With some idle hours on my hands past Labor Day after work on 'Get Out the Vote' campaign for my No Vacation Nation panel (South by Southwest 2010) ended, I was hit by a question, where did my life go in the last 13 years.
Call it the aftershock of losing my waiter job of 13 years on August 25th if you will.
So what did I do in the past 13 years, I worked, spent and misspent money, rarely took a vacation.
A few years back, I had a work accident and thought I should diversify my work portfolio, think of it as a stool with 5 legs, one breaks, you will not fall on your face.
I never implemented the idea.
I am putting it back on the front burner though and will elaborate on the topic in a separate post.
What's the connection with the Gross National Happiness index?
Making money is one thing but is it the only way to keep score?
Should I flog anything just to make a living?
Does keeping my integrity matters?
Would I rather walk to work than spend time sitting in traffic?
Would it be more enriching to work in the Social Entrepreneurship field?
Is happiness a result of our sense of accomplishment?
This is not a new theme. Po Bronson described it well in What should I do with my life? and as I was writing this, I was listening to Jeff Johnson on Brian Lehrer Show discussing his new book Everything I'm Not Made Me Everything I Am (Smiley Books) which follows that thread…
Reflections on life, work, meaning and happiness in the US can also be found in Gross National Happiness (Basic Books, Cover my illustration) by Arthur Brooks.
What got me writing on this topic today was Towards a better measure of well-being, a column by Joseph Stiglitz (FT, Sept 13).
Get Happy! for Monday Work Etiquette # 107
Previously: 8 Ways to Avoid Burnout by Vacation Advocate Joe Robinson