June 8, 2025 • 38 mins
🎙️ Episode Summary
What if happiness wasn’t a byproduct of success—but the foundation for it? In this episode, Coach Mo sits down with Edwin Edebiri, Global Chief Happiness Officer and founder of the I Am Happy Project, to explore why energy protection starts with mastering your inner joy. Edwin breaks down the science and soul of happiness as a learnable skill, not a fleeting emotion. From preventing burnout to building purpose-aligned businesses, this conversation unpacks how to train your mind to be happy—even when life gets heavy. If you’ve ever said, “I’ll be happy when...”, this episode flips the script. Success without joy isn’t success. It’s burnout in disguise.
💡 Key Takeaways
- Flip the Formula: Happiness Fuels Success
Most people chase success to become happy—but Edwin explains why happiness is the starting line, not the reward. - Happiness is a Skill, Not a Mood
Emotional energy can be trained. Through small practices like the 24-Hour Happiness Promise and gratitude, happiness becomes a muscle. - The Cost of Ignoring Joy
High achievers often delay happiness in pursuit of more—but burnout, emptiness, and mistrust await if joy is left behind. - Business Can Be Built on Happiness
The Happpreneur movement shows how integrating wellbeing into professional life boosts performance, resilience, and relationships. - Energy Protection Starts with Alignment
When your actions align with your core values, happiness becomes natural. Scarcity, competition, and stress lose their grip.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the let's Think About it podcast, where we
embark on a journey ofthoughtfulness and personal
growth.
I'm your host, coach Mo, andI'm here to guide you through
thought-promoting discussionsthat will inspire you to unlock
your full potential.
In each episode, we'll explorea wide range of topics, from
self-discovery and mindfulnessto goal-setting and achieving
(00:33):
success.
Together, we'll challengeconventional thinking and dive
deep into the realms ofpossibility.
Whether you're looking to findclarity in your personal or
professional life, or seekingstrategies to overcome obstacles
, this podcast is your go-tosource for insightful
conversations and practicaladvice.
So find a comfortable spot,chill and let's embark on this
(00:57):
journey of self-improvementtogether.
Remember, the power oftransformation lies within you,
and together we'll uncover thetools and insights you need to
make it happen.
So let's dive in.
Welcome to another episode ofthe let's Think About it podcast
(01:21):
.
I'm your host, coach Mo, andI'm here with another amazing
guest, my dear friend edwin eddebris.
What's up, brother?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
hey, I am happy and I'm excited to be here I'm happy
that you're here I even worethis shirt because I'm happy.
I see, love this, you know sowhere are you checking in from?
Right now I'm in the SanFrancisco Bay Area, specifically
Oakland, california.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
That's what I'm talking about.
That's my home turf.
That's where I'm from SanFrancisco, oakland.
Born and raised in SanFrancisco, raised in Oakland.
Here I am residing inSacramento.
Let's go Raised in Oakland.
Here I am residing inSacramento.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
So tell my audience who you are, what you do and the
type of value you bring.
Well, first of all, I'm justgrateful to be here and I'm
excited about what you're doing.
My name is Edwin Edebri and I'mthe Global Chief Happiness
Officer.
Anything happiness I am in it.
I started into this 2008, 2009and just going out during the
(02:38):
Great Recession and talking topeople about happiness.
I started to interview people.
I want to know why some peopleare happy, why others are not
happy and, especially, what canbe done to move you from
unhappiness to happiness.
So one person became two, twobecame three.
I ended up interviewing about1,000 people.
(03:00):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And take my audience through.
How did you get to this pointof marketing happiness?
What was your journey to get tothis point of launching?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And one day after meditation I was feeling really,
really good and just went outto my favorite place, which was
the Best and Noble Bookstore,because I love reading them and
I encountered a couple in theStarbucks inside Burns and
(03:36):
Nobles and this couple washaving a very intense
altercation and I was like manand I watched very quickly.
Everyone in Starbucks weretrying very hard to mind their
business and so I got the memo.
So I told myself I'm going tomind my business too.
But the moment I uttered thatthought I went into a trance and
(03:58):
I went straight to the coupleand I say excuse me, can I ask
you a question?
And they were kind of surprised, like don't you know what's
going on here.
But they called me to go aheadand then I said, on a scale of
one to 10, how happy are youright now?
And you could have had a pindrop in Starbucks.
(04:19):
And then they gave me a number.
So I said, hey, this is not abad number, this is great.
With a number like this, theremust be something you are
thankful for or happy about.
So I went back to my table,grabbed a piece of paper and a
pen and I gave it to them.
Maybe just give me one, two,maybe three.
And they each wrote down threeitems, but they wrote it the
(04:40):
same item in the same order.
And my mind was blown away andI told them, you know, at that
time I think I've been marriedlike 21 years or 22.
And I said, if my life dependedon it, there's no way my wife
and I can write down the samethree things and not to talk of
in the same order.
And then they laugh and then Isaid, hey, I don't know what's
going on.
(05:00):
Why don't you guys focus onthese three things that you have
in common and just kind of workon it?
And they thanked me, you know,I gave them a hug, you know, and
they laughed and I left, andthat day changed everything for
me, and that was when I've neverused the phrase on a scale of
one to 10 before then.
But it came out of nowhere andit became something that I
(05:22):
started using everywhere I go,and it became something that I
started using everywhere I go.
And so I started the I Am HappyProject for the whole purpose
of just encouraging people to beof service to somebody else.
But one of the biggest thing,though, that happened, that
really was a catalyst tostarting the I Am Happy Project
was a young man that I met inJack London Square and it was
(05:46):
one of those interview process.
And when I saw this man I askedhim hey, can I ask you a quick
question?
And he said no.
I was like come on, what isgoing on?
It's a beautiful Sunday andwe're in Jack London Square,
it's a beautiful place, you knowwhat can be going on.
And I say just a very quickquestion.
And he said not really.
I say yeah, we go again.
So, long story short, he saidokay, ask your question.
(06:09):
I asked on a scale of one to 10,it's called by far the lowest.
And in my mind I'm like whywould anybody rate themselves
this low?
Something must be going on.
I didn't know what exactly.
So I said hey, can I share aquick story with you?
I've been doing this for sometime now.
You know I've met so manydifferent people.
And then he said no.
So I said yeah, we're goingagain.
(06:30):
So I was like come on, this istoo hard, you know, but anyway.
So he said go ahead.
So I shared the first story thatcame to my mind and then,
towards the end of that firststory, I realized he slowed down
a little bit.
So then I said, hey, can Ishare one more story?
He didn't say yes or no, so Iassume it for a yes.
(06:50):
So I share one more story.
Then two more stories, thenthree more stories, I think
about a nice story or so.
Later, a little voice in myhead he said okay, I think you
need to chill now.
So I reached out to shake hishand and this guy grabbed my
hand.
He shield now.
So I reached out to shake hishand and this guy grabbed my
hand.
He will not let go.
So I'm thinking okay, what haveI got myself into now?
(07:11):
So he said what is your name?
I said as a general rule, Idon't give my name and because
at that time I've made adecision that I don't want
people to attach it to me, Ijust want us to talk freely and
so if we're meant to meet, we'llmeet again.
And he looked at me straight inthe eye.
He said no this time.
He said I didn't want to talkto you at first.
You make me stay here foralmost 30 minutes.
(07:33):
The least you can do is give meyour name.
So I thought that was fair and,plus, I wanted him to release
my hand too, you know, becausehe's holding my hand.
So, anyway, he released my hand, I went my way, except that the
next day I got a call from thisguy and he said do you remember
me?
