Gary Ong | July 28th, 2021 

Some have dreams and no resources. Some have resources but no direction. Some have both but no team. So, if you have all three, you should be happy. Yet, are you? Happiness isn’t conditional, or at least it shouldn’t be. Yet, we spend all our lives pushing happiness away.

As a founder, I tend to push happiness to the next fundraising victory, the new technical milestone, or ultimately to the IPO or exit. The happiness threshold rises with every win. Suddenly, a million in funding isn’t good enough anymore. Four million is the new number. Then ten. Then fifty. Then a hundred. It is almost as if happiness happens only once. So, I try to make the most out of it. I am going to have to make it the highest high of my life.

But happiness is a state, not an outcome. If you pursue happiness, you will always be in its shadow. Instead, try walking alongside happiness, hand in hand. Pause. Hold out your hand. Touch happiness and walk together. You can be happy now. You can be happy here. All you have to do is, just be.