Things are different today. Most adults own a house or condo. Who doesn't own a car-maybe even two? Global prosperity has heaped material things upon us in abundance. Heck, even if you can't afford a summerhouse, a Jaguar, or private jet, for relatively little you can time-share such things and give the impression of material success beyond your means.
But here's the thing. Increasingly, as people reach their forty-fifth or fiftieth birthday they start to think about success from the other side- not from the outside looking in but from the inside out. It's not about the material things I can show the world, but about how I feel about the work
I do; it's about the relationships I have and the love I share.
Not long ago I was watching Larry King interview the rock-and-roll legend Eric Clapton on TV. At one point King began to carry on about how Clapton, in his heyday, was hailed as a guitar god-the best ever.
It must have been an incredible high and extremely gratifying to be so highly regarded, King noted to Clapton. In journalist circles this kind of flattery is known as lobbing a softball. It gives the person being interviewed an easy thing to talk about. But Clapton wouldn't swing at it. His response was impressively self-reflective.
No, the rock legend said, that was not such a great period in his life.
Even though others saw him as on top of his game he was not able to play the way he wanted to play, make the sounds he wanted to make. Sure, he had lived up to other's expectations of success. But from the inside looking out, he had disappointed himself. He was not yet what he wanted to be, and that was an urgent matter to him-no matter what his fans thought.
One last thought on this kind of success. Some years ago I was helping Jimmy Carter gather his thoughts for his book The Virtues of Aging, and at one point I said to him, "President Carter, I have a crazy question for you. I'm about the age now that you were when you were president.
Have you come to any new perspectives about what matters in life, now that you're older?" His answer was to the point: "Earlier in my life I thought the things that mattered were the things that you could see, like your car, your house, your wealth, your property, your office. But as I've grown older I've become convinced that the things that matter most are the things that you can't see-the love you share with others, your inner purpose, your comfort with who you are."
President Carter's words sent chills up my spine. It may make perfect sense to dance to society's beat for the first fifty years of your life. You have physical and material needs, and to get them a certain amount of conforming and practical thinking is required. But in this next stage of life things are different. You have the opportunity to reflect on what really matters and move your measuring stick for success-from the outside looking in, to the inside out.
Beyond Maslow
There's a third version of success in today's world, one that comes far closer to hitting the significance mark but that falls short nevertheless.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
With Purpose Success, part 27
Bigger Is Better. The late U.S. senator Everett Dirksen once noted that "a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." It wasn't his intent to glorify the more-is-better model of success. But that is the lesson you might walk away with after reading those words, and it is precisely the kind of thinking that dominates free societies in the world today. Yet, as we've seen with the recent collapse of numerous financial markets, this model is seriously flawed.
Consider this puzzle: in surveys, the impoverished people of Calcutta, India, living in crude shacks and with little access to clean water, register about even with Americans on the happiness scale-and well ahead of the Chinese, South Koreans, and Japanese. Meanwhile, relatively poor
Puerto Ricans and Colombians, according to surveys, appear to be among the happiest people on the globe. It may well be, as Edith Wharton said, that "if only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time."
How else can we explain the life satisfaction of people of such modest means? Cultural differences explain some of this conundrum. Asians, for example, seem to value understatement and are least likely to show off or express contentment, while Americans appear to expect so much that they are easily disappointed.
But underlying these thought-provoking results is the simple fact that more is not necessarily better when it comes to enjoying life and feeling satisfied. More may be more, but it is never enough. We're caught up in the myth that by achieving and going up the ladder and having more stuff we'll feel full inside. Yet it isn't so. Certainly, money can make a difference for people who have none. Studies by Ruut Veenhoven, a sociologist at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, show that the extremely poor-those earning less than $10,000 a year-may be rendered unhappy by the relentless stress of poverty. Yet his work shows that after a poor person's income exceeds that level there is no further correlation between money and happiness. After a certain level of income, typically enough to meet basic expenses, money ceases to be a factor. I'm not saying we should all live in tents under the freeway or go back to a natural life and give away all material possessions. It's great to work hard, achieve material success, and feel good about it. But that is not how you reach the Promised Land.
