The Route to Happier
What the philanthropic journey can teach us about happiness
I created the EQ of Wealth with a belief that you can have all it all — wealth, impact and happiness — as long as you focus on what matters.
The challenge is that if you stay SO focused on money, relationships get sidelined and it can be a direct route to despair.
It’s board meetings over birthdays; deadlines over date nights and late nights over school plays. The level of commitment required to build wealth (and a company!!) is very real, but so is the level of commitment required to build a happy life. And on the happiness front, Americans have work to do.
Just last month, for the first time since the World Happiness Report was first published in 2012, the USA is out of the Top 20 — ranking 23 in large part because of the massive drop in happiness among people under 30.
It’s time to integrate the research on happiness with wealth creation. The longest running study on happiness insists that strong intimate relationships are essential to long term happiness. We MUST find a focus that lets us do board meetings AND birthdays.
So how do we focus on what matters?
We look to the philanthropic journey. The classic journey from “me to we to mission.” If you’re seeing the parallels from sadness, to strong relationships, to true lasting impact, then you’re right here with me. Let’s go.
What is the philanthropic journey?
The philanthropic journey is the emotional (or even spiritual) experience that someone goes through as they become more deeply committed to service.
It’s typically used in reference to nonprofits (hence “philanthropic”), but I believe it can have a broader application to anything that is mission-oriented. Also now with impact investing, values aligned investing, or some for-profits able to raise philanthropic capital, the distinctions are less black and white, which I believe is a good thing.
Even though how we create impact is flexible, the philanthropic journey is fairly standard. It’s “me” to “we” to “mission.”
Me — How is this benefitting me?
We — What are we doing together?
Mission — What are we achieving that’s bigger than all of us?
The higher up you go (or the closer to “mission” you get), the more fulfilled you become by the acts of service and the better the outcomes for all.
What does this have to do with happiness?
The philanthropic journey actually correlates directly with what makes us happy according to Harvard Professor and happiness expert, Arthur C. Brooks.
First off, in case you don’t know the work of Harvard Professor Arthur C. Brooks, I highly recommend you check out his writing. What’s most important for this blog post are his four pillars of happiness:
Family
Friendship
Meaningful Work
Faith
You’ll notice that none of the items listed are bank account, investment portfolio, or net worth — the IQ of Wealth. These things are very important to give ourselves freedom, a strong foundation, and a beautiful home, but they’re not the direct route to happier. I love money, but there’s a reason the classic phrase exists — “money can’t buy happiness.”
It’s actually the EQ of Wealth or the focus on relationships that will get you to the pit stop of happier, faster.
I recently listened to this book on Audible and loved it. A short, but informative read — a mixture of research and resonance.
The EQ of Wealth focuses on the higher levels on the philanthropic journey — the “we” and the “mission.”
The “we” is our connection to friends and family, and “mission” focuses on the final two pillars on happiness — meaningful work and faith.
Please note: I should say that “faith” isn’t necessarily about religion, but a connection to something higher. One of the most important qualities of a founder is faith in a much bigger vision — what’s larger than me, my situation, or all of us? This is prime “mission” territory.
If you follow the philanthropic journey (and in turn the EQ of Wealth), you’ll not only make the world better, you’ll discover a shortcut to happier.
Gotta love a win/win.