I said, of course, in JackLondon Square.
And he said he's calling tothank me.
(07:55):
I said why?
And that's when they break thenews that when I stopped him, he
was on his way to commitsuicide.
And that changed everything forme, just changed everything.
It was just fun.
I was just happy to talk topeople about happiness.
And that's when I startedtaking it seriously that one
person can change somebody'slife just like that.
So I am happy.
(08:15):
Project grew very fast to 70 000people in 64 cities, 19
countries in two years, and thenforward, you know.
Then we got to the pandemic andI figure, hey, I've done this
before for individual, maybe wecan do this for business.
So we brought people to networkon that faithful day.
It was March 20th 2020.
(08:37):
It was International Day ofHappiness.
We have 65 people and it waslike what are we going to really
talk about?
Pandemic is going on, butanyway, people love it, they.
It was like what are we goingto really talk about.
Pandemic is going on, butanyway, people love it.
They say, hey, can we do thisnext week?
And I say, sure, why not?
So 65 became 120 people, then120 became 200.
At the height of the pandemicwe were getting close to 20,000
(09:00):
people every month in our event.
So it was was really fun time.
So that's how we've kind ofcome here.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
First I want to ask can you clone yourself?
Because there's a lot of stressand a lot of people that's
angry, mad, carrying a lot ofthis weight of feeling over.
They need you out here, theyneed your happiness.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Well, you are definitely part of it right now.
You're part of the movement man.
You know your work is helpingto get this message out there
and you do your thing, helpingpeople, supporting people, and
we all just need to do a littlebit, because one person cannot
do everything, cannot doeverything.
(09:47):
The main reason people feelingso stressed and feeling like
they're in a race or feelingthey're ready to burn out is
because the society have kind ofprogrammed us.
You know, we've been told to goout and work really hard, get
good grades and they get goodjob, and bust your behind and
maybe work 16 hour a day and youbecome successful and then
(10:08):
you'll be happy.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
And then we find out that's not quite happiness.
It's a consequence of success,instead of happiness being a
precursor to success.
Exactly, that's Buzz Crudup.
Well.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I can be happy after I'll be successful.
That's the mindset I need togrind right now, and then I'll
worry about being happy later.
They become successful, butthen they're not happy.
They're still feeling I'mmissing something.
Here's the question for you,edwin.
What is it that the happyProject do for people though?
(10:48):
Someone's stuck, someone'sfeeling frustrated, they're
stressed, they're carrying allof this dark cloud over their
head.
What does the Happy Project doto support them?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
So the first thing and I'll kind of go into the
apppreneur a little bit, youknow, is a word that I just
coined.
It's happiness and entrepreneurput together.
So that's apppreneurs.
Now, for some people, thisfirst time they are hearing it,
but I feel like it's going to bea household name.
You're going to see peoplewalking around and introducing
(11:21):
themselves and say, hey, I'm anappreneur, you know, and people
will already know what thatmeans.
Okay.
So the question is, what isthat?
Well, appreneur businesscommunity is a group of business
people that have come together.
A group come together with acommitment that they're going to
support each other.
Now you might say, well, thereare other organizations like
(11:43):
that out there.
So how is Appreneur different?
Appreneur is different becauseof the core, the focus.
The focus is happiness.
You see, appreneur is wherehappiness meets business.
Okay, so how do wedifferentiate ourselves?
The players will get together ona weekly basis.
(12:03):
So we meet, you know, fourtimes a month on a weekly.
The first and the third week isin-person.
So let's say it's a Tuesdaymeeting.
The first Tuesday and the thirdTuesday will be in-person.
The second Tuesday and thefourth Tuesday will be online,
and then, any month that havefive Tuesday.
(12:25):
The fifth Tuesday is off, justto reset Again.
That's keeping into wellbeing.
Okay, you know, keepingwellbeing into consideration,
and we meet for just 55 minutes.
Okay, that's it, 55 minutes,all right.
Now, what really separate us,though, you know, in addition to
our premier being a walkingmeeting, you meeting, there are
(12:46):
a lot of organizations out there.
They're kind of likeannouncement meeting, this
person referred this person,this person invited this person
and this person this and this.
So it's all announcement.
Our premier is work.
You come to work on yourbusiness for that 55 minutes,
and then the core of it is wespend five minutes every week
(13:09):
teaching happiness.
Okay, coach Bo, this is one ofthe reasons I'm excited about
this community I mentionedearlier on.
I interviewed over a thousandpeople on the subject of
happiness.
When you interview that manypeople, you know a thing or two
about the subject.
Interview that many people youknow a thing or two about the
(13:31):
subject.
82% of the folks I interviewtake happiness for granted.
Even people who are happy don'teven have a clue why they are
happy, okay, and so when lifethrows them a curveball, they
don't know how to get back tohappy, they're depressed and
stuff like that.
So when we teach happinessevery week and we are the only
organization doing that rightnow you cannot take happiness
for granted anymore.
(13:52):
You will walk out of everymeeting having a better
understanding of happiness.
Now let me be the first to sayI'm not saying that all our
premier are going to be happypeople all the time, but the
truth about it is they're goingto be happier than most people
and when they are not happy,they're going to have an idea
(14:12):
why they are not happy.
They know what to do to getback to happiness.
That's why we are going to bedifferent.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
But what do you say to people that have the mindset
I don't have time to be happyright now.
I need to bring in bread, Ineed to make money and that
happiness stuff that you'retalking, I feel you, but
happiness isn't paying the billsfor me right now.
What do you say to people withthat mindset?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Oh man, that's my biggest challenge, right, that's
the biggest challenge.
As a matter of fact, to kind ofput what you just said in
proper perspective, I met a ladyand she was like, yeah, you
know this happiness stuff, man,it's like I'd rather be crying
in a Lamborghini than to behappy in some other car.
(14:56):
And that person doesn't have aclue about what happiness is,
because they think abouthappiness as this fluffy stuff,
this nebulous stuff, things thatyou just can't hold and just go
by.
So that's the way they look athappiness.
So they figure, I don't want tobe bothered by that right now.
(15:17):
But the truth about the matteris they have no clue what
happiness is and they areusually some of those people
that don't even know why theyare happy, when they are happy,
when people truly understand thepower of happiness, the energy
that happiness brings, theattraction that is consistent in
happiness, and the fact thatthere's a body of studies that
(15:40):
already concluded that a happyperson is more creative, is more
resilient, is more productiveand, overall, is more successful
.
If they get that, then why wouldyou want to put happiness on
the side so you can pursuesuccess, when happiness can help
you accomplish that success andif you're happy now and you
(16:05):
become successful, that successis out of the cake because you
bring happiness along.
You cannot second guess whetheryou're going to be happy or not
.
You're already happy.
Now let's say you're notsuccessful, guess what?
You're already happy, so lethappiness do the heavy lifting.
And that's what most people arenot doing when you pursue
(16:27):
success and you leave happinessbehind.
I can tell you right now lifeis not a dress rehearsal.
Bring happiness along.
It makes your work a little biteasier.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Well, there's alignment right with happiness
and I'm going to go a layerdeeper on everything you just
said because I'm happy, I'mtruly, authentically happy, to
the core.
You know why?
Because I'm in alignment withmy core values.
I know my purpose and I applymy purpose in all that I do.
(17:04):
So I'm naturally happy.
I naturally wake up with this.
And people, most people, whohave a scarcity mindset, they're
in competition mode.
It's hard to be happy whenyou're in, really thriving, when
(17:32):
you truly understand your trueworth in this world and your
purpose and your why, and people.
That shows up with that mindset, as I described, I don't got
time for happiness, I need togrind.
