The Happiness Equation Book Summary - The Happiness Equation Book explained in key points

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The Happiness Equation summary

Name: The Happiness Equation
Rating: 4.4 (188 reviews)
Author: Neil Pasricha

Neil Pasricha

Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything

4.4 (188 ratings)

18 mins

Brief summary

The Happiness Equation by Neil Pasricha explores the secrets to living a happy life. It offers advice on how to find happiness within yourself and your daily life, including tips on gratitude, decision-making, and work-life balance.

Topics

Happiness Learning

Table of Contents

The Happiness Equation
Summary of 7 key ideas

Audio & text in the Blinkist app

Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Become a happier person.

How happy would you say you are with your life, on a scale from one (“not at all”) to ten (“my life is perfect bliss”)? If you answered anything below seven or eight, these blinks are for you.

Happiness isn’t a given; it’s something you can achieve. And it’s not as difficult as you might think. You don’t need to go to expensive yoga retreats, visit all the wonders in the world or be swimming in money to feel great about your life. All you need are the nine secrets outlined in these blinks. Let’s get started.

Along the way, you’ll learn

that you’re already a lottery winner;
about a part of the human brain that actually looks for problems; and
why retirement isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.

You need to start from a place of happiness and do things because you enjoy doing them.

Early on in life, you may have been taught that happiness comes only after you’ve done a considerable amount of great work and become a huge success. But it’s this exact lesson that’s responsible for many people’s unhappiness, because the equation actually works the other way around.

Which leads us to the first secret of happiness: success and great work come from people who are already happy.

Happiness shouldn’t be something you chase. External circumstances, such as getting a raise at work, account for only 10 percent of personal happiness. The rest comes from within and is based on seeing the world in a positive light.

To help you recognize everyday happiness, use the 20 minute replay before going to bed. This simple practice involves keeping a daily journal to write down at least one thing that made you happy during the day. Not only will this help you recognize future moments of happiness; it will allow you to relive that happiness at the end of the day.

Another important contributor to happiness is motivation, which brings us to the second secret of happiness: do things because you love doing them, not because of external goals and rewards, or what other people think.

When your motivation is money or admiration, you’re entering a never-ending cycle of unhappiness. Even if you reach your goal, it will only result in a fleeting moment of happiness before you feel the compulsion to set another goal.

The author started his blog, 1000 Awesome Things, because writing brought him joy and he liked the idea of posting one happy detail for a thousand workdays.

However, when the site became popular, he began setting goals. At first he wanted to reach one million visitors. Once he’d done that, he wanted to reach ten million. Then he set his sights on publishing a book. And then the book had to become a bestseller. There was simply no end.

He was chasing a happiness that didn’t – and couldn’t – last. So he resolved to only do things for the sheer joy of doing them.

Two conflicts interfere with feeling happy, but by simply being alive, you already have the ticket to happiness.

There’s no escaping negative thoughts; they’ll turn up no matter how positive your outlook on life is.

When trying to fight these thoughts, you may have felt like a battle is raging in your head. Well, that’s because a battle is raging, one between two parts of your brain: the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex.

Retirement won't make you happy; you need to stay purposefully active.

Are you looking forward to hitting retirement age, sitting back and enjoying the fruits of your labor? If you want to stay happy and healthy, the answer to that question should be, “No!”

Retirement is a concept the Germans invented in 1889. The idea was to open up the job market to younger people and let people over the age of 65 enjoy their final years.

How you spend your time is more important than how much you’re being paid.

It’s a good feeling to be paid well for the work you do, but the dollar amount on your paycheck doesn’t tell the whole story.

For instance, a Harvard graduate makes an average of $120,000 per year, but they also receive a maximum two weeks of vacation while working 85 hours per week during those remaining 50 weeks. That adds up to 4,250 hours per year and only $28 per hour.

To feel less stressed and find more time for what’s important, reduce your choices and create space.

Making decisions can be stressful. And it doesn’t help that most people’s average day is chock-full of them. When the author counted all of his daily decisions, he found 285 of them. And most of these weren’t even very important – things such as deciding when to check his mailbox.

Yet every decision requires mental energy, which means it causes some level of stress. You can reduce this stress, however, as well as save time and increase productivity, by eliminating your choices.

Break through barriers and do the things you love, even if you’re afraid.

When’s the last time you ticked something off your bucket list? If it’s been a while, what’s stopping you from doing so? It’s usually not money or resources that prevent us from doing something; we actually set up our own barriers and fool ourselves into staying away from things that would make us happy.

Typically, the two barriers that keep us from happiness are the Can’t Do and the Don’t Want To barriers.

Be yourself and don’t rely on the advice of others.

If you’ve ever tried to be friendly with someone who is being rude and hurtful, then you’re probably familiar with the pain and discomfort that comes with not honoring your true emotions.

Which brings us to the eighth secret of happiness: be yourself!

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What is The Happiness Equation about?

The Happiness Equation (2016) unlocks nine essential secrets to living a happy life. These are guidelines that can help anyone reap the rewards that come with having a positive outlook on life. Happiness isn’t just about reducing stress and anxiety; it’s about paving the way to great work and success.

Who should read The Happiness Equation?

Unhappy people
Employees who dread their job
Readers looking for guidance in life

About the Author

Neil Pasricha, a New York Times best-selling author, is an entrepreneur, public speaker and advisor. He is also the creator of the popular blog 1,000 Awesome Things and its accompanying publication, The Book of Awesome.

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