Jason Nazar, Forbes.com

It was on a trip to Israel 2 years ago when I started asking myself the following question: “If I had accomplished everything I wanted in life, how would I feel?  And what if I let myself feel that now, while I’m still striving for my goals?”  Discovering the question itself was profound for me, although I was still struggling to apply the answers.

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Anyone chasing something big in his or her life can relate.  We simultaneously feel special but alone in our sense of purpose.  And we sometimes complicate feeling the simple emotion of happiness.  So one night at dinner with my then girlfriend (now fiancé) I made a list of all the things that make me happy.  I called it “My 6 Happiness’s”, the list has grown since then, and I’m going to share it in its original and amended form.  Here are the Original 6.

Growing Towards My Destiny

I’m driven at least in part by fear, the fear of wasting my potential.  Every moment I take the opportunity to be the person I truly want to be, is accompanied by a deep sense of satisfaction and peace in knowing that I’m growing one step closer to my destiny. It’s often an uncomfortable, unnerving and uncompromising process.  But pleasure and happiness are not the same.

Feeling of Empathy

Most of the time I really don’t enjoy talking about my own life. Sometimes it feels as if it drains the very energy from my body.  But, when I’m talking to someone who deeply understands me, my thoughts come pouring out like a babbling high school teenager.   I’m happiest when I spend enough time with that small set of people who truly get my fantastical imaginations & machinations.

Entertaining/Teaching

One of my deepest joys is making others laugh, a close second is teaching something that fundamentally improves others’ lives.  Whether it’s “Mastering Public Speaking” or “How to Persuade People”, I feel the most alive “edu-taining” others, and I know I need to spend the rest of my life in this endeavor.

Being Loved

Most of us want to go through life with a partner to share it with.  Knowing that at least one special person in this world will always be supporting you at your worst and cheering you on at your best may be the most special happiness of all.

In Work-Flow / Creating

Flow is where you lose track of time doing something you’re fully engaged in.  It’s all the more potent when you create something that didn’t exist but a moment before.  From an outsider’s perspective this may not seem like happiness.  However the joy of creation is not only punctuated by completion, but fueled by effortless concentration.

Ego/ Female (or Male) Energy

We’re all driven by the needs of our ego to validate our own importance relative to others and our surroundings.  For a lot of men this manifests itself as a constant need for female affection, and the physicality can be less coveted than the desire for validation.  I won’t presume to speak on behalf of women (ahem, comment section below…), but guy or girl, learning to harness (appropriately) our complimentary sexual energy and feed our ego makes us feel alive. (TIP: read the book “Way of the Superior Man”)

Some Secondary Thoughts:

Camaraderie

- been most happy in my life striving for a common goal with brothers in arms

Physical Discipline

- hard for me to feel completely happy these days without physical health and rigor

Children   

- don’t have any yet, but I’m sure this will shoot up to the top of my list

As entrepreneurs we may be shaping the future, but we’re also living in the present.  The things that make us happy don’t have to be tied to the goals we’re trying to reach.   Take happiness off your goal list, and add it to your daily to-do list.