The Success Mirage. Another popular notion of success is that you've hit your mark when you measure up to other people's ideals. Again, this notion is firmly planted in our psyche but represents a hollow version of happiness, one that is certain to disappoint in the end.
You may have parents or grandparents who grew up in the shadow of the Depression. Life was terribly hard then. People owned relatively few things. They were frugal. They didn't splurge. The name of the game was just getting by, and to a large extent success was measured from the outside in. What few nice things you did own you might display, and those became symbols of achievement. There wasn't a lot of self-reflection during this period. The feeling was that if you could afford a car, a house, or some jewelry you deserved it. There was a sense of pride and accomplishment that came from showing these things to others.
Consider this puzzle: in surveys, the impoverished people of Calcutta, India, living in crude shacks and with little access to clean water, register about even with Americans on the happiness scale-and well ahead of the Chinese, South Koreans, and Japanese. Meanwhile, relatively poor
Puerto Ricans and Colombians, according to surveys, appear to be among the happiest people on the globe. It may well be, as Edith Wharton said, that "if only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time."
How else can we explain the life satisfaction of people of such modest means? Cultural differences explain some of this conundrum. Asians, for example, seem to value understatement and are least likely to show off or express contentment, while Americans appear to expect so much that they are easily disappointed.
But underlying these thought-provoking results is the simple fact that more is not necessarily better when it comes to enjoying life and feeling satisfied. More may be more, but it is never enough. We're caught up in the myth that by achieving and going up the ladder and having more stuff we'll feel full inside. Yet it isn't so. Certainly, money can make a difference for people who have none. Studies by Ruut Veenhoven, a sociologist at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, show that the extremely poor-those earning less than $10,000 a year-may be rendered unhappy by the relentless stress of poverty. Yet his work shows that after a poor person's income exceeds that level there is no further correlation between money and happiness. After a certain level of income, typically enough to meet basic expenses, money ceases to be a factor. I'm not saying we should all live in tents under the freeway or go back to a natural life and give away all material possessions. It's great to work hard, achieve material success, and feel good about it. But that is not how you reach the Promised Land.
The Success Mirage. Another popular notion of success is that you've hit your mark when you measure up to other people's ideals. Again, this notion is firmly planted in our psyche but represents a hollow version of happiness, one that is certain to disappoint in the end.
You may have parents or grandparents who grew up in the shadow of the Depression. Life was terribly hard then. People owned relatively few things. They were frugal. They didn't splurge. The name of the game was just getting by, and to a large extent success was measured from the outside in. What few nice things you did own you might display, and those became symbols of achievement. There wasn't a lot of self-reflection during this period. The feeling was that if you could afford a car, a house, or some jewelry you deserved it. There was a sense of pride and accomplishment that came from showing these things to others.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
With Purpose Success, part 26
1. Denmark 8.2 $ 37,400
2. Colombia 8.1 $ 6,700
3. Switzerland 8.1 $ 41,100
4. Austria 8.0 $ 38,400
5. Iceland 7.8 $ 38,800
6. Australia 7.7 $ 36,300
7. Finland 7.7 $ 35,300
8. Sweden 7.7 $ 36,500
9. Canada 7.6 $ 38,400
10.
Guatemala
11.
Ireland
12.
Luxembourg
13.
Mexico
14.
Norway
15.
Netherlands
16.
Malta
17.
United States
18.
Belgium
19.
El Salvador
20.
New Zealand
21.
Germany
22.
United Kingdom
23.
Honduras
24.
Kuwait
25.
Saudi Arabia
26.
Cyprus
27.
Italy
28.
Spain
29.
Argentina
30.
Brazil
31.
Dominican
Republic
32.
Singapore
33.
Venezuela
34.
Chile
35.
Israel
36.
Slovenia
37.
