Happiness Isn’t What You Think

0 people had breakthroughs this week. Will the next one be you?

Four things for you to think about

Happiness is having better challenges.
Success is having better failures.
Discipline is having better addictions.

Improving your life does not remove your problems. It simply exchanges them for better problems.

Two things for you to ask yourself

Do you have better problems today than in the past? Or just the same problems?

One thing for you to try this week

Find one problem you’d be happy to have. Then go pursue it this week. Let me know how it goes.

A Better Problem to Have

Here’s the thing about trading up to a better problem—you can’t do it if you don’t know what actually matters to you. And most people don’t. They just trade one distraction for a more sophisticated distraction and call it growth.

Purpose was built for exactly this. It’s my AI mentor that learns how you actually operate—your patterns, your values, the blindspots you’ve been protecting—and figures out what’s actually worth struggling for next.

Unlike ChatGPT, it won’t just validate you. It pushes back. It calls you out. And it remembers everything, so the advice gets sharper the more you use it.

41% of users call it life-changing. Not “interesting.” Not “pretty cool.” Life-changing.

Start with the free personality assessment. Takes ten minutes. And by the end of it, you’ll know exactly which problem is worth your time—and which ones you’ve been wasting it on.

Start your free 7-day trial here

Last week’s breakthroughs

In last week’s newsletter, I asked you to stop waiting for approval, and just do the thing.

Lea started writing:

After years of not writing because I didn’t see the point, I’m writing for fun.

I’ve been bored of video games lately, which used to bring me a lot of joy and pass a lot of valuable time. Now I’m thinking I need to be more like Alexander Hamilton and write like I’m running out of time, haha.

It feels good to write and I’m using my brain for something better than playing yet another game that won’t do anything for me.

I’m not on any social media, so it’s not like my writing will get seen. I thought about throwing something in a blog. But again, it’d just be for me. And for fun.

Writing is truly my heart’s desire since I was a kid in middle school. I didn’t make it happen because I’ve been afraid of failure for years, which prevented me from getting anywhere.

The most I did was some unpaid music journalism internship with an online publication while I was in college. It brought me so much joy, but I had a family. I couldn’t spend my time like that anymore.

So here I am, doing the thing. And it feels good.

Diane is leaving the world better than she found it:

What would I do if no one was watching?

I attempt to leave any place better than how I found it, which I’ve done for years. When I’m shopping, I pick clothing off the floor and put it back on the hanger, or pull the shoulder of the garment up on the hanger to keep it from falling. I’ll pick up litter if I’m near a place to discard it. Once I cleaned maggots out of a fishing tackle box at camp so the next person wouldn’t have to be grossed out (that was extreme!). It’s a noble gesture but when done with quiet humility, it generates a happy feeling.

Finally, Karen had a little help from my AI mentor, Purpose:

My breakthrough moment came because of Purpose and the concept of just doing the thing rather than worrying about the opinions of anyone else. I am finally getting out of my own way!

I just went through the hardest 18 months of my life, a 25-year marriage ending and so many things left unresolved. I decided to try the Purpose app as soon as it was available and in the first week, it asked me what would happen if I just started the small mental skills group for teenage athletes I had been pondering for a few years? What would it take to put the group together and to just do the next thing, using my knowledge and experience as a coach to get it off the ground rather than continue to overthink it.

I took the questions and started to just do the next thing and then the next thing and now I am three months into what has had a really big impact on the teenagers I am working with. Their parents are thrilled and have asked me to continue working with their kids and have given me lists of other parents who want me to start new groups for their kids, too.

I am also now applying to get my Masters degree in performance psychology because it is something I have always wanted to pursue and I already have the making of what will be my capstone project for the degree. And finally, a friend who works at a national sports club has started brainstorming ways for me to create the same groups remotely to impact even more young athletes.

When I was stuck on who was watching, I was just stuck. Now, I am bravely pursuing my dream and have a new direction for this second half of my life.

So thankful for you and Purpose!

As always, send your breakthroughs by simply replying to this email. Let me know if you’d prefer to remain anonymous.

Until next week,

Mark Manson

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author
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