What controls your happiness?
This week reminded me of an eternal truth-as it continued to kick me in the nuts:
Only you control your happiness.
If we allow objective experience (i.e., thoughts, feelings, other people) to control our happiness, we lose control of being happy when we want. We can only be happy as long as our objective experience allows us. This leads to suffering when we desire to be happy, but our objective experience is telling us differently.
I've lived too long in this state of suffering.
That's why this week, I focused less on all the bullshit around me and more on my acceptance of the now and moving forward, choosing to be happy.
I hope that makes sense and provides a little help as we all search for happiness and peace.
5 things I did this week:
- Released episode 6 of my podcast with the Demand Gen Genius Christopher Roche (Listen here: https://share.transistor.fm/s/887f2fdf)
- Ran 6 times for 20 miles this week and have my first summer road race (Bellin 10k) tomorrow!
- Got tea with an amazing friend, entrepreneur, and epic encourager who provided me the perspective and inspiration I needed to weather this week's storm
- Went to Monday Night RAW (WWE wrestling) with my two brothers and father – fantastic time as a family and fun to get out on a Monday night
- Put in an offer for a duplex we liked but didn't get the deal – back to the search!
3 things I learned this week:
1. Side hustles are critical for growing professionals
Prediction: Companies will all but require employees to have side hustles or things they work on outside of work with the same energy as they do at their primary job.
Why do I believe this? Look at the top performers in most fields: most are creating something separate from their day job. Whether working (practicing) in public or trying to build something to sell, they foster quicker growth and more experiences to drive wisdom.
If you're currently spending all your time working at work, you're missing out on a huge opportunity to grow faster and be positioned well for the future (or at least my envisioned future).
2. Psychological safety is the future of culture.
I bet it's incredible visiting Italy with your team, but you know what's even better? Feeling safe at work.
Sure, massive events and exquisite trips are better than ping pong tables and free beer. But when you want to see true leaps in productivity and collaboration, you must create an environment where everyone feels safe to speak up and disagree.
Without psychological safety, trying to improve yourself and the company feels like swimming in lava.
3. Our pure nature is peace and happiness.
At our core, when the outside world disappears, we find that we are the peace and happiness we seek.
As I mentioned at the start, we control our happiness because we are happiness. If this is true, then we have two choices:
- Continue seeking happiness and peace externally (i.e., through relationships, objects, and feelings), or
- Cease seeking externally and begin searching within to find true peace and happiness
Which will you choose?
1 question for you:
What can I gain (or subtract) internally that would make me happier?
Thank you for reading this week's lookback!
Now it's your turn to share:
- What did you do this week?
- What did you learn this week?
- What question is on your mind?
Have a relaxing weekend!
🧠 + ❤️ // JO