Uruguay
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.5
7.5
7.4
7.3
7.2
7.2
7.2
7.1
7.1
7.0
7.0
6.9
6.9
6.9
6.8
6.8
6.8
6.8
6.8
6.7
6.7
6.7
6.7
$ 4,700
$ 43,100
$ 80,500
$ 12,800
$ 53,000
$ 38,500
$ 22,900
$ 45,800
$ 35,300
$ 5,800
$ 26,400
$ 34,200
$ 35,100
$ 4,100
$ 39,300
$ 23,200
$ 27,400
$ 30,400
$ 30,100
$ 13,300
$ 9,700
$ 7,000
$ 49,700
$ 12,200
$ 13,900
$ 25,800
$ 27,200
$ 11,600
38. Indonesia 6.6 $ 3,700
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
France
Czech Republic
Greece
Nigeria
Philippines
China
India
Japan
Taiwan
Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan
Vietnam
Iran
Peru
Portugal
Croatia
Poland
Bolivia
Korea, South
Bangladesh
Senegal
Hungary
Morocco
Montenegro
Slovakia
South Africa
Lebanon
Algeria
Jordan
Kenya
6.5 $ 33,200
6.4 $ 24,200
6.4 $ 29,200
6.4 $ 2,000
6.4 $ 3,400
6.3 $ 5,300
6.2 $ 2,700
6.2 $ 33,600
6.2 $ 30,100
6.2 $ 2,300
6.1 $ 2,000
6.1 $ 2,600
6.0 $ 10,600
6.0 $ 7,800
6.0 $ 21,700
5.9 $ 15,500
5.9 $ 16,300
5.8 $ 4,000
5.8 $ 24,800
5.7 $ 1,300
5.7 $ 1,700
5.6 $ 19,000
5.6 $ 4,100
5.5 $ 3,800
5.5 $ 20,300
5.5 $ 9,800
5.3 $ 11,300
5.2 $ 6,500
5.2 $ 4,900
5.2 $ 1,700
69. Turkey 5.2
70. Bosnia and
Herzegovina 5.171. Estonia 5.1
72. Serbia 5.1
73. Uganda 5.1
74. Romania 5.0
75. Azerbaijan 4.9
76. Macedonia 4.9
77. Mali 4.9
78. Egypt 4.8
79. Ghana 4.8
80. Iraq 4.7
81. Latvia 4.7
82. Lithuania 4.6
83. Albania 4.4
84. Angola 4.4
85. Russia 4.4
86. Pakistan 4.3
87. Bulgaria 4.2
88. Georgia 4.1
89. Belarus 4.0
90. Armenia 3.7
91. Ukraine 3.6
92. Moldova 3.5
93. Zimbabwe 3.3
94. Tanzania 3.2
$ 12,900
$ 7,000
$ 21,100
$ 10,400
$ 900
$ 11,400
$ 7,700
$ 8,500
$ 1,000
$ 5,500
$ 1,400
$ 3,600
$ 17,400
$ 17,700
$ 6,300
$ 5,600
$ 14,700
$ 2,600
$ 11,300
$ 4,700
$ 10,900
$ 4,900
$ 6,900
$ 2,900
$ 200
$ 1,300
Despite this evidence most people still judge success in superficial terms.
***
2. Colombia 8.1 $ 6,700
3. Switzerland 8.1 $ 41,100
4. Austria 8.0 $ 38,400
5. Iceland 7.8 $ 38,800
6. Australia 7.7 $ 36,300
7. Finland 7.7 $ 35,300
8. Sweden 7.7 $ 36,500
9. Canada 7.6 $ 38,400
10.
Guatemala
11.
Ireland
12.
Luxembourg
13.
Mexico
14.
Norway
15.
Netherlands
16.
Malta
17.
United States
18.
Belgium
19.
El Salvador
20.
New Zealand
21.
Germany
22.
United Kingdom
23.
Honduras
24.
Kuwait
25.
Saudi Arabia
26.
Cyprus
27.
Italy
28.
Spain
29.
Argentina
30.
Brazil
31.
Dominican
Republic
32.
Singapore
33.
Venezuela
34.
Chile
35.
Israel
36.
Slovenia
37.
