In his speech, Wozniak recounted an article he once read about former Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone. “He would fly to one city to sell a company for a billion today’s dollars, then fly to another… I thought, ‘Wow. To have that kind of wealth and power, would you Do you have this when you die?’ ?’” Wozniak, 73, said.
The answer was “no,” Wozniak continued: “I want to die remembering my pranks, the fun I had and the funny jokes. I decided that this life, for me, was not a question of accomplishment. It was a question of happiness.”
Wozniak came up with a simple equation for finding happiness: “H equals S minus F,” or happiness equals smiles minus frowns. In his case, the smiles often come from family, music and comedy, he says.
Wozniak’s love of comedy once got him into trouble at the very school where he spoke. In 1969, he was expelled from the University of Colorado at Boulder for hacking into the university’s computer systems and sending prank messages. He then re-enrolled in college in his home state of California, before dropping out and eventually co-founding Apple with Steve Jobs in 1976.
You can find joy in other areas of life, beyond family, music and acting. The idea is simply to be aware of what makes you happy and intentionally pursue it. People often struggle to find happiness because they view it as a destination – if they get married, have children or get a big promotion, they will finally be happy – according to the social scientist and professor at Harvard University, Arthur C. Brooks.
Brooks calls this the “arrival fallacy,” he told CNBC Make It last year.
“Happiness is not a destination, it’s a direction,” Brooks said. “How we become happier has something to do with things happening outside of us, but it has more to do with our inner lives.”
Finding things to be grateful for amid difficulties — like your loved ones or good health — can shift your brain to a more optimistic mindset and help you overcome those challenges, Wozniak added.
“Keep honest, keep smiling and pay it forward with your own successes,” he said.
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News Source : www.cnbc.com
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