A short story about how to be happy all the time.
Robert was a high achieving person. He wanted to become successful and rich. He reads every book available that provides tips and techniques on how to get rich. He was willing to pay the price and reach his goals. Throughout the years, he had a successful career, several part time businesses and partnerships. He was on his way to riches.
There was one thing that bothered him. He always felt that he is running. He never had a break. When he achieved a goal in a certain area, he moved on to achieve another. When he failed in one area, he reflected on his lessons and went back to work. He didn’t have any free time. He didn’t believe he had time for fun. He had to become successful.
He achieved everything he set his mind to, but what was next? When would it end? He wanted to get advice on how to improve his life and become happy.
He went to his mentor to ask him about how to be happy. His Mentor, an old successful multi-millionaire businessman who has been a friend of Robert for a long time, was available the next day for a quick chat.
Robert “I need your advice about something”.
Mentor “What is it that you want to achieve this time?”
Robert “I want to be happy”.
Mentor “hmm. Why do you say that?”.
Robert “I never feel satisfied, I am always running after my goals but I don’t feel any better when I achieve them”.
Mentor “How do you feel when you are working on them”.
Robert “What do you mean?”
Mentor “It’s not important how you feel when you achieve the goal, it’s more important how you feel when you are working on your goals”.
Robert “I don’t know, I never thought about it.”
Mentor “Yes, many of us don’t. Being happy is an everyday process. It’s a mean not an end.”
Robert “hmm. Are you saying I should be happy every day and not only when I achieve my goals.”
Mentor “Yes. You know, life is too short to waste running all the time, you need to stop and smell the roses”.
Robert “So, do you feel happy all the time?”
Mentor “Most of the time. There are still ups and downs and days when I don’t achieve what I plan to do, but I enjoy most of my days. I love life and I love my work.“
Robert “I can understand you enjoy life, but how do you enjoy work?”.
Mentor “It’s not easy to explain, but let me try to summarize. I believe that my purpose in life is to create products and services to help others. In order to do this, I need to combine work with enough pleasure and relaxation. The combination of these ingredients makes me more productive. So some days I would work for 12 hours straight, another day I would work for 4 hours, then spend 2 hours with my family (pleasure), later I would relax for 2 hours and then again go back to work for another 6 hours. Some days I just do nothing.”
Robert “So do you adjust your work schedule depending on how you feel?”
Mentor “Yes, I have strict schedule for work, but if I am not feeling like working, I don’t just sit on my desk, I go do an activity that would make me even more alert and happy for that day. The idea is to fill my day with fulfilling activities, not just work.”
Robert “Activities that make me happy every day..”
Mentor “Yes”.
Robert “So now I have a new goal, which is to maximize my happiness during the day by mixing work with pleasure and relaxation”.
Mentor “You got it! The happier you become during the day, the more productive and successful you will become in the long term.”
Robert “Thank you, this has been helpful, I will make a plan for the activities I enjoy most, and try to measure my happiness when I am working on them and see how it goes.”
Mentor “You are welcome”.
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Wonderful. Thank you for a lovely post. I have been thinking alot lately about the things I “don’t” want to do, this put things in a bit of perspective.
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