THE LEVEL UP LETTER

Hi All!
Here’s your weekly Level Up Letter.

We recently watched this video with Mo Gawdat discussing his formula for happiness and thought it was worth sharing with all of you.

The general questions are Is happiness a choice? And if so, can it be engineered? Mo, the former Chief Business Officer of Google X and founder of One Billion Happy, believes this is true. He’s even engineered his very own "happiness algorithm" to help all of us achieve this mind frame.

In 2014, Mo suddenly lost his beloved son, Ali, which thrust him into depression and an existential reckoning with life's fragility. Rather than succumbing to this ultimate despair, Gawdat turned his grief into a catalyst for transformation. He soon embarked on a profound journey of self-discovery and healing, driven by a newfound mission to spread happiness and well-being to the world.

Please, watch the video. We put together some key bullet points below but there is far more detail and insight to be learned from Mo.

Enjoy!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

LET’S SET EXPECTATIONS

First: Do not confuse happiness with joy, excitement, or other states that are dopamine-fueled. Happiness should be a steady, relaxed state fueled by serotonin.

Second: Happiness is purely the lack of unhappiness. If there is nothing causing unhappiness, your default state is happiness.

Third: Unhappiness is ok. It’s normal, we all feel unhappy. Many of us feel unhappy many, many times per day. What’s not ok is the continued suffering. You (your thoughts) don’t need to add to the unhappiness.

HAPPINESS EQUATION

Happiness⁣
=
Events - Expectations

When you feel happy, that moment in life has met or beat your expectations. Things are good. They’re calm. You are good with life as it is.

When you feel unhappy, it’s a moment in your life where an event missed your expectations. We’ve used this as a survival mechanism. We scan the world around us and feel that something isn’t right. Unfortunately, it’s the only pain we can intentionally relive over and over. As Mo calls it “unhappiness on demand.” This is when we distort the actual event (the fact) in our mind to the worst-case scenario. (not reality)

THE HAPPINESS FLOW CHART

Use this flow chart any time you have the feeling of unhappiness. Remember, this is about the “thought” you are having in your mind. Not an event that happened. There will be times in all of our lives when there is absolutely nothing we can do to change an outcome. That’s where Step 3 is comes in.

HAPPIER TOGETHER

Looking to create more happiness in your life or your business? Let’s work together to make it happen. Find out more about how we can help through our Coaching, Mastermind Groups or Consulting services.