and being present for the most banal moments. People I love - that includes family, and friends, and also me. This means that if an activity is making me feel alive, I will do it, even if other payoffs may be elusive to nonexistent.
This segues nicely into people I don't know, because I think one form of care is teaching others what you know. So I spend a fair bit of time writing stuff I don't have to write, with no other personal benefit to me other than maybe helping other people get to that endpoint a bit faster. (I might gain some residual benefit as being perceived as a domain expert, but you could achieve that with zero-calorie social media posts as well, instead of investing all this time writing articles).
Like any utility function, this one comes with costs. For one, I'm probably not maximizing my earnings potential, and I often have to remind myself that making more isn't a value in its own right.
For sure, I don't always live up to my lofty goals. All the same, I find a succinct utility function helps serve as a compass for a lot of the decisions on how to spend time.
That is, when faced with a consequentional decision, I ask myself, "ten years from now, how much will I regret [not] doing this?"
I find this helps roll up a healthy combination of long-term thinking and YOLO-ness into a single easy metric. YMMV.
Example: I'm an introvert in my mid 30s. Lately I've been taking many more opportunities to bond with and make friends which I wouldn't have done for various reasons in the past. This is because I predict if I don't, I will sorely regret these missed opportunities in my 40s, when friendship is more scarce; this currently outweighs my predicted regret for the default alternative (spending that time focusing on career/family/personal projects).
YMMV.
I spent several years in my late twenties and early thirties working to increase my bill rate and shorten the length of contracts that I took. The plan was to eventually be that guy from the engineering joke who rocks up for an afternoon at your plant, draws a red X on the side of your boiler, and delivers a $30,000 bill. [1]
I got to the point where I was travelling the world for most of the year every year and doing the occasional 3 month contracting gig, before figuring out that SaaS is a better long term way to get where I wanted to be.
I’ve written a bit about it here:
https://expatsoftware.com/articles/guy-on-the-beach-with-a-l...
Edit to add: [1] I actually met that guy once, on a beach in Nicaragua. His “job” was to remain within a few hours of an international airport. Because he was a pipe fitter qualified to fix the fiddly bits oin a nuclear power plant, so if they ever needed a guy to do The Thing they’d better have one on call.
I keep finding surprising consequences of such utility function: balancing daily energy, resting, active work towards higher purpose, enjoying time with friends, calling my parents, helping others, resolving relationship conflicts structurally, long-term investing and financial stability, more courage in general.
Few broke even but I am never short of topics to talk about. I always get intrigued by the process in all my projects, this way learning is less frustrating.
The flow of new projects keeps my inner fire burning and I really like learning and getting interested in new topics.
All of this are on the sides of my primary software career
I wouldn't fret over happiness etc. these are all neurochemicals and people that game them consistently arent universally acknowledged as leading a better life
-- in that order.