#019 ✰ What if happiness was a choice
"The path to happiness is gradual. But you have to decide it’s a priority."
Good day to you!
Hope you’re doing great.
As you know, our mission is to help people free themselves from rampant consumerism, so that they can dedicate more time, money and bandwidth to be and build. 👉 We want to be the tool that empowers your future materialistic decisions.
Thoughts
Happiness is something you can learn. You need to be highly consistant. Fitness, nutrition, making money,… are choices. Happiness is the same.
The path to happiness is gradual. But you have to decide it’s a priority.
There is something I like in this statement: it is empowering.
We have the ability to see any life situation through various lenses. What defines our personalities (and how happy we are) is the lens we’re using to decode it. Put it differently, some always see the glass half empty while others see it half full. But this, is a choice we make.
Building a company, relationships,… we all have our moments when shit hits the fan.
First, there is luck. The things that are out of our control and happen anyway, to all of us, randomly (storm, cancelled train, late delivery,…). Sure we can complain, but this won’t bring back the sun.
According to Philippe Gabilliet, “Luck is a skill: that of knowing how to win contests of circumstances.” (read in Human Machine, “La chance est une compétence: celle de savoir gagner les concours de circonstance”). This, is how we decide to deal with it. This, is what makes us resilient, stronger beings. Or victims. Not saying it’s easy. The second option is often tempting and soothing on the spot. But our resilience muscle needs training to get stronger. And we are the ones who can do that, individually. No one can do it for us.
You have to do hard things to make your own meaning in life.
The good news is, it’s easier to change ourselves than to change the world. It is in our hands. We are in control. And the more we practice, the more natural it gets. Second nature, sort of. I’ve been there. It was always tempting to blame an external thing for what was happening to me. But these were not happy times.
What if happiness was a combination of all these empowered choices?
What is true for happiness could definitely apply to our material possessions, too. Refusing to get overwhelmed and instead, making small steps towards sobriety.
Most smart people realize over time that this [material possessions] doesn’t make you happy. Although lack of material possessions / being poor can make you unhappy, there’s no happiness in material possessions.
If you’re smart you should be able to figure out how to be happy, otherwise you’re not that smart.
Do you relate?
In blue: quoting Naval Ravikant, investor & co-founder of AngelList, in his interview with Joe Rogan.
What’s new in the app 📱
we’ve got two new tips to help you save time documenting : how to customize your adding flow ; and how to load existing lists: if you already have a list of stuffs somewhere in an Excel sheet or Airtable, reach out, we’ll be able to load them in the app in a snap!
behind the scenes improvements 🤓: cropping fix, scrolling fix, image size optimization, etc.
Here’s to give it a try!
Readings
I am starting this section to share what we’ve been reading lately.
Book
The art of simplicity, Dominique Loreau [thanks Laurine for the reco]
Part 1 is about materialism & minimalism ; Part 2: the body ; Part 3: the mind.
I didn't like her style, which I found judgmental with strong opinions. Without setting much context, she's giving advice in a way I found quite infantilizing. She even contradicts herself regularly which is somehow disturbing.
YET. Yet I kept going. (sunk cost trap? 🙃) Part 2 and 3 got way more interesting. She's gathering her personal learnings from 30 years among the Japanese culture to come up with practical, sometimes curious way to embellish our bodies and minds. Ultimately, it's a book that aims at empowering us - she's talking to women but it is applicable to any gender - and reminds us that happiness comes from within “If you want something that is not up to you, you will be miserable. As for the things which depend on you, they are all within your reach.”.
Articles
A case against multitasking ; funny how multitasking has often been a must-have requirement in a job description, something we brag about when talking about ourselves, it sorts of “define[s] professional capability”. However there’s a lot to unlearn here.
Quote
To me peace is happiness at rest ; and happiness is peace in motion. - Naval Ravikant
Have a beautiful day! 🦒
Mathilde
