Ray White - Connecting Happiness and Success

Connecting Happiness and Success

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Foreword

I believe success begins with clarity.

In my book Strategic Acceleration, I establish the three-part foundation for succeeding at the speed of life: Clarity, Focus and Execution. Everything begins with a clear vision, and nothing excels without it. You may have laser-like focus, and your execution may be unparalleled, but if there is not clarity on where to apply those efforts, your efforts are wasted.

Another principle Ive discovered over the past 30 years of working with some of the worlds highest achievers is that those who live the most fulfilling lives are those who dont sacrifice happiness for success, but rather leverage their happiness to help fuel their success. They view happiness as a strategic asset, and they are deliberate about building a life that helps them do what uniquely makes them happy. They excel in the areas of clarity, focus and execution, and they apply them toward goals that make them happy.

Ray White is now providing clarity on the connection between happiness and success like no one ever has before. What you hold in your hands will not only give you a distinct advantage in your professional pursuits, but, more importantly, in that most elusive pursuit of all the pursuit of happiness.

So many people go to great lengths to be successful, believing that from success comes happiness. Some cheat their health in exchange for wealth. Others shortchange relationships as they chase down promotions. In the name of success, many miss life altogether, its lessons, its experiences and its simple pleasures.

In this book, Ray shows that happiness actually comes before success, not after it. He spells out how the two are eternally bound, and he walks you through a methodology that will change the way you think about success, and life.

Ray lives a life of clarity and conviction. The pages before you make this abundantly clear. His research, experiences, and approach are both unique and refreshing. From understanding the differences between pleasure and happiness, to identifying your unique and higher purpose, to defining success in a way that you have never attempted before, this book is a powerfully inspirational gift to anyone who reads it. As you read each page, commit to putting the principles and guidance to use. Let them catapult your results to another level.

Let this be the day that you make happiness a powerful priority.

Tony Jeary - The RESULTS Guy

Coach to the World's Top CEOs and High Achievers

Copyright @ 2014 by Ray White

All Rights Reserved.

All Rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without the express permission of the authors. This includes reprints, excerpts, photocopying, recording, or any future means of reproducing.

If you would like to do any of the above, please seek permission first by contacting us at http://ConnectingHappinessandSuccess.com.

Published in the United States by Xilo Media

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014940194

Xilo Media, Lewisville Texas

ISBN 978-0-692-21606-4

1 3 5 7 9 10 11 8 6 4 2

Edition 1.0

To my wonderful wife, Lindsey: My life is a reflection of your love and partnership.

To my fantastic kids, Andrew, Spencer, and Gabriele: There is nothing more powerful than our love for our children.

Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without hours of help from family, friends, and colleagues. Their help, support, and guidance, throughout the process enabled a dream to become a reality and helped me share a message without sacrificing my career and family life.

My wife and kids are at the heart of everything I do, and their encouragement and understanding has been key to ensuring a healthy balance between bringing a book to life and time with the family.

Ali Merchant has shown encouragement from the beginning and helped me refine the early classes and concepts. Jeff Rudluff and his company Online Performance Marketing helped test the theories and implement the marketing plans. Wayne Irwin has been a friend, editor, and confidant. Nicholas Ward provided help and insights at every step. John Weyand understood the message and my communication style and was able to turn a very rough manuscript into something that might be understood by the general public. Tammy Kling and Tony Jeary helped me take this book to the next level and multiply its success.

Thanks to everyone for their encouragement and support.

Contents

"A happy workforce makes for a more successful and productive team.

Richard Branson

Overview

Chapter 1

On August 15th, 2013, Moritz Erhardt, an intern working for Bank of America in London, died from complications created by working three days straight without sleep. He was doing a turnaround, which consists of an employee working all night, taking a cab home at 6 am, asking the cab to wait while he gets a quick shower and change of clothes, then hopping back in the cab to go back to work. He never got back in the cab. He was found dead in his shower. What happened?

Moritzs death is a dramatic and immediate example of how our culture encourages many people to blindly chase success while being oblivious to the negative impacts it has on their happiness, on their health, and in certain cases on their lives. For most people these things develop over decades. The signs are there, but they are much more subtle and obscure.

I have worked with dozens of people over the past decade who speak about, research, and live happiness and success. We have analyzed definitions of success collected from over 240 people and found that most contained the word happiness, or at least concepts related to happiness. Most people connect success and happiness in their minds but have difficulty making the connection in their actions. Much like Moritz, only to a lesser degree, they pursue success single-mindedly, with the expectation that they will be happy once they achieve success; and that the more success they achieve, the happier they will be. Unfortunately that formula is backwards.

Success doesnt lead to happiness. Happiness leads to success.

Personally, I have been in business settings for over 35 years, and I have seen hundreds of examples of people working hard and unwittingly sacrificing happiness in pursuit of success, which they think will make them happy. It starts out innocently enough--not having time to go out with friends, not getting home in time for dinner with a spouse or kids, not having time to exercise or pursue a fulfilling hobby--but soon amounts to missing positive moments in life because they are busy trying to build a life that will be full of positive moments.

The drawback doesnt reveal itself until 5 or 10 years down the road, when a goal set early on has been achieved (a raise, a promotion, or a nice car); but for some reason, the satisfaction and fulfillment that were supposed to accompany the goal...don't. I have seen both men and women break down crying from the stress of wanting to give 100% in their work, yet feeling sad and unfulfilled because they were missing time with their new baby or significant other. Have you ever met someone who felt they'd missed their biggest opportunity? It's sad. Because missing important moments in your life leads to stress, and stress leads to unhappiness, disease, and a host of other challenges.