That's a scarcity mindset,right, because, yes, you're
(17:54):
going to make it, you're goingto grind, but when you reach
that mountaintop, there's goingto be a level of emptiness that
you can potentially carry andyou're back where you started.
Yeah, I got more money, but I'mnot really happy.
There's an emptiness that Icarry.
And so what I hear you'resaying is man, let's define what
(18:18):
that is, define what makes youhappy internally, what lights
the lamp for you, what ignitesyou and how does it tie to your
values.
And then how do you carry thosevalues forward.
When you can identify that andnavigate from that, lens
(18:42):
happiness, happiness.
How true is that?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
It's so true because, first of all, a happy mind
comes from a position ofabundance.
Because when you lookeverywhere, look around us, you
know it's just.
When you look at money and yousay, oh, somebody is really rich
, you can add a few more zeros.
The next person will be richerthan that.
And then, add a few more zeros,next person will be richer than
(19:07):
that.
And the same thing with country.
You'll say, oh, this country isvery rich.
Add a few more zeros to theirGDP, the country will have more
money.
There is no.
Money, to a large extent, isunlimited.
However, when you are playingto your core value, you are even
more unlimited.
When they say this guy is thelimit, no, this guy can be the
(19:31):
beginning, when you are playingto your core.
I talk about this four quadrants.
So in my research, I look atpoor folks okay, that are happy,
and poor folks that are unhappy.
So that's one category.
Then you have rich folks orwealthy folks that are happy and
wealthy folks that are unhappy.
(19:52):
That's two happy and wealthyfor that are unhappy.
That's when you look at thosequadrants.
Now, when you ask most peoplewhich is the worst category to
be, Actually, let me just throwit to you.
Let me see where you go withthat.
You know.
You know what is the which isthe worst category to be.
You have poor person that'sunhappy, and you have poor
(20:13):
person that's happy, and thenyou have a rich person that's
that is happy, and then richperson that's unhappy, and you
have poor person that's happy,and then you have a rich person
that's that is happy and a richperson that's unhappy.
What do you think, just off thegut, what do you think would be
the worst category?
I would say the person that'spoor but happy that would be the
worst category or the bestcategory.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Oh, you're asking me which category.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
It's the worst, yes, by far the worst category.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Oh, the worst category.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I don't want to ever belong to this category.
You know, if you have thosefour categories, I want your
audience to kind of come alongwith us on this one A rich
person that is happy, a richperson that's unhappy, poor
person that's happy and a poorperson that's unhappy what would
be the worst category thatanybody can ever be?
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Poor person that's unhappy would be the worst
category.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
And that's what most people will say, but my research
doesn't support that.
My research supports that a richperson that is unhappy is the
worst category, and we have todive into this a little bit.
Just from the surface, if youlook at a poor person that's
(21:31):
unhappy, they can blame some oftheir unhappiness to the fact
that they are poor and so thefact that they are poor, they
can do something about it.
They can go play lottery.
If they just win lottery, theywill become happy because in
their mind, if they just becomerich, they will be happy.
They go work two jobs, threejobs, five jobs even though we
(21:53):
know that's not the case, eventhough if they have more money,
that's not going to changebecause they are still the
person that's unhappy.
Okay, the money is not going tochange it automatically.
Now, when you come to a richperson that is unhappy, that's a
whole different ballgame.
You see, if you go to myLinkedIn page, you know I think
(22:14):
it's a background they call it.
You know I say that.
You know, when you are wealthyand happy, it is seriously
fulfilling, it's very fulfilling, all right, but when you are
wealthy and unhappy, it's deeplydistressing, deeply distressing
(22:35):
.
See, when you have all themoney in the world and you are
not happy, you cannot say, man,if I just become rich, I will be
happy.
Or you cannot say, man, if Ijust become broke, I will be
happy.
You just don't have thatleverage anymore.
And then the worst part of iteverybody around you that could
make you happy, they aresuspicious of them.
Everybody around you that couldmake you happy, you're
(22:55):
suspicious of them, you know,because they might be coming to
get your money.
You know the world might betrying to make you poor.
This means, you know, becauseyou are internally unhappy.
It's very distressing andthat's really the worst, you
know.
And so when we see some peoplewho become successful and they
bring happiness along, that's adegree of misery that comes with
(23:19):
it.
When you touch on, you becomeemptiness.
That emptiness can eat you fromthe inside.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So sometimes people have to slow down in this rat
race and I want the audience tobe clear about this.
Folks, I am in no way tellinganybody not to go out, and make
money, that's not what I'msaying.
By all means, if you're a happyperson, I want you to make a
bungle of money, because when ahappy person makes a ton of
money, that makes them a betterplace, because it's about the
(23:54):
impact they can have, and happypeople understand that to truly
spread happiness, you have to beof service to other people, and
so when you have a ton of moneyand you are happy, the world is
a much better place.
But the reverse is the case.
If you have a ton of money andyou are not happy, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Right, so help me understand this.
A person who is feeling likerock bottom yes, how do one
shift to becoming happy ifthey're in that state of being
rock bottom?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Right.
So first of all, I hope thatpeople don't get to rock bottom
before they understand the valueof happiness.
Part of what I gather from mystudy is that we have to change
the narrative.
Everybody, whether it's yoursociology, your psychologist,
your psychiatrist, everybody sayhappiness is an emotion.
(24:59):
Okay, and that's true.
I'm not going to argue that.
But if we leave it as emotion,then we are totally powerless.
You know, we go to thisemotional roller coaster, so we
are happy when things are greatand we're in the toilet when
it's done.
So we have to first of allchange the narrative.
We have to move from happinessas an emotion to happiness as a
(25:21):
skill, and that's what my booktalks about.
It's not just only happiness asa skill, but happiness as a
learnable skill.
So now, if you are in thatrealm of okay, I'm going to
learn certain skills, that'sgoing to help me be happy then
when you are in the wrong bottombecause life throws all the
force at curveball from time totime you know what to do to
(25:43):
bring yourself back up.
So if you don't have thatfoundation right now and you are
wrong bottom, then here's whatI want to suggest.
Number one seek help.
Okay, seek help.
There's a lot of help that'savailable, a lot of help, both
non-profit and for-profit.
There are a lot of people thatwant to help, okay, Because
(26:05):
there are some times you hitrock bottom so hard and you're
so overwhelmed you can't eventhink clearly anymore.
Okay, so seek help and letsomebody help you get out of it
a little bit.
And now, once you've done that,the first thing I want you to
do is one of my most popularskills that I train on.
Okay, I call it the 24-hourpromise.
(26:25):
The 24-hour promise is you goto the front of the mirror, okay
, and you look yourself straightin the mirror and just say you
know what I'm going to promisemyself that I'm going to be
happy for 24 hours.
Now, I know 24 hours sound likevery short period, but if you
(26:45):
really hit rock bottom, 24 hoursmight be a really long time.
So you might not start with 24hours.
You may start with six hours,okay, and you may even just
start with one hour.
It depends on where you are,but start somewhere.
So here is the way it workswhen you promise yourself you're
going to be happy now it's alsohelpful to know what makes you
(27:07):
happy, Remember, I talked aboutearlier on how people take
happiness for granted.
So if you don't know what makesyou happy, then that's where
you got to start from, Okay, butI'll give you two things that
really help with happiness.
Number one is gratitude.
Okay, Express gratitude nomatter what.
Even if you are rock bottom,find something to be grateful
(27:27):
for.
So that's number one.
Number two be of service toother people.
Forget about yourself for asecond.
Okay.
Move on to other people andguess what you can.
