The Meaning of Your Life Never Comes From Your Failures

The why of your life never comes from that fantastic week at the beach in Ibiza. The average startup entrepreneur has 3.8 failures before their first success. Bernie Marcus, who started the Home Depot, tells me about going bankrupt a couple of times early on and what he learned from it.

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One of the most common questions we ask ourselves is “am I happy?” Am I happy in this job? Am I happy in this relationship? Am I happy living in this city?

But what does happiness actually entail? How do we achieve true happiness?

When it comes to learning more about happiness, the best person to talk to is Arthur C. Brooks. Arthur is a social scientist who specializes in the science of human happiness. He is the bestselling author of 12 books that cover topics like human happiness and economic opportunity. He also hosts the “How to Build a Happy Life with Arthur Brooks” podcast and writes columns on happiness and human behavior for The Atlantic.

In this episode of YAP, Hala talks to Arthur about what true happiness consists of and why so many people are unhappy. They discuss how to turn trauma into happiness and healthy ways to manage negative emotions. Arthur also describes the difference between fluid and crystalized intelligence and why we should pivot from fluid to crystalized intelligence during the latter half of our lives in order to stay motivated and avoid burnout.

Topics Include:

- Why did Arthur start studying happiness?

- Arthur’s inspiration for his book, The Plane Story

- The myth of happiness

- What happens when you turn 40?

- Fluid vs. crystalized intelligence

- Keeping our brains healthy

- 4 types of career

- Striver’s curse

- What is happiness?

- The importance of finding your why

- Turning trauma and failure into happiness

- Habits of the happiest people

- Managing anger and other negative emotions

- The beauty (and danger) of rumination

- And other topics…

Arthur C. Brooks is a behavioral social scientist with a focus on human happiness. He is the William Henry Bloomberg Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School. Before joining the Harvard faculty in 2019, he served as president of the American Enterprise Institute, one of the world’s leading think tanks. is the author of 12 books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller "From Strength to Strength.” He gives more than 100 speeches each year around the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Alongside his podcast and his articles in The Atlantic, Arthur served as the subject of the 2019 documentary film “The Pursuit,” which Variety named one of the “Best Documentaries on Netflix” in August 2019. He was also selected as one of Fortune’s “50 World’s Greatest Leaders.”

Resources Mentioned:

Arthur’s Articles in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/arthur-c-brooks/

The “How to Build a Happy Life with Arthur Brooks” Podcast: https://arthurbrooks.com/podcast/

Arthur’s Books: https://arthurbrooks.com/books/

Arthur’s Website: https://arthurbrooks.com/

Arthur’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthur-c-brooks/

Arthur’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/arthurbrooks

Arthur’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arthurcbrooks/

Arthur’s Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/ArthurBrooks/

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