What are you doing Michael?
a presentation about what’s wrong with him
help you understand why Michael is so
irresponsible, immature, defensive, stubborn…
The goal of this document
*the goal is not to make you agree with me
this has lots to do with everything
since young, Dad has always taught me to ask WHY
Early influence - ask WHY
The Good Life Path
generally, a good life looks this:
Good College
Good Grades
Good Job
Good Girlfriend
Good 2nd Job
Good Wife
Good 1st House
Good Kids
Good 2nd House
Help Your Kids Repeat This Cycle
TheGood Life
Me & The Good Life
Good College
Good Grades
Good Job
Good Girlfriend
Good 2nd Job
Good Wife
Good 1st House
Good Kids
Good 2nd House
Help Your Kids Repeat This Cycle
like everyone else, with the help of our family, I worked really hard up until here
TheGood Life
the successful Michael
The WHY
Good College
Good Grades
Good Job
Good Girlfriend
Good 2nd Job
Good Wife
Good 1st House
Good Kids
Good 2nd House
Help Your Kids Repeat This Cycle
since The Good Life seems so normal and time is so precious in this big race,
I never stopped to think about WHY we are doing all these
TheGood Life
?
Is it about happiness?
an obvious guess that came to mind was happiness we only live once, we might as well live a
happy life right?
*happy here doesn’t mean pleasure or temporary enjoyment
The Good Life = effective?
then I looked at myself and everyone around me, are we happy?
The Good Life seemed to be very effective for some things, but not all
*the Maslow’s Human Needs pyramid
The Good Life Rollercoasters in The Good Life, we work really hard to achieve our future goals and expect that once we
reach that goal, our life will be dramatically happier, but it’s not true,
we focus on the future goals so much that this becomes our life …
happiness level
2 weeks of Woohoo! I got into
UC Berkeley
4 years of stressing to achieve
the Good 1st Job
3 years of stressing to achieve
the Good College
The Good Life ≠ effectiveThe Good Life sure made us more successful and well-off, but happier?
in the past 30 years, our stress level has also increased by nearly 30%,
and Americans diagnosed with depression is also increasing by 20% a year, why?
Could we be happier?
I like to challenge the possibility of doing something better,
for me, there must be a way to live a
happier life
so I decided to find out how
The Great Risk
but I worked so hard to position myself well in The Good Life path, if I go on a search now, there’s an obvious risk of
being off track
The Good Life
a happier life?
riskriskriskrisk
risk
The Happiness Journey
but if I can use 1-2 years to make rest of my 60 years happier, it’s a good bet, so I went ahead
during this journey I did these to try to find the formula of happiness: reading, researching, trials and errors
and most importantly…
Travelinguse my own eyes to witness how other cultures find their happiness
The Happiness Formulaafter all, I believe the happiness formula looks something like this:
- family - friends - community Achievement
20%
Attitude 30% Health
20%
Relationships 30%
- physical - mental
- gratitude - positivity - confidence - compassion
- passions - do what you
are good at - be valued
Pursue happinessand here are some of the things I’ve already started to do
- swimming daily - big change in diet - change in lifestyle - meditation
- allocate more time and energy to important people in my life
- (this document is an example of me trying)
- meditation - mindfullness - pursue wisdom
- family - friends - community Achievement
20%
Attitude 30% Health
20%
Relationships 30%
- physical - mental
- gratitude - positivity - confidence - compassion
- passions - do what you
are good at - be valued
?
But is life just about happiness?
happiness is great, and with handwork, we can sure achieve a happier life,
but then I asked myself again,
is life just about being happy?
or is there something else?
How about other people?one of the most important thing that I learned during my travels is that
we live in a bubble, we worry about silly things and The Good Life,
while we have no idea how rest of the world is suffering
But what can you do?
we think we are here
our bubble tells us we are not in the position to care about others
because we need to help ourselves first, but this is the reality…
majority of the world
wealth, power, quality of life, and etc..
But what can you do?
we think we are here
we are actually here
majority of the world
our bubble tells us we are not in the position to care about others
because we need to help ourselves first, but this is the reality…
wealth, power, quality of life, and etc..
But what can you do?
we think we are here
we are actually here
we think we need to be here to be secure and then we can help others
majority of the world
our bubble tells us we are not in the position to care about others
because we need to help ourselves first, but this is the reality…
wealth, power, quality of life, and etc..
So what’s wrong?if everyone thinks like this, then the world will only continue to suffer,
how am I going to be happy knowing that
I’m not doing anything about it?
we think we need to be here to be secure and THEN we can do something
majority of the world
???
wealth, power, quality of life, and etc..
Life with a purpose?
I don’t want to live a life worrying about my own silly problems everyday,
I want to wake up feeling thrilled that…
today, I’m doing something great for others
What do you mean?
It means I want to…
solve real problems, make real impacts,
which is NOT solving problems like these…
- help ticket brokers sell over-priced tickets - help rich students do better than poor students who can’t afford tutors - help people eat more hot dogs - help Google Offers sell more stuff that people don’t need
(my past work)
In summary…
this is how I want my life to look like
Happiness Purpose
Next Page
Purpose -> Happiness
and the two actually work very well together
Achievement 20%
Attitude 30% Health
20%
Relationships 30%
- passions - do what you
are good at - be valued
Purpose
Good story, but what now?
I need a strong foundation to make this vision come true
Happiness Purpose
Foundation
The Foundation I need two things, financial security and wisdom
WisdomFinancial Security
Happiness
Purpose
I don’t need lots of money to be happy, but I do need money to sustain my or my future family’s lifestyle to feel secure
How can I solve other people’s problems while I don’t have enough to feel comfortable or secure?
Wisdom will help me live a happier life by making me a more positive, appreciative, and compassionate person
Wisdom will give me the clarity and mental capacity I need to solve big problems, especially during difficult times
The Projectionby achieving financial security and wisdom, I hope to follow this projection:
a happy and purposeful life
Financial Security
Wisdom
Happiness
Purpose
Time
The Lifeand live a life like this
happiness level
achieving something
meaningful to others and myself
- appreciate small things in life, - spend quality time with
people I love - being healthy - work hard for a purpose