Be Happy - 8-Week Course Online - Starts April 15th

I am delighted to announce dates for the first ever Be Happy 8-Week course Online. The course is hosted by Hay House publishers, and it consists of a weekly 2-hour live session, in which I will take your calls and respond to your e-mails, while coaching you on essential principles of happiness. You can choose to listen to each session live or on-demand (at a time convenient to you). To purchase a ticket for this event go to Hay House.

As a special offer, Hay House are offering for those who book now a complimentary copy of my flip callendar Happiness NOW.

Below is a short outline of what I will cover on the 8-week program. I hope you can join me.

NOW, for the first time ever, you can take the Be Happy 8-week online course. Step-by-step, Robert introduces you to a set of proven principles and exercises that psychologists have hailed as “a genuine fast-track to happiness.” With his trademark insight, warmth and humor, Robert will share personally with you his distinctive philosophy and practice on how to experience true self-acceptance, everyday abundance, loving relationships, and inner success.

Week One: The Gift of Happiness
Part 1: Defining True Happiness
Create a definition of happiness that really works for you.
Part 2: A Happy Learning Curve
Identify what your life is teaching you about happiness right now.

Week Two: The Happy Self
Part 1: #1 Happiness Principle
Get this principle, and you will attract more happiness instantly.
Part 2: Follow your Joy
Give up the pursuit of happiness and start following your joy.

Week Three: Choosing your Life
Part 1: Choosing Happiness
Learn how to choose happiness, instead of chasing happiness.
Part 2: Healing Unhappiness
Learn how to handle unhappiness in an honest and positive way.

Week Four: Joy Unlimited
Part 1: The Real More
Clarify your life-goals, and commit to what you really want.
Part 2: The Fear of Happiness
Discover how you are limiting your own happiness and success.

Week Five: The Heart of Happiness
Part 1: Your Family Story
Heal old family patterns and commit to living an authentic life.
Part 2: The Relationship Questionnaire
Bring more imagination, creativity, and fun to your relationships.

Week Six: Everyday Abundance
Part 1: The Happiness Contract
Increase your natural capacity for prosperity and success.
Part 2: The Receiving Meditation
Let yourself be so happy you almost feel guilty, but not quite!

Week Seven: Love and be happy
Part 1: Love and fear
Make love more important to you than anything else.
Part 2: The Forgiveness Principle
Give up all hope for a better past, and live happily even after.

Week Eight: Happiness NOW!
Part 1: Milking the Sacred Now
How to make today even more enjoyable than yesterday.
Part 2: Shift Happens!
Your life changes, when you do.

Barack Obama - Leadership, Happiness & Success

Today, I watched, along with everyone else in the world, the inauguration of the 44th American President, Barack Obama. Ever since Mr Obama was nominated for the Democratic candidacy, he has conducted himself as a genuine and principled person. Mr Obama has inspired a level of faith and hope in people that is frankly uncommon in politicians. Today, America got a new President, and, even more importantly, the world has a new leader. Because of Mr Obama’s breadth of vision, and his abiding sense of purpose, I believe he will serve the world well. And, therefore, I wish you, Mr Obama, and your family, every success.

The day after Barack Obama won the Presidential election, Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prise-winning author, poet and activist, wrote the President-elect an open letter. I was deeply moved by Alice Walker’s letter, and have since shared it with hundreds of people who have attended my seminars. In her letter, Alice Walker offers wise counsel to Mr Obama on the challenges of leadership and the difficult times ahead. You can read the full transcript at The Root, or, if you like, see her read the letter on Democracy NOW, a daily radio TV show.

Here, I will share an excerpt from Alice Walker’s letter, which highlights the integral relationship between personal happiness and true success. It reads:

I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on. One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate. One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone.

When I read these words, I felt like Alice Walker had written them for me. In my work with Success Intelligence and The Happiness Project, I have learned that, happiness creates success. In other words, when you cultivate a sense of joy inside yourself it helps you to access a whole new level of inspiration, talent, resilience, and support. Success can lead to happiness; but most of all, happiness leads to success. Psychology research backs this theory. Longitudinal studies, which follow the well-being of people over many years, show that inner happiness helps to promote career success, loving relationships, good health, financial prosperity, and a rich spiritual life. Your inner happiness is the key to authentic success.

