Thursday, August 14, 2014

Don't Worry - Be Happy AND Successful!

"Connecting Happiness and Success:  A Guide to Creating Success through Happiness" by Ray White is one of those books you wish you would have read when you were a freshman in high school.  Not that I would have understood the importance of the wisdom that was being shared, but even if I could have picked up a few of the golden nuggets shared by White it could have possibly changed many different paths I found myself taking to get me to where I am today.

"Connecting Happiness and Success" is broken down into seven concepts - any one of which probably deserve a book on their own:  Pleasure vs Happiness (my favorite!), Take Control of Your Life (next favorite!), Positive Relationships, Higher Purpose and Meaning, Defining Success, Clarify and Prioritize, and Implement with Discipline.

If none of those chapters would have any use to you in your present life - congratulations.  Buy the book and give it to someone less fortunate.  In all seriousness, buy two books and keep one for yourself because you aren't being completely honest with yourself.

I have read quite a few books this past year for this blog - and none have been covered in highlight even half as much as this one.  I lost count of the times that I thought "That's really good!  I  need to write that down!"  Some examples:

     -  "(Don't miss) positive moments in life because (you) are busy trying to build a life that will be full of positive moments."

     -  "Think about work and vacation.  How many people plan and think about their vacations while they are at work, then go on the vacations and think about work?'

     -  "Another part of the problem is not loving or appreciating ourselves.  We know all our flaws.  We see the same flaws in other people; and because we hate them in ourselves, we judge and hate them in others."

If I put all of the highlighted quotes - I would probably get in trouble for reprinting a quarter of the book.  It's just that good.

I appreciate that White kept the book very readable.  Books like this many times can get so technical to the point that they are useless, but this book does not have that affliction.

White also does a tremendous job supporting his book with a "Happiness App" that can be downloaded for free, a very nice website (http://connectinghappinessandsuccess.com/), and backs up his credentials by serving on the board of www.pursuit-of-happiness.org.  Seeing all of this makes me want to quit my job and work with all of these happy people instead!

In conclusion, I would like to thank Ray White for the effort and work that went into this book.  You created something that you can be proud of, that has changed the way that I look at some situations, and is truly a gift that you have given to anyone who invests the time to read it.


Amazon Link                                                Goodreads

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