It's Not Always Right to Be Right

Chapter 2Drains and Radiators

Life is too short to be surrounded by negative people. In fact, life is too short to not be surrounded by positive people. When we are surrounded by positivity, exceptional things happen. When we are surrounded by negativity, average things happen.

American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, ‘People do not seem to realise that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character’. I couldn't agree more.

Unacceptably, but invariably, we seem to allow negative people to populate our world. We do it all the time, and I just don't get it.

Transcendentalists, of which Emerson was one, believe that one should rely upon intuition rather than reason or logic; that spontaneous feelings are superior to deliberate intellectualism. Transcendentalism also greatly values optimism.

I think I would have liked Emerson.

He was a true radiator in every sense.

THE MESSAGE

Here is an age‐old question for you: does happiness lead to success or does success lead to happiness?

There is a multibillion‐dollar industry that now exists to answer that question. It's science, psychology and academia rolled into one, art, self‐discovery and spirituality united. Pursuit of happiness (encompassing life coaching and self‐help, among others) is big business, and a noble one at that.

You are likely familiar with the concept of employee engagement. If it's not termed ‘engagement’, then odds on it will be called ‘satisfaction’, ‘culture’, or even just a plain old ...