Are you happy? What is happiness?
Happiness is a moment before we need more happiness.
How do you get it? Here is the answer, in roughly 1,000 words – no bullshit. This is the key to happiness. The secret is there is no secret. Enjoy the read.
It starts with a story
I was at a party last night and I said this in response to a question a guy I used to spend time with asked me:
“What have I been up to? I’ve been spending a lot of time learning and studying trading, so outside of that nothing, I literally don’t have friends anymore”.
Your first thought may be: how can I be at a party if I don’t have friends. But bear with me, I have friends I just don’t see them anymore, I’m exaggerating.
Unfortunately, due to the evolving mass-media landscape we’ve become so over-loaded with content we’e developed an insatiable appetite for the most hyperbolic stories.
So now to get through to people I exaggerate – it’s good for them, and it’s good for you, yes you, to most likely start doing the same to get your point through to people.
The point of the story is that by cutting out my friends to dedicate myself to a trading journey I've become significantly more happy.
I was once an unhappy person. It stemmed from having a complete lack of identity and purpose, coupled with the fact that after watching a few YouTube programs about space I began to question whether or not god genuinely existed with all science pointing against it.
I didn’t like being unhappy but I didn’t feel I had a choice. I even saw a therapist, partly because it’s free, and partly because I had some burning questions I wanted to wrap up.
Naturally one session turning into two, and two to three and I still speak to this wonderful lady from time to time.
Now I’m happy. Is it because I saw a therapist? Probably a little, but all she really did is help me put my life on track a little and ensure I realised what provides fulfilling happiness.
Sure, alcohol and drugs can give you it in the short-term. And, providing you’re not shooting any sugary liquids up your arm to zonk out for hours, I’m sure you’ll be ok. I’m not a proponent of either but I’m certainly not dead set against them either.
However, living in Dubai, I don’t want my hands chopped off because I use them regularly, so for this reason I stay on the side of caution.
People say they’re unhappy because: ‘they’re just unlucky’ or ‘nobody will give them a break’. Or, ‘good shit just doesn’t happen to them’.
But, in reality, we are a by-product of our discipline. And this has been proven so many times it is sickening to think that other people still don’t realise it.
You can have pretty much whatever you want. You just have to work for it.
I found happiness through discovering my identity. When I was unhappy I didn’t have a purpose, so on the weekend if was hungover I’d just wake up and drink the entire day.
I’m not an alcoholic. I just love drinking beer. After trading, it’s definitely one of my favourite things to do until I get to the point where I can't speak or fall over.
But for long-lasting happiness, you need significance.
Significance
Getting significance isn't easy - you need to develop your own purpose and identity. For us guys here on Profit.ly, it’s trading. But how do you get significance through trading? You get it by being in the top 10% and you get it by making money.
People will respect you if you’re good at something and they’ll naturally want to hang around with you – this makes you feel significant. Significance = happiness.
Take a look at Connor McGregor, Ray Allen, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hilary, err, not Hilary maybe, Ghandi, Richard Branson – these guys all became significant through their success and guess what, they seem pretty fucking happy. But it’s not just significance that makes them happy, there’s more to it than that.
Growth
As humans we have a genetic disposition to grow. This is built in so we can survive and thrive and build the human race. BUT unless your Steve Jobs you’re not probably going to do that on mass-scale. BUT you still can find happiness by growing yourself.
Who are you? What do you want to be? What do you want to become and how will you get there?
Ask yourself these questions right now and try to answer them. If you don’t know these answers there’s a chance you might be a little unhappy because you lack a sense of purpose and identity.
With each wave of learning I've encountered as I trade (and I've experienced around 5 big waves of things clicking) has come immeasurable satisfaction. This journey has been more fun than anything else I’ve ever partaken in my entire life.
I always laugh thinking: “if I’m this happy now as a losing trader how happy will I be when I’m winning?” The answer: probably not a lot more, because money CAN NOT ADD significantly more value to your life. Of course, you’ll be a bit happier. But the elements sub-headed in this discourse also need to be in balance.
And what do you do when you’ve grown enough?
Giving back
A little thank you to:
Tim Sykes, Tim Gritanni and my most favourite recent person to highlight here Arick Russel. We all have bad days but these dudes seem pretty much on the surface like happy go lucky chilled out entertainers. I'm sure they put hours of work in behind the scenes though.
I love these cool cats. I look up to these cool cats. I want to be a cool cat too.
Special props to Tim Sykes and Arick (see his YouTube here) because they consistently create content FOR FREE on a daily basis to help you change your life. Do they have to do this? NO. They’re doing this for them as well as for you – because it personally feels good to give back and help others.
I know because I also create content on YouTube (see it here) documenting my journey and I spend much of my time answering the same questions from beginners again, and again, and again, and again – into the 100s of comments just to help you guys.
Am I perfect? No. Am I winning? No. But can I give valuable, constructive advice based on my learnings? OF COURSE.
Next year I will use my YouTube presence to raise funds for cancer research – I’ll aim to raise $1 million dollars. If I can make even 1% of that target, I’ll be happy. But the bigger you dream the closer you’ll get.
Summary
From a truly unhappy person to now a very happy person I can summarise it for you. Life can be amazing. You can have, more or less, whatever you want. If you don't believe me just follow my profit.ly handle and watch my journey unfold. Things I could envision happening through hard work six months ago are happening RIGHT NOW. So I can feel in the next six months (max 12) I should break through into profitability. If not send me this blog posts in six months and I'll say you were right and jump off a cliff.
A work ethic will help you achieve happiness. So work hard, every minute, every day.
Good luck on your journey. Trade safe.