Engineering Personal Happiness

Sabri Suby shares his philosophy on maintaining excitement and creativity in life, particularly as people age. He believes that contrary to common perception, getting older doesn't have to mean becoming boring or less energetic. Instead, he advocates for deliberately engineering happiness and fun into both personal and professional life.

Key Points:

• Fundamental Philosophy:

  • Life becomes boring because people stop doing new things, not because they age
  • Most people rate their happiness at 7/10, but we shouldn't settle for "living at sevens"
  • Having fun should be engineered, not left to chance

• Professional Integration:

  • Entertainment is the currency that buys attention from prospects
  • Fun and creativity in business often lead to better financial results
  • Example: A "fun" ad campaign featuring him as a priest tripled sales

• Practical Implementation:

  • Plan holidays every 90 days for maintaining energy and creativity
  • Schedule fun activities with the same rigor as business meetings
  • Create stories and build anticipation (e.g., using ChatGPT to write children's stories about travel destinations)

• Maintaining Creativity:

  • Do something risky or take a big swing every year
  • Channel entrepreneurial restlessness into new projects within existing business
  • Focus on having fun while doing meaningful work

• Common Mistakes to Avoid:

  • Taking business too seriously
  • Assuming responsibilities prevent having fun
  • Waiting for fun to happen naturally instead of planning it

• Core Belief:

  • "If you're going to compete with somebody, you want to do things that feel like play to you and look like work to others"
  • When you have more fun doing things, you'll do them longer, get better, and see better results

• Life Philosophy:

  • Life can be viewed as either a comedy or tragedy - choose comedy
  • Don't accept the implicit belief that aging means becoming boring
  • Engineer situations that charge your batteries, even if they seem silly