So 24-hour promise.
Now, if you go through 24-hourand you're feeling happy, things
are going well, then at the endof 24 hours, you renew the
(27:47):
contract for another 24 hours,and so that's why you hear that
you know, one day at a time isnot too difficult, but if you
struggle through the first 24hours, don't sweat it.
Now, Coach Mo, here issomething that comes very close
to that 24 hours and, in short,in my book, these two chapters
come very close together.
The 24 hours is when you startto really challenge yourself and
(28:12):
you start to promise yourselfthat you're going to be happy.
That's when it gets reallytough.
Being happy is not easy, okay.
So what happens is, let's say,for six hours into it, somebody
comes along and just puts a damptowel on you, you know, and
you're like damn, I can't evenbelieve this man.
You know, everybody is happy.
I'm the only one that can'teven be happy for six hours.
(28:32):
Don't beat on yourself.
This is where you haveself-compassion, okay,
Self-compassion doesn't mean yoube selfish.
It just simply means treatyourself exactly the same way
you would treat your best friendIf your best friend was to set
a goal.
They want to be happy for 24hours and they miss it.
You know, and they'll be happyfor six hours.
You're not going to go thereand beat on them.
(28:54):
You and they'll be happy forsix hours.
You're not going to go thereand beat on them.
You're going to encourage them.
So you have to learn toencourage yourself until you get
a full 24 hours and once yourbrain starts to reprogram itself
, that can take you to a levelthat you can start to be
consistent in staying happy.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Okay, so share with us a success story of someone
that you mentored to go throughthat challenge that you just
described.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
So a very good one was a young kid, you know, I
think it probably be like amiddle school, okay, and I went
in and do like a normal talk Ido.
I get invited to differentschool to come and talk.
I got to this school, the firstthing the teacher told me he
said hey, you know what, ifyou're going to make any
progress in this class today,just forget about that kid.
(29:46):
You know, and I'm like, sonaturally I zoom on that kid.
I'm not going to go through allthe details, but I zoom on that
kid.
I zoom on that kid.
I'm not going to go through allthe details, but I zoom on that
kid.
And I think the kid wasprobably doing like a D minus,
got suspended a few times.
I started to tell the kids youknow, hey, you know what, I get
it.
If you are not happy, who caresabout school?
(30:07):
If you are not happy, who caresabout grades?
If you are not happy, who caresabout punishment suspension?
But he didn't care about any ofthose.
And he cares about punishmentsuspension, but he don't care
about any of those.
And then the kid was not happyand I just said, hey, you know
what?
Can we work on you being happyfor like a few hours a day.
Just a few hours a day I don'twant to put my hope too high
Just a few hours a day.
(30:28):
And he's like, oh, I can dothat, all right.
And of course he struggled, youknow, in that few hours, but
eventually we got it to wherethis kid was able to call me the
next day and say, hey, I made24 hours.
It wasn't the first day, itwasn't the second day, it wasn't
the third day.
I think it took like a week or aweek and a half to be able to
do 24 hours in just completely.
(30:50):
Then, when this kid called me,we celebrated.
Now the long story about thatis the kid went from a D to a B
at the end of that semester, bythe second semester, the kid was
getting A's and all of a sudden, no more irritating other
students, no more disturbingteachers, no more suspect.
(31:13):
I mean, it was a transformation.
That's when I realized thathappiness truly, truly, truly,
is a learnable skill and anybodycan learn.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Man so powerful, so powerful.
Thank you, brother.
As we get ready to sign off, Iwant you to share again.
I know you brought this upearlier in the episode when we
first signed on, but share whatyou're doing to help business
owners be more happy.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Awesome.
Thank you very much.
So AppPreneur folks, if youhave not heard of it, you're
going to hear of it.
You know it's AppPreneur.
I'm sure Coach Moore willprobably make information about
it available, but I just tookhappiness and entrepreneur and I
put it together to come withpremiums and you're going to
hear about that.
So what we are doing, folks andwe are doing this like just
(32:06):
chapter by chapter we're movingfrom city to city.
You know, right now we haveabout 13 chapters in the work.
We just officially launched itMarch 28th, which is
International Day of Happinessthis year.
So we're making progress.
We meet weekly okay, four timesa week, and the whole idea is to
really support each other.
(32:26):
When people come together.
You teach people how to referbusiness to you okay, and they
teach you the same thing.
You decide how can you supporteach other this week or this
month, not next week or nextyear, but this week or this
month.
You show somebody how they cansupport you this week, how they
can support you this month, sothat by the end of the week or
(32:48):
the end of the month, youalready got support.
Okay, why would they want to dothat?
Because that's what happypeople do, you know.
Because that's what happypeople do.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
That's what happy people do.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
They like to support people.
So we are just creating acommunity.
You know that encourages thatand put people together.
So there might be about 30 to40 people in a chapter.
Each chapter is a single seat,you know.
By that means there's onebusiness per category.
So there's no competition, it'sall friendliness, it's all
collaboration and we help eachother.
(33:17):
Now one of the things that we dothat is really cool is what I
call the Amplify.
I use happiness to amplify yoursocial media and everybody
support each other and you growyour social media.
And then, of course, we spendjust five minutes teaching
happiness Folks.
I'm telling you you might belistening to this now and say,
(33:38):
oh, I'm a happy person.
I may not need that, that'sfine, but understand, you're
hearing it from someone who hasstudied happiness for almost two
decades.
Okay, I know the power thathappiness has, that when you are
walking truly from the insideand you are working with other
people who are also on the samewavelength, it just makes your
(34:00):
work a little bit easier and itmakes your success a little more
rewarding.
So that's what Apprenio is.
I truly believe and maybe I'mbiased, but I truly believe that
we are going to build not onlythe largest community of happy
people, but we are going tobuild the largest community of
successful people that arereally happy.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
And the let's Think About it podcast is happy to be
a sponsor of the movement yes,of the movement.
So more happy news is comingyour way.
Be on alert.
Thank you, my friend.
Thank you, and how can peoplefind how to register or get
(34:48):
involved in the Happy New Year'scommunity?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
So, basically, they just go to the website.
Right now, it'sH-A-P-P-R-E-N-E-U-R-Scom.
Again, that'sH-A-P-P-R-E-N-E-U-R-oscom.
(35:14):
And make sure, though, thatwhen you fill out the
information and you want peopleto get back to you, let
everybody know where you heardabout us, because that is what
we are talking about here.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Lastly, before we sign off, thoughts nuggets that
you'd like to leave the audiencebefore we jump out of here.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Well, I just want your audience to know that every
human being deserves to behappy.
Okay, when things are tough,it's a lot more difficult to
learn to be happy, and so it'sone of those things where it's
better to have and don't needthan to need and don't have.
Ok, so if you can either grab acopy of my book, you know, and
(36:00):
just learn a little bit abouthappiness, you know, you have my
name on the screen and my bookis available on Amazon and you
can pick a teen or two, usuallyof the 20 something skill I went
through, only one or two skillscan make a big difference in
your life.
But I want to tell you thisfolks, don't take happiness for
granted and just be reminded,just be reminded that you have
(36:25):
happiness inside of you and lethappiness help you do the heavy
lifting Boom.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
There it is my man, ed.
I appreciate you, brother.
Thank you for coming on,sharing and, more importantly,
being happy with me.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
I love it and thank you so much for all that you do,
man.
I'm so proud of you, man.
I see you come a long way andnow the world can definitely
benefit, man, from what you'redoing.
So this is awesome.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Thank you.
Thank you for joining me inthis episode of let's Think
About it.
Your time and attention aregreatly appreciated.