Uruguay
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.6
7.5
7.5
7.4
7.3
7.2
7.2
7.2
7.1
7.1
7.0
7.0
6.9
6.9
6.9
6.8
6.8
6.8
6.8
6.8
6.7
6.7
6.7
6.7
$ 4,700
$ 43,100
$ 80,500
$ 12,800
$ 53,000
$ 38,500
$ 22,900
$ 45,800
$ 35,300
$ 5,800
$ 26,400
$ 34,200
$ 35,100
$ 4,100
$ 39,300
$ 23,200
$ 27,400
$ 30,400
$ 30,100
$ 13,300
$ 9,700
$ 7,000
$ 49,700
$ 12,200
$ 13,900
$ 25,800
$ 27,200
$ 11,600
38. Indonesia 6.6 $ 3,700
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
France
Czech Republic
Greece
Nigeria
Philippines
China
India
Japan
Taiwan
Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan
Vietnam
Iran
Peru
Portugal
Croatia
Poland
Bolivia
Korea, South
Bangladesh
Senegal
Hungary
Morocco
Montenegro
Slovakia
South Africa
Lebanon
Algeria
Jordan
Kenya
6.5 $ 33,200
6.4 $ 24,200
6.4 $ 29,200
6.4 $ 2,000
6.4 $ 3,400
6.3 $ 5,300
6.2 $ 2,700
6.2 $ 33,600
6.2 $ 30,100
6.2 $ 2,300
6.1 $ 2,000
6.1 $ 2,600
6.0 $ 10,600
6.0 $ 7,800
6.0 $ 21,700
5.9 $ 15,500
5.9 $ 16,300
5.8 $ 4,000
5.8 $ 24,800
5.7 $ 1,300
5.7 $ 1,700
5.6 $ 19,000
5.6 $ 4,100
5.5 $ 3,800
5.5 $ 20,300
5.5 $ 9,800
5.3 $ 11,300
5.2 $ 6,500
5.2 $ 4,900
5.2 $ 1,700
69. Turkey 5.2
70. Bosnia and
Herzegovina 5.171. Estonia 5.1
72. Serbia 5.1
73. Uganda 5.1
74. Romania 5.0
75. Azerbaijan 4.9
76. Macedonia 4.9
77. Mali 4.9
78. Egypt 4.8
79. Ghana 4.8
80. Iraq 4.7
81. Latvia 4.7
82. Lithuania 4.6
83. Albania 4.4
84. Angola 4.4
85. Russia 4.4
86. Pakistan 4.3
87. Bulgaria 4.2
88. Georgia 4.1
89. Belarus 4.0
90. Armenia 3.7
91. Ukraine 3.6
92. Moldova 3.5
93. Zimbabwe 3.3
94. Tanzania 3.2
$ 12,900
$ 7,000
$ 21,100
$ 10,400
$ 900
$ 11,400
$ 7,700
$ 8,500
$ 1,000
$ 5,500
$ 1,400
$ 3,600
$ 17,400
$ 17,700
$ 6,300
$ 5,600
$ 14,700
$ 2,600
$ 11,300
$ 4,700
$ 10,900
$ 4,900
$ 6,900
$ 2,900
$ 200
$ 1,300
Despite this evidence most people still judge success in superficial terms.
***
Friday, January 28, 2011
With Purpose Success, part 25
Of the three, Seligman says, pleasure (the one most closely linked to material gain) is the least consequential, a finding that has been reaf firmed in numerous follow-up studies. For example, Edward Diener, a psychologist at the University of Illinois, and another leading light in the study of happiness, interviewed members of the Forbes 400, the richest
Americans, and found that they were only marginally happier than the population as a whole. Those with wealth often feel the most envy and stress, Diener concluded. Sociologists call this type of jealousy "reference anxiety." But you will know it for what it is-keeping up with the
Joneses. People don't usually ask, "Do I have enough to meet my needs?" They ask instead, "Is my house nicer than my neighbor's?"
Money and happiness really do not go hand in hand-at least not in the manner you would expect. Canadian researcher Elizabeth Dunn found in a series of studies that how much money you have is inconsequential to your happiness, but how you spend what you have is critical.
In her study she looked at workers who received bonuses of varying sizes and discovered that those who spent at least a third of their bonus on others were measurably happier than those who spent all of the money on themselves-no matter how much bonus money they had been given.
In polls taken by the National Opinion Research Center, about one- third of Americans say they are "very happy," and that rate has been fairly constant for decades. Yet over the same time frame wealth in the United
States has increased dramatically, and by the way so has the incidence of clinical depression, which is as much as ten times more common than it was two generations ago. One out of every five women in America is on antidepressants, and each year six million more begin taking them.
