Entrepreneurs and the Happiness Quotient

Guest post by: Sylvia Lafair
Become an Author

Free PDF Download
The real meaning of leadership - By Sylvia Lafair

Entrepreneurs are seen as the happiest people in the world. And yet.... And yet... those I have coached tell me they know it is vital to keep up appearances of gusto and bravado for the world. After all, what can be better than working for yourself? What can be better than setting your own hours (even if for most entrepreneurs it is a 24-7 world)? What can take the place of the excitement and challenge of changing straw into gold day after day after day?

STOP: have you ever stopped long enough to ask yourself if you are happy? Really happy? Have you ever stopped long enough to ask yourself why you are working to build your company? Have you ever stopped long enough to ask your family how they see the sacrifices and the times without you?

START: to look at what it means to be happy. Is it the opposite of being unhappy? What drives you to get up in the morning and get going? And if you are really happy developing your business can you define what it is that you really, I mean really want to accomplish when the day is done.

STOP: thinking about happiness in its static state. Happiness is fluid, it is a process. It is hard to capture, like a beautiful butterfly it flits from moment to moment and has a fleeting effect. When it flies away are you left with despair and depression or enough resolve to keep going and find it again?

START: learning that happy people practice happiness. It is a form of strength training. You do it and do it and then one day you see how much better you look and feel. You practice happiness by thinking about others. You practice happiness by extending yourself toward others and doing at least one "good deed" a day.

STOP: thinking about happiness as only living in the moment. It is more complex than the latest motivational book. It is connecting the past and the present to make a positive future. Kids live only in the moment; adults connect life into a seamless whole.

START: sharing the good of what you produce, and more importantly who you are, what you are learning about life from your adventure as an entrepreneur. Then in your job as chief organizer, cheerleader, chef and bottle washer you can learn and teach others about what really matters, that is the essence of true happiness.

Life is a package deal. In "" you can learn about the essence of real happiness, where you learned how to relate to others, where you learned how to handle disappointments, and learned to pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and start all over again when the dark days appear. And if you didn't learn the lessons of happiness when you were a kid, please remember the words of author Tom Robbins "It's never too late to have a happy childhood"!

Who Makes a Better Salesperson - Men or Women?

Emotional Intelligence For Budding Journalists

Is There a Cost to Increased Productivity?

Pursuit of Happiness

Financial Services Professional - Problem Solving, Empathy, Assertiveness, and Happiness

IQ vs. EQ - Which Can Determine Your Success

Happiness Is A Decision

Marketing Happiness

Why are Lottery Winners So Unhappy? - The Real Story about Happiness

Do You Deserve To Be Happy and Successful?

Moments of Professional Happiness

Pursuit of Leadership Happiness

The State Of Happiness

The Real I.Q.

TOP 10 HAPPY QUOTES

The Ultimate Measure of Marketing Success

Happiness

Leadership Lessons: Automatic Happiness

Whats Your Prosperity Quotient

The Key to Happiness

Home > Leadership > Sylvia Lafair > Entrepreneurs and the Happiness Quotient > Google +

Free PDF Download
The real meaning of leadership - By Sylvia Lafair

About the Author: Sylvia Lafair

RSS for Sylvia's articles - Visit Sylvia's website
Developing leaders and transforming teams is my speciality. As a clinical psychologist I know that we bring the behaviors we learned in our original organization, the family, into our present work organization. The key to leadership is understanding how individuals form a system and how that system impacts the bottom line. I have worked globally and find that the core of relationships is much the same whether in California, China,or Chile. My book "Don't Bring It to Work (Jossey Bass) offers tools and strategies for developing collaborative work cultures and important core techniques for entrepreneurs to have motivated and fast moving teams. I am a speaker at national conferences, radio, and television. You can follow my blogs at http://www.sylvialafair.com/blog/ . You may contact Sylvia Lafair, PhD, author of "Don't Bring It to Work" directly at, sylvia@ceoptions.com or 570-636-3858 for any questions or feedback you may have.
Click here to visit Sylvia's website.

More from Sylvia Lafair
3 Leadership Rules to Get Employee BuyIn
People FirstThings Second Leadership Education
The Leapfrog to Leadership
Leadership and Winning the Lottery
Executive Leaders Hire for Attitude

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Share this post and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Featured

Expert

Robert Strong
@robertdstrong
Visit website

Entrepreneurs and the Happiness Quotient

Related Articles

Related Forum Posts

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.


Name:
Email: