The Real Secret of Happiness
We start life thinking that Success = Money. We study hard, work hard to be the Best. We sell our skills and want to project ourselves as the best. We make a lot of Money. We even spend a lot of Money but still there is the feeling of an emptiness. We miss our friend called ‘Time’. We wish to enjoy our Wealth, Our Relationships, Our Success. But we have no time. The One Upmanship game no longer excites us. We realise we can’t be the best. We realise that we can only be better. So to make time we need to create a Corporate Structure, Brand, Patents, Processes, Culture and a Competent Team and Good Associates / Partners. We need to reward the team ; some with salary & incentives ; some with profit sharing & some with stake sharing. Then slowly and steadily we step out and allow other leaders to take over. This means we also need to hire and cultivate leaders. The Brand does well; the Company does well and the Team does well. Profits go up, Cash Flow gets steady and eventually Valuation also shoots up
Still there is a Feeling of Emptiness.
Somewhere we start feeling that to feel more fulfilled if we need to make a positive difference in the lives of people ; solve a problem ; become hugely influential. Running a money making company need not provide all this despite the money, wealth & time (M×W^2×T^3 = Happiness Quotient). Thus the first rung of Happiness is Personal Mastery, the Second rung of Happiness is in creating an Automatic Business System that works without our active participation as we gradually take a back seat and start becoming invisible. We realise our visibility is the precise reason and the villain for which the valuation of our Enterprise is not getting unlocked.
That’s when we need to climb the third and final rung of Happiness which is making a positive difference in the lives of people ; when we can help the Lower Middle Class rise up the Social Ladder to Upper Middle Class. This takes place when we can provide education to all, health care to all, cleanliness to all. When we can transform the confidence level of people. When we can enhance the GDP of a Nation and become Nation Builders. Think of Narayan Murthy, Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani and many many more such people. Think of how the ‘sachet’ invention made is possible for the poor to use brands and gain confidence. They needed it more than anybody else and they drove the company sales through the roof & today Unilever earns more from this segment. Think of Jio which made mobile phones and Wifi affordable. Due to making WiFi and Mobile ubiquitous for one and many many people benefited; they could increase their productivity and Wealth. Think of Ola, Uber, Oyo, Swiggy, Zomato, GPay, Google, Maps and so on. How have they transformed lives of people. YouTube and other technologies have provided the foundation for many a Unicorns.
Growth breeds growth, success breeds success, positivity breeds positivity, hope breeds hope, goodness breeds goodness and so on and so forth. Thus the Final Self Actualisation stage for everybody is to fulfil that deep desire to make a difference in the lives of People and the Ecosystem.
This is the point in time when one stops expecting praises all the time (Think again of Ratan Tata and Narayan Murthy besides many many others). They know that somewhere in some home in some Village when a man is sleeping with his family, he and is family are quietly thanking and blessing us for making a positive difference in their lives.
To summarise the 3 rungs of Happiness
1) Personal Mastery.
2) Time Mastery and Transfer of Self Equity to Co-owned Brand Equity (the Disappearing Act).
3) Making a difference to the Ecosystem.
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