The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020 depression will be second only to heart disease in terms of the global burden of illness.
Greater wealth hasn't made us happier; it may even have contributed to greater amounts of stress.
The World Database of Happiness presents one of the most interesting examinations into whether or not money buys happiness. This database is an ongoing register of scientific research on the subjective enjoyment of life. It brings together findings that are scattered throughout many studies and provides a basis for synthetic work. Overall life satisfaction is assessed by means of numerous surveys in general population samples worldwide including data from 1995 up to and including 2005.
The scores are based on responses to a question about satisfaction with life and perceptions of personal well-being, the answers to which were rated on a numerical scale ranging from dissatisfied to satisfied. Rating scales ranged from 0 to 10.
As you can see from the following list, when you place each country's GDP per capita (in current U.S. dollars), there is only marginal correlation between how much money people make and how happy they feel. For example, Guatemalans have the same happiness score as
Canadians, although their income is only one-eighth as much. What does tend to reliably correlate with happiness is the quality of relationships with family and friends and a personal sense of belonging to one's community.
Happiness and Money?
Country Happiness Score GDP
Americans, and found that they were only marginally happier than the population as a whole. Those with wealth often feel the most envy and stress, Diener concluded. Sociologists call this type of jealousy "reference anxiety." But you will know it for what it is-keeping up with the
Joneses. People don't usually ask, "Do I have enough to meet my needs?" They ask instead, "Is my house nicer than my neighbor's?"
Money and happiness really do not go hand in hand-at least not in the manner you would expect. Canadian researcher Elizabeth Dunn found in a series of studies that how much money you have is inconsequential to your happiness, but how you spend what you have is critical.
In her study she looked at workers who received bonuses of varying sizes and discovered that those who spent at least a third of their bonus on others were measurably happier than those who spent all of the money on themselves-no matter how much bonus money they had been given.
In polls taken by the National Opinion Research Center, about one- third of Americans say they are "very happy," and that rate has been fairly constant for decades. Yet over the same time frame wealth in the United
States has increased dramatically, and by the way so has the incidence of clinical depression, which is as much as ten times more common than it was two generations ago. One out of every five women in America is on antidepressants, and each year six million more begin taking them.
The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020 depression will be second only to heart disease in terms of the global burden of illness.
Greater wealth hasn't made us happier; it may even have contributed to greater amounts of stress.
The World Database of Happiness presents one of the most interesting examinations into whether or not money buys happiness. This database is an ongoing register of scientific research on the subjective enjoyment of life. It brings together findings that are scattered throughout many studies and provides a basis for synthetic work. Overall life satisfaction is assessed by means of numerous surveys in general population samples worldwide including data from 1995 up to and including 2005.
The scores are based on responses to a question about satisfaction with life and perceptions of personal well-being, the answers to which were rated on a numerical scale ranging from dissatisfied to satisfied. Rating scales ranged from 0 to 10.
As you can see from the following list, when you place each country's GDP per capita (in current U.S. dollars), there is only marginal correlation between how much money people make and how happy they feel. For example, Guatemalans have the same happiness score as
Canadians, although their income is only one-eighth as much. What does tend to reliably correlate with happiness is the quality of relationships with family and friends and a personal sense of belonging to one's community.
Happiness and Money?
Country Happiness Score GDP
Thursday, January 27, 2011
With Purpose Success, part 24
That's the way Randy Pausch saw things when he learned he had invasive pancreatic cancer and less than a year to live. He stopped and reconsidered everything and in a matter of months was able to reach millions of people around the world with his inspiring message of hope, patience, and no regrets. You may already know the Randy Pausch story. He was a popular and energetic lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University who shared his vision of a life worth leading with four hundred teary-eyed students in what became his last campus lecture, which he delivered in the fall of 2007. The great irony of Pausch's lecture was that it was scheduled as part of a "last lecture" series in which professors would pretend this was their final time at the dais and impart their most significant lessons. For
Pausch, a young man with small children, it was no mere exercise.
