Lisa Sugar - Power Your Happy: Work Hard, Play Nice & Build Your Dream Life

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Copyright 2016 by POPSUGAR, Inc.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRES S CATALOGING-IN-PUBL ICATION DATA

Names: Sugar, Lisa, author.

Title: Power your happy : work hard, play nice, and build your dream life / Lisa Sugar.

Description: 1st [edition]. | New York : Dutton, a member of Penguin Random House LLC, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016020264 (print) | LCCN 2016024857 (ebook) | ISBN 9781101985069 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781101985076 (epub) | ISBN 9781101986080 (Target ed.)

Subjects: LCSH: Happiness. | Self-realization. | Success.

Classification: LCC BF575.H27 S84 2016 (print) | LCC BF575.H27 (ebook) | DDC 158dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016020264

Illustrations by Sara Combs

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Penguin is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In that spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences, and the words are the authors alone.

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To the love of my life, my partner and best friend, Brian, who has helped create the ultimate dream life, including my three favorite peopleour daughters Katie, Juliet, and Ellewho taught me there is no greater love than the ones you create.

INTRODUCTION

I know this will be an unpopular opinion, but I cant get behind the phrase happy Friday. Every week we are bombarded with e-mails and social media updates along the lines of Fri-YAY! or Its Friday, bitches! or TGIF! I love every day; I look forward to Mondays as much as Fridays. In my world, there is no such thing as the Monday blues.

Thats not to say I dont appreciate the downtime of weekends, watching my kids soccer games, overnight getaways, and class with my favorite SoulCycle instructors. Maybe you love weekends for the long brunches or binge-watching TV shows. Those two days do mark a great break in the week, but I also love what I do on the other five days. My ultimate goal has always been to love my family, my work, and therefore my life.

I also tend not to dwell on how great things were in the past. While I reflect on the past with warmth, I also look forward to starting the adventure of every day. When I look back at my high school yearbooks, Im reminded how often I was told that these will be the best years of your life! Which made sense at the time: I had no real worries, I was fortunate to be getting a solid education, I had loving parents who put a roof over my head and food on the table. But then I went to college, and life was so much more an adventure; being on my own and away from home felt like the beginning of better years ahead. Then again, when I got married, everyone told me the best years are ahead! When I had my first kid, I heard a lot of cherish this time! These are the best years.

Three daughters, sixteen years of marriage, and one successful media company later, I hope the best years are still to come. Dont get me wrong: the first thirty-nine years of my life have been very fulfilling. But I am only thirty-nine, and there is still a lot on my to-do list. I hope Im lucky enough to live into my golden years because I hear those are pretty awesome, too.

I want this book to be more about you than me, and I cant tell you what to do next with your life or what your version of success is. But I can share the values Ive used to govern my decisions, which I believe have made me a happier and more successful person: working hard and playing nice, being honest and staying positive, taking risks and always evolving, and staying healthy while still indulging in dessert and guilty pleasures, like my fanatical devotion to pop culture. The starting point for everything is something my dad told me all the time: Do what you love.

I know we live in challenging times, and doing what you love is easier said than done. People coming out of college or looking to make a career change have more options than we could have imagined twenty years ago; its bewildering. But creating your dream life is never easy, and you cant count on luck. Even when you have moments of serendipity, luck is worthless without hard work. Finding your perfect combination of happiness and success wont happen overnight.

Im not saying I have all the answers, nor is my life the only formula for a great life. But in the ten years since I started POPSUGAR, Ive learned a lot about how to build a successful company, hire and mentor talented employees, nurture a happy marriage, and raise children. In sharing what Ive learned, I want to help you find what makes you feel happy and fulfilled, to own every day and create a life and a career that you love.

I personally didnt have a career I loved until I was twenty-nine, when I started POPSUGAR. I get asked a lot, How can I get a cool job like that? Finding your passion takes time and a shitload of hard work, patience, knowledge, and experience. I didnt know what I wanted to be when I grew up until I was twenty-nine.

I cant remember a time when my parents were asking me what I wanted to do with my life. Mostly, they just stressed the importance of continued education. Growing up in Potomac, Maryland, my older brother and I knew that where we went to college was a big thing, and our parents also talked about what I was going to do for grad school, as if that was the only next viable option. My brother is brilliantmath and science geniusbut I was a slower learner who struggled in school. What came most naturally to me was always writing, but I never thought that was a viable career. Being tested for learning disabilities in my teens actually got me excited about learning about how people learned. I felt passionate about it, and I decided psychology was my calling.