The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything=Have Everything

With the rapid growth of Positive Psychology there’s been an explosion in books on happiness. Amazon lists 100,000 books on the topic! I lean heavily toward personal, leadership, or organization development books that are evidence-based. Neil does cite some research and many of his approaches align well with the emerging science of well-being. What sets this book apart is simplicity, practicality, and readability. Neil uses a breezy, conversational style, liberally illustrated with his “scribbles” or hand drawn diagrams. The very short chapters — some only one page — makes the book easy and fun to browse. Here are a few points that stood out most for me: • The traditional equation of Great work -> Big Success -> Be Happy needs to Change to Be Happy -> Great Work -> Big Success. Be happy needs to come first. • Do it for you. Don’t do it to please others. • Lack of self-confidence is the root of why we pay too much attention to critics and compare ourselves to others to gauge our success. High opinion of both ourselves and others is what brings confidence. • We’re programmed to scan for problems to fix and dangers to watch out for. We have much to be grateful for and need to focus on our strengths and positives. • Retirement is a new concept, a Western concept, and a broken concept based on the assumptions that we enjoy doing nothing instead of being productive. Work gives us socializing, structure, stimulation, and story (purpose). • How much are you truly earning when you break it down hourly? Overvalue you and your own time. • Reduce your choices and decisions. • Multi-tasking is a myth — we can only do one thing at a time. • Create space for yourself. • It’s easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking than to think yourself into a new way of acting. • Be you — be authentic. Your relationship with yourself is the most important relationship in your life. • Your spouse/life partner has a huge impact on your happiness. • You can take advice, but you need to listen to your inner voice and decide for yourself. Neil calls many of his chapters and sections “secrets.” But they’re becoming pretty well-known now. If you’re looking for an inspiring and uplifting summary or reminder of what leads to higher happiness and well-being, "The Happiness Equation adds up" to time well invested.

“So don’t you think every college, university, and library would be full of courses and advice on how we can become happier? On how we can make decisions that spur ourselves into positive action every day? When I asked a hospitality CEO if he knew a book, model or website that actually helped people navigate and simplify their most challenging decisions so they can live with contentment, freedom, and happiness, he said, ‘That book doesn’t exist. It would be like asking every high-powered executive, successful person, and positive leader to distill all the personal mental models they’ve created over their lives into one book. Nobody has ever done it.’ I know this is true because I’ve been searching for a practical book with real frameworks on leading myself to happiness for years. I wanted something beyond stories about generals, parables about penguins, and research studies with data pointing any which way. I wanted real, I wanted practical, I wanted clear. I wanted an action book that I could use every day. This is that book.” ~ Neil Pasricha from The Happiness Equation Neil Pasricha is awesome. And so is this book. Ryan Holiday connected us and I’m glad he did. Neil’s a fascinating guy—a Harvard MBA who runs a site called 1000awesomethings.com who also happens to be the director of leadership development for Walmart, one of the most popular TED speakers ever, the director of the Institute for Global Happiness AND the best-selling author of The Book of AWESOME series—with over 1 million books sold. (<—That is awesome.) He’s also a funny, great writer who packs a ton of super practical wisdom into this quick-reading book. I highly recommend it. I’m excited to share a few of my favorite Big Ideas: 1.The Big 7 - Ways to boost your happiness. 2. Waking up w/Icky Guy - Is really important. 3. Add an Hour to Your Day - Here's how 4. Tip from a Great Ohysicist - Just do it. 5. It's Saturday AM - What do you do? The wisdom we need is already within. We just need to slow down long enough to see it and then have the courage to live it. More goodness— including PhilosophersNotes on 300+ books in our '*OPTIMIZE*' membership program. Find out more at brianjohnson . me.

I liked that book. It does contain very interesting thoughts in first chapter (Do nothing), that I was thinking about, but never assembled all the pieces to final thought. It has not a bad second chapter, but 5th secret feels like a filler, just to match the slogan "3 secrets per chapter". And a little of useful thoughts in last chapter, which I wanted to skip all the time I was reading. Also I was listening this book as audiobook in parallel and thanks Neil for making an audiobook version) It already affects my negative thoughts and helps me understand some of my behaviours, but I can't say it will affect my life deeply. I liked that book :)

This book is Simple - To The Point - Actionable Steps To True Happiness. I can't emphasize this enough - if a book does not have actionable steps, then it's just too hard to implement. This book on the other hand, has an amazing step-by-step process in it's nature for how you can attain true happiness in different ways. One of the most important ideas is that you have to put happiness first. Society tells you - go to school - get a job - make money - THEN you will be happy. This book teaches you HOW to be BE HAPPY FIRST, and everything else that you want and need will naturally follow! It also teaches concrete examples of how many different things (I'm not gonna spoil what) affect your mood and emotions and make you sad. Of course the actionable steps show how you can eliminate those things and maintain happiness. Because happiness is NOT something you achieve. HAPPINESS IS A HABIT! You have to maintain it, but in an effortless way where you don't even have to think about. This book is JUST THAT! How to develop strong habits that KEEEP YOU HAPPY! Great read.

Very useful tips to apply on our daily routine Great comparison with what do we need to have more versus just be happy with you have, which is the base for the insatisfaction and lack of happiness

Good points, useful information, very readable, good language and useful book, unfortunately got deleted from my Kindle by mistake,

This is one of those books that just make complete sense - all of it. It is a real eye opener and can help you change your life for the better. I am a big fan of Neil Pasricha and 1000% recommend this book!

It has to be one of the best books I have ever read, this book has changed my social life. I have made new friends, removed all the toxic people and right now my life is great. Surrounded by people I like and I am very happy. The book is simple to read and the concepts are so well explained. Simply AMAZING, don’t wait anymore and read it!

OMG anyone and everyone should read this book, it's truly life changing. When I began reading it I was concerned it'd be like some books of this genre that don't really have any value and are a bit wishy washy but not this book. It's practical, easy to read and enjoyable. The things it talks about are easy to put into practice and super effective. If you read one book this year, make it this one.