The Pursuit of Happiness & The Great Mystery of Life

In 2009, my wife and I were in the office of the Principal of a well-reputed school in Mumbai, seeking admission for our son. During the conversation, the Principal turned to my wife and asked, 'What do you want from life?' My wife’s response took me by surprise. She simply said, 'I just want to be happy.' The Principal seemed a bit taken aback, likely expecting a more conventional answer—something about career growth or professional success. To be honest, even I hoped she would give an answer along those lines, given that we were trying to secure the admission.

It's only when I reflected on it later that I realized the profound truth in my wife's statement. Her answer reminded me that, in the end, happiness is what truly matters. It’s a lesson I still carry with me.

We might all seek different things in life—whether it's money, recognition, love and belonging, or health—but isn't the underlying reason for wanting these things the same?

At the core, we believe they will bring us happiness. Ultimately, it's not the things themselves, but the happiness we hope they will provide, that we’re truly after.

But haven’t we all experienced that roller coaster of life, where even after achieving what we set out to, we still find ourselves feeling unsatisfied?

I believe we can divide our waking life into three main buckets:

1. The Social Bucket – This includes friends and family, fulfilling our need for love and belongingness.

2. The Work Bucket – The time we dedicate to our professional responsibilities and pursuits.

3. The Self Bucket – The moments we spend alone, engaging in activities outside of work. This includes exercising, reading, writing, reflecting, meditating, watching TV, or even scrolling through our phones.

These three aspects of life are deeply interconnected, but today I want to focus on the work we do. It takes up as much as 70% of our weekdays and plays a significant role in shaping our happiness.

Most of us make this hugely important decision about our careers when we're teenagers, with little understanding of what we truly want. We're often influenced by parents, friends, and current trends. Later on, it becomes much harder to change career paths.

That's why a key factor in finding fulfillment at work—and ultimately being happier—lies in choosing something we are deeply interested in.

Sometimes, this process can take longer than anticipated, and one may need to experiment with different things before discovering that 'ONE' thing they truly care about.

One must now pursue this passion to the exclusion of everything else in life. There has to be an intentional disconnection from everything else because those distractions will derail us. One has to ruthless here.

Now, one needs to commit to this pursuit for a very long time. The aim is to achieve mastery. To become an expert. To achieve excellence in your chosen field. Dedicate your life to the quality of your craft.

Success, money and happiness will follow.

To Sum up - Pick up something you are genuinely interested in - pour yourself into this one thing [and one thing only] - do this for a very long time and achieve mastery.

If it feels scary and exciting at the same time, then it's the right choice.

PS: The path to mastery is extremely hard, but choosing to pursue what we love allows us to endure and overcome the challenges along the way. When we are passionate about our work, we are less likely to give up, whereas those who lack that passion may ultimately falter.