If you found value in today'sdiscussion, I encourage you to
subscribe on your favoritepodcast platform.
Remember, the journey ofself-improvement is ongoing and
(37:16):
I'm here to support you everystep of the way.
Connect with me on social mediafor updates and insights.
You can find me on Instagramand Facebook, at Coach Mo
Coaching or LinkedIn, at MauriceMabry, or visit my website at
mauricemabrycom for exclusivecontent.
(37:36):
Until next time, keepreflecting, keep growing and,
most importantly, keep believingin yourself.
Remember, the most effectiveway to do it is to do it
Together.
We're making incredible stridestoward a better and more
empowered you, so thank you, andI'll see you in our next
(37:59):
episode.
Welcome to the let's Think About it podcast, where we
embark on a journey ofthoughtfulness and personal
growth.
I'm your host, coach Mo, andI'm here to guide you through
thought-promoting discussionsthat will inspire you to unlock
your full potential.
In each episode, we'll explorea wide range of topics, from
self-discovery and mindfulnessto goal-setting and achieving
(00:33):
success.
Together, we'll challengeconventional thinking and dive
deep into the realms ofpossibility.
Whether you're looking to findclarity in your personal or
professional life, or seekingstrategies to overcome obstacles
, this podcast is your go-tosource for insightful
conversations and practicaladvice.
So find a comfortable spot,chill and let's embark on this
(00:57):
journey of self-improvementtogether.
Remember, the power oftransformation lies within you,
and together we'll uncover thetools and insights you need to
make it happen.
So let's dive in.
Welcome to another episode ofthe let's Think About it podcast
(01:21):
.
I'm your host, coach Mo, andI'm here with another amazing
guest, my dear friend edwin eddebris.
What's up, brother?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
hey, I am happy and I'm excited to be here I'm happy
that you're here I even worethis shirt because I'm happy.
I see, love this, you know sowhere are you checking in from?
Right now I'm in the SanFrancisco Bay Area, specifically
Oakland, california.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
That's what I'm talking about.
That's my home turf.
That's where I'm from SanFrancisco, oakland.
Born and raised in SanFrancisco, raised in Oakland.
Here I am residing inSacramento.
Let's go Raised in Oakland.
Here I am residing inSacramento.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
So tell my audience who you are, what you do and the
type of value you bring.
Well, first of all, I'm justgrateful to be here and I'm
excited about what you're doing.
My name is Edwin Edebri and I'mthe Global Chief Happiness
Officer.
Anything happiness I am in it.
I started into this 2008, 2009and just going out during the
(02:38):
Great Recession and talking topeople about happiness.
I started to interview people.
I want to know why some peopleare happy, why others are not
happy and, especially, what canbe done to move you from
unhappiness to happiness.
So one person became two, twobecame three.
I ended up interviewing about1,000 people.
(03:00):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And take my audience through.
How did you get to this pointof marketing happiness?
What was your journey to get tothis point of launching?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And one day after meditation I was feeling really,
really good and just went outto my favorite place, which was
the Best and Noble Bookstore,because I love reading them and
I encountered a couple in theStarbucks inside Burns and
(03:36):
Nobles and this couple washaving a very intense
altercation and I was like manand I watched very quickly.
Everyone in Starbucks weretrying very hard to mind their
business and so I got the memo.
So I told myself I'm going tomind my business too.
But the moment I uttered thatthought I went into a trance and
(03:58):
I went straight to the coupleand I say excuse me, can I ask
you a question?
And they were kind of surprised, like don't you know what's
going on here.
But they called me to go aheadand then I said, on a scale of
one to 10, how happy are youright now?
And you could have had a pindrop in Starbucks.
(04:19):
And then they gave me a number.
So I said, hey, this is not abad number, this is great.
With a number like this, theremust be something you are
thankful for or happy about.
So I went back to my table,grabbed a piece of paper and a
pen and I gave it to them.
Maybe just give me one, two,maybe three.
And they each wrote down threeitems, but they wrote it the
(04:40):
same item in the same order.
And my mind was blown away andI told them, you know, at that
time I think I've been marriedlike 21 years or 22.
And I said, if my life dependedon it, there's no way my wife
and I can write down the samethree things and not to talk of
in the same order.
And then they laugh and then Isaid, hey, I don't know what's
going on.
(05:00):
Why don't you guys focus onthese three things that you have
in common and just kind of workon it?
And they thanked me, you know,I gave them a hug, you know, and
they laughed and I left, andthat day changed everything for
me, and that was when I've neverused the phrase on a scale of
one to 10 before then.
But it came out of nowhere andit became something that I
(05:22):
started using everywhere I go,and it became something that I
started using everywhere I go.
And so I started the I Am HappyProject for the whole purpose
of just encouraging people to beof service to somebody else.
But one of the biggest thing,though, that happened, that
really was a catalyst tostarting the I Am Happy Project
was a young man that I met inJack London Square and it was
(05:46):
one of those interview process.
And when I saw this man I askedhim hey, can I ask you a quick
question?
And he said no.
I was like come on, what isgoing on?
It's a beautiful Sunday andwe're in Jack London Square,
it's a beautiful place, you knowwhat can be going on.
And I say just a very quickquestion.
And he said not really.
I say yeah, we go again.
So, long story short, he saidokay, ask your question.
(06:09):
I asked on a scale of one to 10,it's called by far the lowest.
And in my mind I'm like whywould anybody rate themselves
this low?
Something must be going on.
I didn't know what exactly.
So I said hey, can I share aquick story with you?
I've been doing this for sometime now.
You know I've met so manydifferent people.
And then he said no.
So I said yeah, we're goingagain.
(06:30):
So I was like come on, this istoo hard, you know, but anyway.
So he said go ahead.
So I shared the first story thatcame to my mind and then,
towards the end of that firststory, I realized he slowed down
a little bit.
So then I said, hey, can Ishare one more story?
He didn't say yes or no, so Iassume it for a yes.
(06:50):
So I share one more story.
Then two more stories, thenthree more stories, I think
about a nice story or so.
Later, a little voice in myhead he said okay, I think you
need to chill now.
So I reached out to shake hishand and this guy grabbed my
hand.
He shield now.
So I reached out to shake hishand and this guy grabbed my
hand.
He will not let go.
So I'm thinking okay, what haveI got myself into now?
(07:11):
So he said what is your name?
I said as a general rule, Idon't give my name and because
at that time I've made adecision that I don't want
people to attach it to me, Ijust want us to talk freely and
so if we're meant to meet, we'llmeet again.
And he looked at me straight inthe eye.
He said no this time.
He said I didn't want to talkto you at first.
You make me stay here foralmost 30 minutes.
(07:33):
The least you can do is give meyour name.
So I thought that was fair and,plus, I wanted him to release
my hand too, you know, becausehe's holding my hand.
So, anyway, he released my hand, I went my way, except that the
next day I got a call from thisguy and he said do you remember
me?
I said, of course, in JackLondon Square.
And he said he's calling tothank me.
(07:55):
I said why?
And that's when they break thenews that when I stopped him, he
was on his way to commitsuicide.
And that changed everything forme, just changed everything.
It was just fun.
I was just happy to talk topeople about happiness.
And that's when I startedtaking it seriously that one
person can change somebody'slife just like that.
So I am happy.
(08:15):
Project grew very fast to 70 000people in 64 cities, 19
countries in two years, and thenforward, you know.
Then we got to the pandemic andI figure, hey, I've done this
before for individual, maybe wecan do this for business.
So we brought people to networkon that faithful day.
It was March 20th 2020.
(08:37):
It was International Day ofHappiness.
