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Excerpt
Sean:
What is so important about happiness? Why do you give it such weight? Especially when I read about it in your book, the six habits you give it, you gave it so much weight. There is a lot of times that you mentioned it and the six habits are there for you to have happiness in your life. I just want the audience to know what is so important about happiness.
Laura:
Happiness is basically– it’s the reason why people do the things we do. We get married because we’re pursuing happiness. We have children because we’re pursuing happiness. We start companies because we’re pursuing happiness. We do a lot of different things because we’re pursuing happiness. That’s ultimately what we really want. When we’re chasing money. It’s because we think it’s going to buy us happiness.
Meanwhile, listen, I spent 20 years in executive leadership. And I can tell you that it’s really nice having money. It’s really nice traveling the world. It’s really nice. You know, traveling and seeing stuff and meeting people and building companies and doing all the things. It really is.
But they give you short bursts of temporary happiness. That’s why we continue to chase them. It’s because we haven’t found the kind that’s lasting. It’s very easy for us to get caught in the cycle of chasing more.
I know you’re not in America and I’ll tell you, one of the things about American culture is a lot of people when they heard that I retired at 37 and that I’ve done all these things with my life. They’re like, wow, well, what’s next for you?
Is it a crime to admit that nothing is next?
They’re just enjoying what I’ve achieved and enjoying being here. That’s actually the goal. There is no next. This is it. You know, as Americans, we are trained to constantly just achieve for the sake of achievement, but not for enjoyment. And I believe that life is for savoring and enjoying.