Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything
Neil Pasricha · 2016 · Self-help
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Neil Pasricha, author of The Book of Awesome, draws on research and his own experience, including work in leadership development at Walmart, to set out nine secrets for a happier life, grouped under the three parts of his subtitle. Under Want Nothing, he advises being happy first rather than waiting for success, working for intrinsic rather than external rewards, and remembering how lucky you are to be alive today.
Under Do Anything, he argues against full retirement and urges you to value your time by the hour, create space in your schedule and act before you feel motivated. Under Have Everything, he encourages being yourself and trusting your own judgement over other people’s advice. The tone is light and conversational throughout.
Key insights
- Reverse the usual order: be happy first, through habits like gratitude, exercise and kindness, and success becomes more likely rather than the other way round.
- Calculate your real hourly wage by dividing pay by all the hours a job takes; a bigger salary can pay less per hour.
- Motivation follows action. Start doing something small, build the sense that you can, and wanting it more tends to come afterwards.
- Work gives social contact, structure, stimulation and a story about your life; replace these deliberately before stepping back from a job.
- Try the Saturday morning test: what you choose to do with free, unscheduled time is a clue to what you genuinely enjoy.
Read it if you like quick, upbeat self-help with simple frameworks for happiness, work and decisions.