We have 65 people and it waslike what are we going to really
talk about?
Pandemic is going on, butanyway, people love it, they.
It was like what are we goingto really talk about.
Pandemic is going on, butanyway, people love it.
They say, hey, can we do thisnext week?
And I say, sure, why not?
So 65 became 120 people, then120 became 200.
At the height of the pandemicwe were getting close to 20,000
(09:00):
people every month in our event.
So it was was really fun time.
So that's how we've kind ofcome here.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
First I want to ask can you clone yourself?
Because there's a lot of stressand a lot of people that's
angry, mad, carrying a lot ofthis weight of feeling over.
They need you out here, theyneed your happiness.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Well, you are definitely part of it right now.
You're part of the movement man.
You know your work is helpingto get this message out there
and you do your thing, helpingpeople, supporting people, and
we all just need to do a littlebit, because one person cannot
do everything, cannot doeverything.
(09:47):
The main reason people feelingso stressed and feeling like
they're in a race or feelingthey're ready to burn out is
because the society have kind ofprogrammed us.
You know, we've been told to goout and work really hard, get
good grades and they get goodjob, and bust your behind and
maybe work 16 hour a day and youbecome successful and then
(10:08):
you'll be happy.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
And then we find out that's not quite happiness.
It's a consequence of success,instead of happiness being a
precursor to success.
Exactly, that's Buzz Crudup.
Well.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I can be happy after I'll be successful.
That's the mindset I need togrind right now, and then I'll
worry about being happy later.
They become successful, butthen they're not happy.
They're still feeling I'mmissing something.
Here's the question for you,edwin.
What is it that the happyProject do for people though?
(10:48):
Someone's stuck, someone'sfeeling frustrated, they're
stressed, they're carrying allof this dark cloud over their
head.
What does the Happy Project doto support them?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
So the first thing and I'll kind of go into the
apppreneur a little bit, youknow, is a word that I just
coined.
It's happiness and entrepreneurput together.
So that's apppreneurs.
Now, for some people, thisfirst time they are hearing it,
but I feel like it's going to bea household name.
You're going to see peoplewalking around and introducing
(11:21):
themselves and say, hey, I'm anappreneur, you know, and people
will already know what thatmeans.
Okay.
So the question is, what isthat?
Well, appreneur businesscommunity is a group of business
people that have come together.
A group come together with acommitment that they're going to
support each other.
Now you might say, well, thereare other organizations like
(11:43):
that out there.
So how is Appreneur different?
Appreneur is different becauseof the core, the focus.
The focus is happiness.
You see, appreneur is wherehappiness meets business.
Okay, so how do wedifferentiate ourselves?
The players will get together ona weekly basis.
(12:03):
So we meet, you know, fourtimes a month on a weekly.
The first and the third week isin-person.
So let's say it's a Tuesdaymeeting.
The first Tuesday and the thirdTuesday will be in-person.
The second Tuesday and thefourth Tuesday will be online,
and then, any month that havefive Tuesday.
(12:25):
The fifth Tuesday is off, justto reset Again.
That's keeping into wellbeing.
Okay, you know, keepingwellbeing into consideration,
and we meet for just 55 minutes.
Okay, that's it, 55 minutes,all right.
Now, what really separate us,though, you know, in addition to
our premier being a walkingmeeting, you meeting, there are
(12:46):
a lot of organizations out there.
They're kind of likeannouncement meeting, this
person referred this person,this person invited this person
and this person this and this.
So it's all announcement.
Our premier is work.
You come to work on yourbusiness for that 55 minutes,
and then the core of it is wespend five minutes every week
(13:09):
teaching happiness.
Okay, coach Bo, this is one ofthe reasons I'm excited about
this community I mentionedearlier on.
I interviewed over a thousandpeople on the subject of
happiness.
When you interview that manypeople, you know a thing or two
about the subject.
Interview that many people youknow a thing or two about the
(13:31):
subject.
82% of the folks I interviewtake happiness for granted.
Even people who are happy don'teven have a clue why they are
happy, okay, and so when lifethrows them a curveball, they
don't know how to get back tohappy, they're depressed and
stuff like that.
So when we teach happinessevery week and we are the only
organization doing that rightnow you cannot take happiness
for granted anymore.
(13:52):
You will walk out of everymeeting having a better
understanding of happiness.
Now let me be the first to sayI'm not saying that all our
premier are going to be happypeople all the time, but the
truth about it is they're goingto be happier than most people
and when they are not happy,they're going to have an idea
(14:12):
why they are not happy.
They know what to do to getback to happiness.
That's why we are going to bedifferent.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
But what do you say to people that have the mindset
I don't have time to be happyright now.
I need to bring in bread, Ineed to make money and that
happiness stuff that you'retalking, I feel you, but
happiness isn't paying the billsfor me right now.
What do you say to people withthat mindset?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Oh man, that's my biggest challenge, right, that's
the biggest challenge.
As a matter of fact, to kind ofput what you just said in
proper perspective, I met a ladyand she was like, yeah, you
know this happiness stuff, man,it's like I'd rather be crying
in a Lamborghini than to behappy in some other car.
(14:56):
And that person doesn't have aclue about what happiness is,
because they think abouthappiness as this fluffy stuff,
this nebulous stuff, things thatyou just can't hold and just go
by.
So that's the way they look athappiness.
So they figure, I don't want tobe bothered by that right now.
(15:17):
But the truth about the matteris they have no clue what
happiness is and they areusually some of those people
that don't even know why theyare happy, when they are happy,
when people truly understand thepower of happiness, the energy
that happiness brings, theattraction that is consistent in
happiness, and the fact thatthere's a body of studies that
(15:40):
already concluded that a happyperson is more creative, is more
resilient, is more productiveand, overall, is more successful
.
If they get that, then why wouldyou want to put happiness on
the side so you can pursuesuccess, when happiness can help
you accomplish that success andif you're happy now and you
(16:05):
become successful, that successis out of the cake because you
bring happiness along.
You cannot second guess whetheryou're going to be happy or not
.
You're already happy.
Now let's say you're notsuccessful, guess what?
You're already happy, so lethappiness do the heavy lifting.
And that's what most people arenot doing when you pursue
(16:27):
success and you leave happinessbehind.
I can tell you right now lifeis not a dress rehearsal.
Bring happiness along.
It makes your work a little biteasier.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Well, there's alignment right with happiness
and I'm going to go a layerdeeper on everything you just
said because I'm happy, I'mtruly, authentically happy, to
the core.
You know why?
Because I'm in alignment withmy core values.
I know my purpose and I applymy purpose in all that I do.
(17:04):
So I'm naturally happy.
I naturally wake up with this.
And people, most people, whohave a scarcity mindset, they're
in competition mode.
It's hard to be happy whenyou're in, really thriving, when
(17:32):
you truly understand your trueworth in this world and your
purpose and your why, and people.
That shows up with that mindset, as I described, I don't got
time for happiness, I need togrind.
That's a scarcity mindset,right, because, yes, you're
(17:54):
going to make it, you're goingto grind, but when you reach
that mountaintop, there's goingto be a level of emptiness that
you can potentially carry andyou're back where you started.
Yeah, I got more money, but I'mnot really happy.
There's an emptiness that Icarry.
And so what I hear you'resaying is man, let's define what
(18:18):
that is, define what makes youhappy internally, what lights
the lamp for you, what ignitesyou and how does it tie to your
values.
And then how do you carry thosevalues forward.
When you can identify that andnavigate from that, lens
(18:42):
happiness, happiness.
How true is that?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
It's so true because, first of all, a happy mind
comes from a position ofabundance.
