What Do You Need To Be Happy?

“All I want in life is to be happy” – Jonathan Davis, Korn

I originally started writing this last summer and filed it without finishing it. I do that often. I have some thoughts I don’t want to forget that I think are important to write about and share so I just start writing my thoughts down so I can come back later and organize them into something, hopefully, meaningful. I realized that I haven’t posted for some time and thought I should get something up on the blog. The reality is, I should really be posting much more during a time like this. The harsher reality is, business is tough right now so I have been focusing the majority of my energy on the basic tasks to keep my businesses alive. Even though I think content production is important, I have scaled it down to a couple platforms that directly impact my current businesses.

That said, I have felt the need to check in. This blog was created to document my current journey as an entrepreneur and share the inside scoop and the ins-and-outs and ups-and-downs of the daily roller coaster rides of owning and running a business, or two or three. Not to mention share stories and lessons from the past couple decades that brought me to this point.  In my experience, the greatest lessons have come during, or looking back after, hard times like we are experiencing now. With that, I will carve some time to post and document for frequently.

These are unprecedented time and it really makes me stop and think and assess what is really going on, both inside and outside of my little world. What I have been thinking a lot about when my head isn’t being assaulted by all the news of the current affairs is what really matters most. There is so much craziness around the world right now that it really makes me think and ask “where should I focus my time and energy?” It is easy to get sucked into the black hole of fear and anger but what purpose does that serve? How does that add value to this world?

The good news about the main question, what matters most, is that you get to decide that for yourself. For me it’s happiness. I will stick to the context of business because that is what I focus on most on this blog and the original thoughts I wrote were about that. So, here we are admits a major pandemic. Countries, states, cities, and businesses have shut down. How things will turn out is anyone’s guess. What I do know is that running a business, let alone multiple businesses, is extremely challenging right now. So much so, that it conjures thoughts of whether or not to continue.

This, of course, can be done in a very pragmatic fashion by simply looking at the financial statements and making a logical decision based on the numbers. That would be an easy decision for one of our longest running businesses. This business is travel dependent so I am sure you can imagine what the numbers look like right now. The other way to look at it is to pose the real questions about why I am in business in the first place. Why did I choose to be an entrepreneur? What is it in me that drove me down this path? What really matters most? Again, for me it’s happiness.

At this point I will jump back to the original content I started last year. Reading through this and editing it is helping me dig deep and really decide how to move forward with each business, so enjoy and stay tuned to see where I land after digging and putting each business to these litmus test and asking the hard questions…

What do you need to be happy? This is a very important question that aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners should ask. Is it money, property, prestige? Are you simply seeking to make money and acquire stuff? I sure hope not but anyone is free to seek whatever they wish.

My experience is simply that money and stuff doesn’t make people happy. It might help some people but it is not the root of happiness. Some of the happiest people I have met have no money to speak of and some of the most miserable have more than they know what to do with. I think it is important for people to figure this out so they can seek happiness. What it is going to take? A specific job, a specific salary. A business that makes millions?

What if you could make whatever you needed to live and provide for your family doing whatever is you love? Would that make you happy?

For me, happiness is being able to do what I want, when I want, with the people I want. I am not quite sure what the dollar figure is on that but I do know if I ran a 100 million dollar company, my time and services would probably be in pretty high demand. I think that might carve a bit too much in to my happy me time. This leads me to believe, I do not think that is the caliber business I seek to run. I have never ran a 100 million dollar business so I can’t say that for sure, but my guess is that it is not what I am looking for.

What I do know is that you need to know what your happy is. Know your number and figure out if your what can get you there and that is where you will find true happiness. If it can’t, keep looking or tweak your what to make it happen. I believe that if it is your true what, that what that you are called to do, it will happen. It takes time, but if you continue down the path and invest in your development, it will happen.

In my experience, happiness is found in being able to do what you love because you love it, and pay the bills…

Back to present day.

 Now that I read this again and apply this to my current situation I get to ask myself if any of these businesses contribute to my happiness. Do any of my businesses align with what I feel I am called to do? I am still digging and asking so stick around, and in the meantime, keep digging and share any stores you have about the topic.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner-operator

You have to leap if you want to live.