In a gutsy presentation he waxed on for a mind-boggling hour-plus of wit, charm, and humor, and invaluable life lessons. The circumstances and the freewheeling manner in which he spoke lent a gravitas to his wisdom. Loyalty is a two-way street, he said. Never give up. Accept help, and give it. Tell the truth. Apologize when you screw up. Focus on others, not yourself. Don't bail. Don't complain, work harder. Shut up and listen.
Be good at something because it makes you valuable. Work hard. Be patient and you'll find the best in everybody. Dream. Be prepared.
Pausch spiced his lecture with personal anecdotes and offered his words with the ease and calm of one who had found his place, found his version of success in the wisdom he was imparting-wisdom made all that much more dear because he would not be there to repeat it. There is something sacred about a dying person taking the time to make an impact on those around him. He had nothing to gain. So you knew it was coming from the heart; you know it was the truth and that it was priceless.
The earnestness of his words-and his obvious sense of purpose-is what made them special. "As you get older, you may find that enabling the dreams of others is even more fun" than realizing your own, he said.
This lecture, designed for just four hundred students (cmu.edu/uls/ journeys/), ended up riveting the world as a viral video on the Internet, where it was viewed tens of millions of times. It was later turned into a book. In one brief and shining moment of significance, Professor Pausch reached more people than he had in a career on campus. Pausch never lacked for purpose. Indeed, he seemed to find more of it with each passing day and, ultimately, came to view success not just as a full and rich life, not just as a life worth leading, and not just as a life of helping others-but also as a life that would serve as an enduring example for all. He seized on his life change and used it as a stepping-stone to personal greatness.
You Only Think You're Happy
There is an avalanche of new research in the areas of success and happiness.
Perhaps the leading light in this field is Martin Seligman, a University of Pennsylvania research psychologist, who in the last few years has coaxed his profession into going beyond the mere study of what makes people depressed and leads to their neuroses to a more uplifting place- to the study of what makes our heart sing and what might be done to improve our level of satisfaction. In his book, Authentic Happiness, he boils down true happiness to three components: pleasure (things that feel good), involvement (being immersed in things like family, work, and hobbies), and meaning (using personal strengths to serve a larger end).
Pausch, a young man with small children, it was no mere exercise.
In a gutsy presentation he waxed on for a mind-boggling hour-plus of wit, charm, and humor, and invaluable life lessons. The circumstances and the freewheeling manner in which he spoke lent a gravitas to his wisdom. Loyalty is a two-way street, he said. Never give up. Accept help, and give it. Tell the truth. Apologize when you screw up. Focus on others, not yourself. Don't bail. Don't complain, work harder. Shut up and listen.
Be good at something because it makes you valuable. Work hard. Be patient and you'll find the best in everybody. Dream. Be prepared.
Pausch spiced his lecture with personal anecdotes and offered his words with the ease and calm of one who had found his place, found his version of success in the wisdom he was imparting-wisdom made all that much more dear because he would not be there to repeat it. There is something sacred about a dying person taking the time to make an impact on those around him. He had nothing to gain. So you knew it was coming from the heart; you know it was the truth and that it was priceless.
The earnestness of his words-and his obvious sense of purpose-is what made them special. "As you get older, you may find that enabling the dreams of others is even more fun" than realizing your own, he said.
This lecture, designed for just four hundred students (cmu.edu/uls/ journeys/), ended up riveting the world as a viral video on the Internet, where it was viewed tens of millions of times. It was later turned into a book. In one brief and shining moment of significance, Professor Pausch reached more people than he had in a career on campus. Pausch never lacked for purpose. Indeed, he seemed to find more of it with each passing day and, ultimately, came to view success not just as a full and rich life, not just as a life worth leading, and not just as a life of helping others-but also as a life that would serve as an enduring example for all. He seized on his life change and used it as a stepping-stone to personal greatness.
You Only Think You're Happy
There is an avalanche of new research in the areas of success and happiness.
Perhaps the leading light in this field is Martin Seligman, a University of Pennsylvania research psychologist, who in the last few years has coaxed his profession into going beyond the mere study of what makes people depressed and leads to their neuroses to a more uplifting place- to the study of what makes our heart sing and what might be done to improve our level of satisfaction. In his book, Authentic Happiness, he boils down true happiness to three components: pleasure (things that feel good), involvement (being immersed in things like family, work, and hobbies), and meaning (using personal strengths to serve a larger end).