Because when you lookeverywhere, look around us, you
know it's just.
When you look at money and yousay, oh, somebody is really rich
, you can add a few more zeros.
The next person will be richerthan that.
And then, add a few more zeros,next person will be richer than
(19:07):
that.
And the same thing with country.
You'll say, oh, this country isvery rich.
Add a few more zeros to theirGDP, the country will have more
money.
There is no.
Money, to a large extent, isunlimited.
However, when you are playingto your core value, you are even
more unlimited.
When they say this guy is thelimit, no, this guy can be the
(19:31):
beginning, when you are playingto your core.
I talk about this four quadrants.
So in my research, I look atpoor folks okay, that are happy,
and poor folks that are unhappy.
So that's one category.
Then you have rich folks orwealthy folks that are happy and
wealthy folks that are unhappy.
(19:52):
That's two happy and wealthyfor that are unhappy.
That's when you look at thosequadrants.
Now, when you ask most peoplewhich is the worst category to
be, Actually, let me just throwit to you.
Let me see where you go withthat.
You know.
You know what is the which isthe worst category to be.
You have poor person that'sunhappy, and you have poor
(20:13):
person that's happy, and thenyou have a rich person that's
that is happy, and then richperson that's unhappy, and you
have poor person that's happy,and then you have a rich person
that's that is happy and a richperson that's unhappy.
What do you think, just off thegut, what do you think would be
the worst category?
I would say the person that'spoor but happy that would be the
worst category or the bestcategory.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Oh, you're asking me which category.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
It's the worst, yes, by far the worst category.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Oh, the worst category.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I don't want to ever belong to this category.
You know, if you have thosefour categories, I want your
audience to kind of come alongwith us on this one A rich
person that is happy, a richperson that's unhappy, poor
person that's happy and a poorperson that's unhappy what would
be the worst category thatanybody can ever be?
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Poor person that's unhappy would be the worst
category.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
And that's what most people will say, but my research
doesn't support that.
My research supports that a richperson that is unhappy is the
worst category, and we have todive into this a little bit.
Just from the surface, if youlook at a poor person that's
(21:31):
unhappy, they can blame some oftheir unhappiness to the fact
that they are poor and so thefact that they are poor, they
can do something about it.
They can go play lottery.
If they just win lottery, theywill become happy because in
their mind, if they just becomerich, they will be happy.
They go work two jobs, threejobs, five jobs even though we
(21:53):
know that's not the case, eventhough if they have more money,
that's not going to changebecause they are still the
person that's unhappy.
Okay, the money is not going tochange it automatically.
Now, when you come to a richperson that is unhappy, that's a
whole different ballgame.
You see, if you go to myLinkedIn page, you know I think
(22:14):
it's a background they call it.
You know I say that.
You know, when you are wealthyand happy, it is seriously
fulfilling, it's very fulfilling, all right, but when you are
wealthy and unhappy, it's deeplydistressing, deeply distressing
(22:35):
.
See, when you have all themoney in the world and you are
not happy, you cannot say, man,if I just become rich, I will be
happy.
Or you cannot say, man, if Ijust become broke, I will be
happy.
You just don't have thatleverage anymore.
And then the worst part of iteverybody around you that could
make you happy, they aresuspicious of them.
Everybody around you that couldmake you happy, you're
(22:55):
suspicious of them, you know,because they might be coming to
get your money.
You know the world might betrying to make you poor.
This means, you know, becauseyou are internally unhappy.
It's very distressing andthat's really the worst, you
know.
And so when we see some peoplewho become successful and they
bring happiness along, that's adegree of misery that comes with
(23:19):
it.
When you touch on, you becomeemptiness.
That emptiness can eat you fromthe inside.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So sometimes people have to slow down in this rat
race and I want the audience tobe clear about this.
Folks, I am in no way tellinganybody not to go out, and make
money, that's not what I'msaying.
By all means, if you're a happyperson, I want you to make a
bungle of money, because when ahappy person makes a ton of
money, that makes them a betterplace, because it's about the
(23:54):
impact they can have, and happypeople understand that to truly
spread happiness, you have to beof service to other people, and
so when you have a ton of moneyand you are happy, the world is
a much better place.
But the reverse is the case.
If you have a ton of money andyou are not happy, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Right, so help me understand this.
A person who is feeling likerock bottom yes, how do one
shift to becoming happy ifthey're in that state of being
rock bottom?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Right.
So first of all, I hope thatpeople don't get to rock bottom
before they understand the valueof happiness.
Part of what I gather from mystudy is that we have to change
the narrative.
Everybody, whether it's yoursociology, your psychologist,
your psychiatrist, everybody sayhappiness is an emotion.
(24:59):
Okay, and that's true.
I'm not going to argue that.
But if we leave it as emotion,then we are totally powerless.
You know, we go to thisemotional roller coaster, so we
are happy when things are greatand we're in the toilet when
it's done.
So we have to first of allchange the narrative.
We have to move from happinessas an emotion to happiness as a
(25:21):
skill, and that's what my booktalks about.
It's not just only happiness asa skill, but happiness as a
learnable skill.
So now, if you are in thatrealm of okay, I'm going to
learn certain skills, that'sgoing to help me be happy then
when you are in the wrong bottombecause life throws all the
force at curveball from time totime you know what to do to
(25:43):
bring yourself back up.
So if you don't have thatfoundation right now and you are
wrong bottom, then here's whatI want to suggest.
Number one seek help.
Okay, seek help.
There's a lot of help that'savailable, a lot of help, both
non-profit and for-profit.
There are a lot of people thatwant to help, okay, Because
(26:05):
there are some times you hitrock bottom so hard and you're
so overwhelmed you can't eventhink clearly anymore.
Okay, so seek help and letsomebody help you get out of it
a little bit.
And now, once you've done that,the first thing I want you to
do is one of my most popularskills that I train on.
Okay, I call it the 24-hourpromise.
(26:25):
The 24-hour promise is you goto the front of the mirror, okay
, and you look yourself straightin the mirror and just say you
know what I'm going to promisemyself that I'm going to be
happy for 24 hours.
Now, I know 24 hours sound likevery short period, but if you
(26:45):
really hit rock bottom, 24 hoursmight be a really long time.
So you might not start with 24hours.
You may start with six hours,okay, and you may even just
start with one hour.
It depends on where you are,but start somewhere.
So here is the way it workswhen you promise yourself you're
going to be happy now it's alsohelpful to know what makes you
(27:07):
happy, Remember, I talked aboutearlier on how people take
happiness for granted.
So if you don't know what makesyou happy, then that's where
you got to start from, Okay, butI'll give you two things that
really help with happiness.
Number one is gratitude.
Okay, Express gratitude nomatter what.
Even if you are rock bottom,find something to be grateful
(27:27):
for.
So that's number one.
Number two be of service toother people.
Forget about yourself for asecond.
Okay.
Move on to other people andguess what you can.
So 24-hour promise.
Now, if you go through 24-hourand you're feeling happy, things
are going well, then at the endof 24 hours, you renew the
(27:47):
contract for another 24 hours,and so that's why you hear that
you know, one day at a time isnot too difficult, but if you
struggle through the first 24hours, don't sweat it.
Now, Coach Mo, here issomething that comes very close
to that 24 hours and, in short,in my book, these two chapters
come very close together.
The 24 hours is when you startto really challenge yourself and
(28:12):
you start to promise yourselfthat you're going to be happy.
That's when it gets reallytough.
Being happy is not easy, okay.
So what happens is, let's say,for six hours into it, somebody
comes along and just puts a damptowel on you, you know, and
you're like damn, I can't evenbelieve this man.
