Hard-Wired Happiness

Filmed May 2009 at Arbejdsglaede Live
Srikumar Rao: Plug into your hard-wired happiness

"Your life did not just happen. You experience life exactly as you have fashioned it. If you are unhappy with where you are, you can deconstruct the parts you don’t like and build them up again."

-- Srikumar S. Rao, Ph.D

We all strive for happiness — but we spend most of our lives learning to be unhappy, even as we strive for happiness.

At Columbia University, he teaches us how to break free of the “I’d be happy if …” mental model, and embrace our hard-wired happiness.


Life is short. And uncertain. It is like a drop of water skittering around on a lotus leaf. You never know when it will drop off the edge and disappear. So each day is far too precious to waste. And each day that you are not radiantly alive and brimming with cheer is a day wasted. 

Stop right now and evaluate your life. YOUR LIFE. As it is right now. Are you, by and large and daily variations aside, happier now than you have ever been? Do you have the inner conviction that you are on the path that is just right for you, the one that is transparently leading you to fulfillment in many dimensions – in your career, in relationships, in spiritual development? This is a site for persons who wish to live a life of deep meaning. A life filled with joy even as it unfolds with all its complexity.

Source: http://theraoinstitute.com/


Executive, educator, writer and life coach Srikumar S. Rao asks, "Are you ready to succeed?" — and in his famous course "Creativity and Personal Mastery," he teaches his students how to do so.

Why you should listen
Srikumar Rao was an executive at Warner Communications and McGraw-Hill before he created his celebrated MBA course, "Creativity and Personal Mastery." 

The course -- the only business school course that has its own alumni association -- shows students how to discover their unique purpose, creativity and happiness, through group work and a philosophical perspective. Its popularity has led to write-ups in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Business Week.

Rao is also an adviser to senior business executives, whom he helps find deeper meaning and engagement in their work. 

He's the author of Are You Ready to Succeed: Unconventional Strategies for Achieving Personal Mastery in Business and Life, and has been a contributing editor for Forbes. 

His latest book is titled Happiness at Work: Be Resilient, Motivated, and Successful - No Matter What.



Talk Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/srikumar_rao_plug_into_your_hard_wired_happiness