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
With Purpose Success, part 23
She loves athletics and swims with dolphins, rides on the back of a mo torcycle, and has hobnobbed with presidents and other heads of state.
Friends describe her glowingly as "an international curiosity," "utterly fearless," and "one of the planet's true treasures." They say she was bold at an early age, not wanting to attend Wellesley College because it was a family tradition (but ultimately relenting) and "picking up" her husband, the internationalist and onetime U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, Shelby
Davis, by making the first advance on him while traveling by train from
Geneva to Paris.
Davis has a doctorate in international affairs and honed her interests in global issues and activism as a young child, when she traveled with her parents extensively and at the age of four marched with her mother during the suffragette movement. Later in life, she helped found a group that promoted greater communication between the U.S. and Russia in hopes of lessening the likelihood of nuclear war. She has devoted much of her life to improving American understanding of world culture and politics, with Russia and eastern Europe as a central focus. For many years, she lectured before educational and civic groups on India, Russia,
China, and Switzerland.
Throughout her life, Davis has been a major supporter of arts, education, science, and environmental conservation. But global peace initiatives have always held her highest interest. "There will always be conflict," she says. "It's human nature. But love, kindness, and support are part of human nature too." One of her goals at this late stage of life is to foster ideas that will wipe out armed conflict as a means of settling state disputes, just as duels to settle personal disputes are no longer tolerated.
That's a tall order, one that she hopes her student funding will play a role in filling. Yet even if the program ultimately proves ineffective in this regard, Davis's example is a shining light to all of us to do something for others for as long as we may breathe. "We don't always know what tomorrow holds," Davis says. "So let's take advantage of today and be as useful as we can be." A phrase she uses often sums up her view of life neatly.
There are three basic stages, she says: "Learn, earn, return."
Dying to Make a Difference
Friends describe her glowingly as "an international curiosity," "utterly fearless," and "one of the planet's true treasures." They say she was bold at an early age, not wanting to attend Wellesley College because it was a family tradition (but ultimately relenting) and "picking up" her husband, the internationalist and onetime U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, Shelby
Davis, by making the first advance on him while traveling by train from
Geneva to Paris.
Davis has a doctorate in international affairs and honed her interests in global issues and activism as a young child, when she traveled with her parents extensively and at the age of four marched with her mother during the suffragette movement. Later in life, she helped found a group that promoted greater communication between the U.S. and Russia in hopes of lessening the likelihood of nuclear war. She has devoted much of her life to improving American understanding of world culture and politics, with Russia and eastern Europe as a central focus. For many years, she lectured before educational and civic groups on India, Russia,
China, and Switzerland.
Throughout her life, Davis has been a major supporter of arts, education, science, and environmental conservation. But global peace initiatives have always held her highest interest. "There will always be conflict," she says. "It's human nature. But love, kindness, and support are part of human nature too." One of her goals at this late stage of life is to foster ideas that will wipe out armed conflict as a means of settling state disputes, just as duels to settle personal disputes are no longer tolerated.
That's a tall order, one that she hopes her student funding will play a role in filling. Yet even if the program ultimately proves ineffective in this regard, Davis's example is a shining light to all of us to do something for others for as long as we may breathe. "We don't always know what tomorrow holds," Davis says. "So let's take advantage of today and be as useful as we can be." A phrase she uses often sums up her view of life neatly.
There are three basic stages, she says: "Learn, earn, return."
Dying to Make a Difference
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
With Purpose Success, part 22
They lobby government for change. Some start their own nonprofit and target causes that for one reason or another are special to them. Sure, these young people may not attract as much attention as Paris Hilton. Shame on us!
Many student groups are becoming active in the search for global peace, thanks in part to philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis's Projects for Peace program (www.kwd100projectsforpeace.org), which grants a hundred student-led grassroots peace initiatives $10,000 each in annual funding. The idea is to bring new thinking to the global peace process.