Alice Walker goes on to talk about leadership, forgiveness, and the need to lighten and brighten our world. She finishes her open letter to Barack Obama with the words: “We are the ones we have been waiting for.” Her letter is really addressed to us all.

While Mr Obama takes his Presidential oath, and makes his acceptance speeches, let us use this occasion to reflect on how we can take a lead in our own lives. On some level, we are all world leaders, because on some level we all create the world. My prayer for today, therefore, is that we may all step forward so as to be even more of the person we came to be.

And so be it.

Valentine's Day: The Love Dedication

A few years ago a journalist interviewed me for an article on the psychology of success. At the end of a very stimulating interview, the journalist asked if I would e-mail an answer to one final question: “What is your ultimate secret to success?”

After meditating for a while on my “ultimate secret of success,” I wrote something called the “Love Dedication.” This dedication appears in my book Success Intelligence. I thought it might be a good idea to share it again today, on Valentine's Day.

Before you dedicate your life
to a person, a marriage, a family;
to a corporation, a political party,
a peace campaign;
to a religion, a revolution, a
spiritual path;
make one other dedication first.
First dedicate yourself to LOVE.
Decide to let Love be your
intention, your purpose and
your point.
And then let Love inspire you,
support you, and guide you
in every other dedication
you make thereafter.

Success Intelligence: Your Real Work

On January 28th-30th, I co-facilitated with Ben Renshaw and Avril Carson a public workshop called Success Intelligence: Living a Life you Love. Approximately 50 people attended the workshop. They were from all walks of life including media, politics, art, health-care, education, and business. For three days, we immersed ourselves in a rich inquiry into the nature of authentic success.

In the week before the workshop, I came across some words attributed to Roger Ebert. They read: “What you do instead of your work is your real work.” These words made me stop in my tracks. I felt an uneasy sensation in my stomach. At the same time a loud “bong” sounded off inside my head, one like you hear at the start of a Universal Pictures movie. I used Roger’s words to do an on-the-spot inventory on my life. The first question on my inventory was: What is the real work of my life?

In the Success Intelligence workshop, I shared Roger Ebert’s words with the group. Together we embarked up on an inquiry into the real work of our lives. We all acknowledged that it is so easy in our manic society, with our busy lifestyles, and our hyperactive work cultures, to confuse busyness with purpose, adrenalin with wisdom, and activity with genuine accomplishment. And, therefore, the question What is the real work of my life? is imperative.

On the final afternoon of the 3-day workshop, we shared with each other our personal visions for what is our real work. The sharings were moving, emotional, honest, and inspiring. We were teachers to one another. And we all, in some way, gained courage, hope, and clarity about what is meaningful success, valuable success, and real success.

I invite you to take a few minutes to stop the work you are doing and inquire, What is the real work of my life? Think about not just your job of work, but also your family, YOU, your spiritual faith, and your life as a whole.

What is the real work of your life?

P.S. Due to the high interest in this workshop, we will be hosting another one later this year, in the Autumn. Dates will be announced shortly.

Leadership NOW: Lessons from a Leadership Retreat

I have just returned from a leadership retreat, held in the South of England. My role was to facilitate a conversation over two days that explored the essence of what leadership is and how we can all be better leaders.

The venue for the retreat was Leeds Castle, set in the heart of the Kent countryside. This beautiful, Saxon-built castle features an eclectic mix of period architecture from across the centuries. It was once home to King Edward I, founder of the British Parliament, and also King Henry V, who is frequently researched by scholars of leadership.

The assembled group, about 20 of us in total, was also rather eclectic, featuring CEOs, Chairmen, Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Senior Partners, General Council, and knighted captains of industry. The conversation flowed well. Chatham House Rule ensured both confidentiality and honesty. We shared our personal stories. We reflected on triumphs and defeats. We identified lessons learned. We talked about what inspires us, and why we feel called to lead.

As the retreat drew to a close, we acknowledged to each other that we had participated in a conversation full of rich insights and practical help for leading in these especially challenging times. Here is a brief excerpt from my personal notes, which I will call, Five Lessons for Leadership NOW.

