I have a friend who has a net worth of around $20 million.
This is old school money, so we are talking long-term investments: houses, commerical property and a share in a golf-course.He has been mentioned several times on my blog, usually when I’m talking about happiness.
For his $20m worth of cash, I’d say he’s got ten times that in happiness. Not outlandish, jumping on the couch cushions happiness.
Rather, that calm nod from the patio chair in his house that overlooks a lovely bay in Italy, where he spends most of his time.
Here’s his main takes for a happy life…
Never choose money as the goal.
He drilled this into me in the very early days of knowing him. When he was making me create lists of things I wanted in life and how much money I needed.
That turned out to be just $5,000,000 which was a surprise to me at the time but very accurate as the years have gone by.
He taught me that mindset and masculinity lead the way to money.
And the less you chase cash, the more it seems to appear.
That is the path I followed, and is the one I base all of my coaching on:
Get your head and your body sorted out, and money is a foregone conclusion.
Be mindful of what you wear.
I always found this piece of advice to be odd until he explained it further.
Buy expensive, quality clothes, but do your best to make sure the logo is not so big as you become ‘a walking billboard’.
This becomes a hugely edgy problem for your self-image once you realize you’re being played by the fashion house. People will judge you by that huge sign on your chest. I’ve seen guys on Twitter that I really like, dressed in the finest of gear and not a cheesy over-sized logo in sight.
Unconsciously, you’ll feel it. And it will affect your happiness bottom-line.
Live in a house that is sized to be a home.
This was a game-changer for me. I once lived in a house with six bedrooms and all the additionals: the game room, the gym, the home cinema, the lap pool.
You can’t look after a house of that size on your own so you will need to have it staffed.
Once you allow staff inside, the dynamic of the home changes. You have strangers inside and can never truly be yourself.
By all means have one big show house for your family gatherings and parties, and to impress whoever you feel the need to impress.
But buy yourself at least one house that you can call a true home. You and your family. Do your own cooking and cleaning and watch the affect it has on your mood. Close the shutters at night, sit by the fire and tell stories. Trust me. It’s amazing.
I have a small farmhouse that was supposed to me a retreat from everyone and instead became the place we are happiest in.
(Have a look at the kitchen cabinets in Elon’s house… that’s a home.)
Go for a walk.
This should be a daily occurance outside of going to the gym. No matter where you are, there will be an opportunity to walk, even if it means around the garden.
Preferably in nature like a park of a trail, but I’ve also found walking the city day or night to be very therapeutic.
Do at least an hour a day if you can. It will set you up for contentment in the long run.
And finally… Ice Cream.
Now, I know this flies in the face of all the diet and nutrition advice out there, but for this man, and me, and countless others there is literally no situation that cannot be made happier by the addition of an ice cream.
Doesn’t have to be every day but again, trust this old school businessman, it works. Until next time! Six