Ursula Devine and Joseph Campo at the University of Oklahoma are using their grant to produce a documentary film that explores the life of ordinary people in the world's five most peaceful nations, as ranked by the Global Peace Index (Norway, New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, and
Japan)-hoping to learn and illustrate what helpful practices might be transferable to other cultures. Fallon Chipidza, a student at Hamilton
College in Clinton, New York,, is using her grant to build a self-sustaining chicken farm at St. Theresa's preschool and orphanage in Zimbabwe. She hopes the chicken business will generate enough ongoing revenue to pay for the children's school fees. Eric Harshfield and Ana Jemec, students at the University of Virginia, are using their grant to build a sustainable water filtration system using abundant local resources in poor sections of
South Africa.
These programs and these kids are an inspiration. Many of them are taking advantage of a major life shift-graduating from college, or from high school-and using that moment as a stopping point to consider what good they might bring into the world before they press on with their daily affairs. Can you approximate, or even best, their example by using retirement or disability or the death of a spouse or becoming an empty nester or mailing in the last mortgage payment as the stopping point in which you redefine success and consider your potential to live a life of purpose?
Davis is herself an inspiration. A world-class philanthropist, political figure and international dignitary for much of her life, only on the eve of her one hundredth birthday did she hatch the Projects for Peace program, which may end up as her signature and most enduring legacy.
The project, in just its third year, is an invitation to undergraduates to design grassroots projects that they develop over the summer. Those judged most promising and practical get funded. The idea is to encourage today's youth to create ideas for building peace. "I want to use my one hundredth birthday to help young people launch some immediate initiatives-things that they can do during the summer-that will bring new thinking to the prospects of peace in the world," she said upon committing $1 million to the effort in February 2007. She regarded the students' peace projects that summer as so inspiring that she has continued to fund the program.
Davis is outspoken and surprisingly spry, in defiance of her age. An avid painter who likes to finish her pieces in less than three hours, she laughs while admitting to leaving the wrinkles out of her self portrait.
Many student groups are becoming active in the search for global peace, thanks in part to philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis's Projects for Peace program (www.kwd100projectsforpeace.org), which grants a hundred student-led grassroots peace initiatives $10,000 each in annual funding. The idea is to bring new thinking to the global peace process.
Ursula Devine and Joseph Campo at the University of Oklahoma are using their grant to produce a documentary film that explores the life of ordinary people in the world's five most peaceful nations, as ranked by the Global Peace Index (Norway, New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, and
Japan)-hoping to learn and illustrate what helpful practices might be transferable to other cultures. Fallon Chipidza, a student at Hamilton
College in Clinton, New York,, is using her grant to build a self-sustaining chicken farm at St. Theresa's preschool and orphanage in Zimbabwe. She hopes the chicken business will generate enough ongoing revenue to pay for the children's school fees. Eric Harshfield and Ana Jemec, students at the University of Virginia, are using their grant to build a sustainable water filtration system using abundant local resources in poor sections of
South Africa.
These programs and these kids are an inspiration. Many of them are taking advantage of a major life shift-graduating from college, or from high school-and using that moment as a stopping point to consider what good they might bring into the world before they press on with their daily affairs. Can you approximate, or even best, their example by using retirement or disability or the death of a spouse or becoming an empty nester or mailing in the last mortgage payment as the stopping point in which you redefine success and consider your potential to live a life of purpose?
Davis is herself an inspiration. A world-class philanthropist, political figure and international dignitary for much of her life, only on the eve of her one hundredth birthday did she hatch the Projects for Peace program, which may end up as her signature and most enduring legacy.
The project, in just its third year, is an invitation to undergraduates to design grassroots projects that they develop over the summer. Those judged most promising and practical get funded. The idea is to encourage today's youth to create ideas for building peace. "I want to use my one hundredth birthday to help young people launch some immediate initiatives-things that they can do during the summer-that will bring new thinking to the prospects of peace in the world," she said upon committing $1 million to the effort in February 2007. She regarded the students' peace projects that summer as so inspiring that she has continued to fund the program.
Davis is outspoken and surprisingly spry, in defiance of her age. An avid painter who likes to finish her pieces in less than three hours, she laughs while admitting to leaving the wrinkles out of her self portrait.
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