self awareness

Four Key Points to Happiness

McRae PattersonLeave a comment

Running Shoe

Recently, I had a conversation with an investment funds manager that oversees millions of dollars for wealthy clients and he shared with me (off the record) that in his experience, most wealthy people aren’t happy. I was very surprised to hear that so many rich people are unhappy because of the common myth that money creates happiness.

His clients often ask his insight on how to live a more meaningful life. During the course of his career, he found that his unhappy clients were missing these four things:

  • Someone to love

People are wired for connection and there’s a proven link between isolation and depression. I’ve written in previous posts about how having more meaningful relationships contributes to happiness.

  • Something to believe in

There’s a part of us that needs fulfillment by believing in something bigger than ourselves. For me, it’s pursuing spirituality.

  • Something to do

Every person has a purpose and gets a since of accomplishment from doing something that makes an impact.

  • Something to look forward to

In every stage of life, there’s an element of hope that comes from having something in the future we enjoy that motivates us to get out of the bed in the morning such as a vacation, spending time with family, retirement, achieving things on a bucket list, etc.

The primary lesson I learned from this conversation, is that when people spend most of their time chasing wealth and neglect the other areas of life that truly matter, the end result is unhappiness. Instead, pursue the four things that contribute to happiness; meaningful relationships, something to believe in, purpose, and something to look forward to.

Resolve to Be More Effective

McRae PattersonLeave a comment

For this New Year, I would like to share a solution that can help you make more progress in your goals, so you won’t continue to have the same resolutions year after year. For a long time, I felt that I was like a hamster on a wheel, I was being productive and using a lot of energy but not getting anywhere. The old adage is true, you can make more progress working smarter not harder.

We can have specific goals but approach them the wrong way. One of the reasons people quit their resolution is because as they start the process, their approach doesn’t fit their strengths and it becomes too difficult to maintain an activity that magnifies their weaknesses.

For example, if I had a goal to lose weight and my approach is to run on a treadmill for 30 minutes, 4 times a week. Okay that goal is realistic for me to manage but plays on my weaknesses and not my strengths. I get bored with doing the same thing repetitively so after a while I would get tired of doing the same activity over and over again. Also, one of my top strengths is connectedness, so that means I enjoy doing things with other people.

If I want to set myself up to succeed, I would choose a physical activity that I enjoy that involves other people. For me that would be dancing which also would keep me interested because I can do a variety of moves. Self awareness is an essential key to success in many areas of life.

If you are interested in learning what your top strengths are so you can incorporate them into your goal setting and make more progress this year, I would recommend taking a strengths assessment like Strengths Finder, https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com for $10. I normally don’t recommend products but since this one has drastically improved my productivity, I wanted to share it with you so you have the tools to be successful this year.