More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
the more fortune blessed me, the less happy I became.
the “mo’ money” I made, the more miserable I became.
led me to simply work harder and buy more toys on the misguided assumption that, sooner or later, all this effort was going to pay off and I’d find the pot of gold—happiness—thought to lie at the end of the high-achievement rainbow.
a hamster on what psychologists call the “hed...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
The more you get, the more you want. The more you strive, the more reasons yo...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
never paused to enjoy each day as it unfolded.
spent most of my waking hours being driven, nervous, and critical, demanding achievement and performance even from my kids.
Whenever life turned tough, I read.
I approached my piles of books with single-minded dedication.
When things get tough we tend to do more of what we know how to do best.
“Eat frugally for a year and dress frugally for another, and you’ll find happiness forever.”
no matter how any particular day went, good or bad—or a little of each—I found that I was able to enjoy the ride of the roller coaster itself.
At X, we call these “moonshots.”
When you’re seeking modest improvement in what exists, you start working with the same tools and assumptions, the same mental framework on which the old technology is based.
When you commit to a moonshot, you fall in love with the probl...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
Losing a child, they say, is the hardest experience anyone can endure.
He was a role model for peacefulness, happiness, and kindness.
he sat down next to a homeless person and spoke to her at length. He acknowledged her as a fellow human worthy of connection,
We have sad days, but we don’t suffer. Our hearts are content, even joyful.
we were never angry or resentful of life.
What would Ali do in this situation?
There is nothing you can do to change that, so make the best out of it.”
ambitious mission: to help ten million people become happier, a movement (#10million happy)
I will make global happiness my personal mission, my moonshot for Ali.
Wherever you are, whoever you are, you want to be happy.
human desire about as basic as the drive to take the next breath.
Happiness is that glorious feeling when everyth...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
Whatever we choose to do in life is ultimately an attempt to find this feeling and make it last.
We’re just looking for it in the wrong places.
We think of it as a destination to reach, when in fact it’s where we all began.
happiness is right where it’s always been: inside us,
For human beings, simply put, the default state is happiness.
as their most basic needs are met—no immediate hunger, no immediate fear, no scary isolation, no physical pain or enduring sleeplessness—they live in the moment, perfectly happy.
Summon up a time when nothing annoyed you, nothing worried you, nothing upset you. You were happy, calm, and relaxed.
All you needed was no reason to be unhappy.
Parental or societal pressure, belief systems, and unwarranted expectations come along and overwrite some of the original programming.
They work each day to earn what they need. But beyond that, they prioritize their happiness and spend time with their family and friends.
once you’d risen, you certainly didn’t want to fall back.
hardship shaped the priorities of an entire generation,
The “insurance policy” most widely adopted and passed along was called “success.”
success, wealth, power, and fame don’t lead to happiness.
Success is not an essential prerequisite to happiness.
Ed Diener and Richard Easterlin’s work on the correlation of subjective well-being and income
subjective well-being increases proportionately to income—but...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
once your income reaches the average annual income per capita, which in the United States today is about $70,000, subjective well-being plateaus.
While success doesn’t lead to happiness, happiness does contribute to success.
those who achieve the highest levels of success often have one thing in common, one thing that differentiates them from the pack. They all, almost compulsively, love what they do.
Malcolm Gladwell puts it in Outliers, if you spend ten thousand hours doing something, you become one of the best in the world at it.3 And
what’s the easiest way to spend so many hours on one thing? Doing something that makes you happy!
documenting every instance when I felt happy. I called it my Happy List.