Lesson #1: Leadership is not a position; it’s an attitude.
Everyone is a potential leader. A leader is anyone who is willing to “take a lead” in any situation. A leader recognizes that they create the world they live in. The world is an effect; not a cause. We are the ones who cause the effect. And the world changes, when we do. Therefore, one person really can make a difference. An effective leader usually has a good idea of the difference they want to make.

Lesson #2: Leadership looks after the Spiritual DNA.
A leader is someone who is willing to dig deep inside to know who they really are, and what their life is for. They are in search of the “true self”; they are inner-directed; they look after the identity of the organization; they look after the Spiritual DNA; they grow the signature strengths; and they help individuals and organizations achieve authentic success.

Lesson #3: A leader has a vision, and teaches people to see.
A leader has a vision, not just for the next three months, but over the long-term too. They see what is necessary now, and they can also see something of the future. Leaders are the custodians of the vision, and they keep the vision alive in their own mind and in the minds of others. Leadership is about seeing the possibility for something that might not exist yet. A leader is someone who sees possibility in any situation – a possibility for more love, more truth, more honesty, for instance – and thereby helps to bring it into existence.

Lesson #4: It is the JOY of leadership that sustains you.
Leadership is not always easy. You are often the first to fall, the first to be criticized, the first to be accused, the first to be attacked. AND, you have to be willing to be the first to get back on your feet, the first to learn, the first to forgive, and the first to move on. It can be easy to forget “the joy” of what you do; but when you remember “the joy” it can sustain you in all manner of ways.

Lesson #5: Leaders grow, and they keep on growing.
A leader is someone who understands that “we” cannot grow if “I” will not grow. A marriage cannot grow, if I will not grow. A friendship cannot grow, if I will not grow. A team cannot grow, if I will not grow. An organization cannot grow, if I will not grow. Peter Drucker said, “Leaders grow; they are not made.” A leader wants to grow, and that is what makes others want to grow too. Everyday, think about what inspires you, what is real, and what you aspire to – right now.

Barack Obama - Leadership, Happiness & Success

Today, I watched, along with everyone else in the world, the inauguration of the 44th American President, Barack Obama. Ever since Mr Obama was nominated for the Democratic candidacy, he has conducted himself as a genuine and principled person. Mr Obama has inspired a level of faith and hope in people that is frankly uncommon in politicians. Today, America got a new President, and, even more importantly, the world has a new leader. Because of Mr Obama’s breadth of vision, and his abiding sense of purpose, I believe he will serve the world well. And, therefore, I wish you, Mr Obama, and your family, every success.

The day after Barack Obama won the Presidential election, Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prise-winning author, poet and activist, wrote the President-elect an open letter. I was deeply moved by Alice Walker’s letter, and have since shared it with hundreds of people who have attended my seminars. In her letter, Alice Walker offers wise counsel to Mr Obama on the challenges of leadership and the difficult times ahead. You can read the full transcript The Root, or, if you like, see her read the letter on Democracy NOW, a daily radio/TV show.

Here, I will share an excerpt from Alice Walker’s letter, which highlights the integral relationship between personal happiness and true success. It reads:

I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on. One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate. One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone.

When I read these words, I felt like Alice Walker had written them for me. In my work with Success Intelligence and The Happiness Project, I have learned that, happiness creates success. In other words, when you cultivate a sense of joy inside yourself it helps you to access a whole new level of inspiration, talent, resilience, and support. Success can lead to happiness; but most of all, happiness leads to success. Psychology research backs this theory. Longitudinal studies, which follow the well-being of people over many years, show that inner happiness helps to promote career success, loving relationships, good health, financial prosperity, and a rich spiritual life. Your inner happiness is the key to authentic success.

Alice Walker goes on to talk about leadership, forgiveness, and the need to lighten and brighten our world. She finishes her open letter to Barack Obama with the words: “We are the ones we have been waiting for.” Her letter is really addressed to us all.

While Mr Obama takes his Presidential oath, and makes his acceptance speeches, let us use this occasion to reflect on how we can take a lead in our own lives. On some level, we are all world leaders, because on some level we all create the world. My prayer for today, therefore, is that we may all step forward so as to be even more of the person we came to be.

And so be it.