You know, everybody is happy.
I'm the only one that can'teven be happy for six hours.
(28:32):
Don't beat on yourself.
This is where you haveself-compassion, okay,
Self-compassion doesn't mean yoube selfish.
It just simply means treatyourself exactly the same way
you would treat your best friendIf your best friend was to set
a goal.
They want to be happy for 24hours and they miss it.
You know, and they'll be happyfor six hours.
You're not going to go thereand beat on them.
(28:54):
You and they'll be happy forsix hours.
You're not going to go thereand beat on them.
You're going to encourage them.
So you have to learn toencourage yourself until you get
a full 24 hours and once yourbrain starts to reprogram itself
, that can take you to a levelthat you can start to be
consistent in staying happy.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Okay, so share with us a success story of someone
that you mentored to go throughthat challenge that you just
described.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
So a very good one was a young kid, you know, I
think it probably be like amiddle school, okay, and I went
in and do like a normal talk Ido.
I get invited to differentschool to come and talk.
I got to this school, the firstthing the teacher told me he
said hey, you know what, ifyou're going to make any
progress in this class today,just forget about that kid.
(29:46):
You know, and I'm like, sonaturally I zoom on that kid.
I'm not going to go through allthe details, but I zoom on that
kid.
I zoom on that kid.
I'm not going to go through allthe details, but I zoom on that
kid.
And I think the kid wasprobably doing like a D minus,
got suspended a few times.
I started to tell the kids youknow, hey, you know what, I get
it.
If you are not happy, who caresabout school?
(30:07):
If you are not happy, who caresabout grades?
If you are not happy, who caresabout punishment suspension?
But he didn't care about any ofthose.
And he cares about punishmentsuspension, but he don't care
about any of those.
And then the kid was not happyand I just said, hey, you know
what?
Can we work on you being happyfor like a few hours a day.
Just a few hours a day I don'twant to put my hope too high
Just a few hours a day.
(30:28):
And he's like, oh, I can dothat, all right.
And of course he struggled, youknow, in that few hours, but
eventually we got it to wherethis kid was able to call me the
next day and say, hey, I made24 hours.
It wasn't the first day, itwasn't the second day, it wasn't
the third day.
I think it took like a week or aweek and a half to be able to
do 24 hours in just completely.
(30:50):
Then, when this kid called me,we celebrated.
Now the long story about thatis the kid went from a D to a B
at the end of that semester, bythe second semester, the kid was
getting A's and all of a sudden, no more irritating other
students, no more disturbingteachers, no more suspect.
(31:13):
I mean, it was a transformation.
That's when I realized thathappiness truly, truly, truly,
is a learnable skill and anybodycan learn.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Man so powerful, so powerful.
Thank you, brother.
As we get ready to sign off, Iwant you to share again.
I know you brought this upearlier in the episode when we
first signed on, but share whatyou're doing to help business
owners be more happy.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Awesome.
Thank you very much.
So AppPreneur folks, if youhave not heard of it, you're
going to hear of it.
You know it's AppPreneur.
I'm sure Coach Moore willprobably make information about
it available, but I just tookhappiness and entrepreneur and I
put it together to come withpremiums and you're going to
hear about that.
So what we are doing, folks andwe are doing this like just
(32:06):
chapter by chapter we're movingfrom city to city.
You know, right now we haveabout 13 chapters in the work.
We just officially launched itMarch 28th, which is
International Day of Happinessthis year.
So we're making progress.
We meet weekly okay, four timesa week, and the whole idea is to
really support each other.
(32:26):
When people come together.
You teach people how to referbusiness to you okay, and they
teach you the same thing.
You decide how can you supporteach other this week or this
month, not next week or nextyear, but this week or this
month.
You show somebody how they cansupport you this week, how they
can support you this month, sothat by the end of the week or
(32:48):
the end of the month, youalready got support.
Okay, why would they want to dothat?
Because that's what happypeople do, you know.
Because that's what happypeople do.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
That's what happy people do.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
They like to support people.
So we are just creating acommunity.
You know that encourages thatand put people together.
So there might be about 30 to40 people in a chapter.
Each chapter is a single seat,you know.
By that means there's onebusiness per category.
So there's no competition, it'sall friendliness, it's all
collaboration and we help eachother.
(33:17):
Now one of the things that we dothat is really cool is what I
call the Amplify.
I use happiness to amplify yoursocial media and everybody
support each other and you growyour social media.
And then, of course, we spendjust five minutes teaching
happiness Folks.
I'm telling you you might belistening to this now and say,
(33:38):
oh, I'm a happy person.
I may not need that, that'sfine, but understand, you're
hearing it from someone who hasstudied happiness for almost two
decades.
Okay, I know the power thathappiness has, that when you are
walking truly from the insideand you are working with other
people who are also on the samewavelength, it just makes your
(34:00):
work a little bit easier and itmakes your success a little more
rewarding.
So that's what Apprenio is.
I truly believe and maybe I'mbiased, but I truly believe that
we are going to build not onlythe largest community of happy
people, but we are going tobuild the largest community of
successful people that arereally happy.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
And the let's Think About it podcast is happy to be
a sponsor of the movement yes,of the movement.
So more happy news is comingyour way.
Be on alert.
Thank you, my friend.
Thank you, and how can peoplefind how to register or get
(34:48):
involved in the Happy New Year'scommunity?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
So, basically, they just go to the website.
Right now, it'sH-A-P-P-R-E-N-E-U-R-Scom.
Again, that'sH-A-P-P-R-E-N-E-U-R-oscom.
(35:14):
And make sure, though, thatwhen you fill out the
information and you want peopleto get back to you, let
everybody know where you heardabout us, because that is what
we are talking about here.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Lastly, before we sign off, thoughts nuggets that
you'd like to leave the audiencebefore we jump out of here.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Well, I just want your audience to know that every
human being deserves to behappy.
Okay, when things are tough,it's a lot more difficult to
learn to be happy, and so it'sone of those things where it's
better to have and don't needthan to need and don't have.
Ok, so if you can either grab acopy of my book, you know, and
(36:00):
just learn a little bit abouthappiness, you know, you have my
name on the screen and my bookis available on Amazon and you
can pick a teen or two, usuallyof the 20 something skill I went
through, only one or two skillscan make a big difference in
your life.
But I want to tell you thisfolks, don't take happiness for
granted and just be reminded,just be reminded that you have
(36:25):
happiness inside of you and lethappiness help you do the heavy
lifting Boom.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
There it is my man, ed.
I appreciate you, brother.
Thank you for coming on,sharing and, more importantly,
being happy with me.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
I love it and thank you so much for all that you do,
man.
I'm so proud of you, man.
I see you come a long way andnow the world can definitely
benefit, man, from what you'redoing.
So this is awesome.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Thank you.
Thank you for joining me inthis episode of let's Think
About it.
Your time and attention aregreatly appreciated.
If you found value in today'sdiscussion, I encourage you to
subscribe on your favoritepodcast platform.
Remember, the journey ofself-improvement is ongoing and
(37:16):
I'm here to support you everystep of the way.
Connect with me on social mediafor updates and insights.
You can find me on Instagramand Facebook, at Coach Mo
Coaching or LinkedIn, at MauriceMabry, or visit my website at
mauricemabrycom for exclusivecontent.
(37:36):
Until next time, keepreflecting, keep growing and,
most importantly, keep believingin yourself.
Remember, the most effectiveway to do it is to do it
Together.
We're making incredible stridestoward a better and more
empowered you, so thank you, andI'll see you in our next
(37:59):
episode.
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