How to Just Be Happy

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1:28Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor Podcast. I am your host, Rob Dial. If you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another podcast episode. And if you're free this Thursday, I'm going to be running a free one-night workshop on how to build yourself into a high performer. I'm going to teach you the real-life tools to stop procrastinating, to take action, and to get the results that you know that you can in this life. If you want to join me, it's absolutely free. You can go to 2026workshop.com. Once again, 2026workshop.com. Today, I'm going to be talking about how to be happy because essentially all we really want is to be happy, don't we?

2:09But then when you actually start to think about it, what is happiness? Like if I were to say, what is happiness to you? What you say is might be different than what I say, what somebody else says might be different than both what we say. But when you really start to think about happiness, what I've come to find is happiness is a state of mind that exists when desires are absent. That's kind of what I have come up with. And I'm going to talk to you today about how to be more happy. And this is actually inspired by a lot of stuff I've been reading by a guy named Naval Ravikant. And there's a few things that he actually says in quotes that I'm going to say throughout this.

2:46One of them that I really love that he says is that peace is happiness at rest and happiness is peace in motion. And so let me say that again. Peace is happiness at rest and happiness is peace in motion. And another thing that he says is when we're calm, we're happy. And when we're happy, we're at peace. And so when I say happiness and I say peace throughout this episode, just know that both of them are quite interchangeable as I start talking to you. When we talk about happiness though, what does happiness mean? I think that everyone knows what happiness feels like, and we might have trouble actually grasping what it is and putting it into words.

3:25And I would say that our main barrier to happiness is desire. And I'm going to talk a lot about desire today, what it is, how it holds you back, the problem with it, all of that stuff. But the thing that I've learned is that growing up, I had a lot of desires, desires for traveling desires for success desires for money all these desires and the funny thing is the older that I get and the more that I get of all these things the more I realize that they actually don't do shit for my happiness or my fulfillment they're all great and they're they're fine but none of them actually change my internal state and so if you think to yourself oh I'll stop being anxious when I get a million dollars or I'll be happier when I get a million dollars it won't be true.

4:09You'll just be a millionaire who's anxious and unhappy, which I guess is better than being broke and being anxious and unhappy. But the internal state will not be changed by the external environment. That's what you have to realize. And your main barrier to being happy is your desire. In short, you can want all of those things. You can want to become a millionaire and you could become a millionaire, but wouldn't you rather just be happier in the process of becoming a millionaire? Of course, because you could be unhappy going in having that desire, or you could be happy doing it, right? So with desire, desire is the feeling inside of you internally that something is missing.

4:46And it's the idea that you need something to make you happy, to make you joyful, to make you calm, to make you peaceful. You need something. And until you get that thing, you will not be right. Another thing that Naval says is desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want. Right. And so you think to yourself like, oh, I, there's this thing that I want and I am unhappy until I get that thing. When you want something, you're basically making a deal with yourself that you're going to be unhappy until you get it. And so we have to understand our desires and it's okay to desire things.

5:23Like we live in this 3d human realm and desire is a big piece of what we have. But instead of just desiring every single thing at every single moment, why don't we actually choose what we desire? Because each thing that we want, if we have a lot of different wants, oh, I want money and I want a successful business and I want my children to be better and I want my wife to do this and I want my employees to do this and I want my boss to stop being an asshole and I want this and I want this. Each want is just a choice to be unhappy. And I think the biggest mistake that we make is thinking that we'll be happy when we get certain things.

5:59And so what happens is we think, okay, I'm not happy yet, but getting this thing is going to make me happy. And I'm going to talk about it today, but nothing externally can make you happy. Externally is just external, but happiness is internal. And so the only way to become happy is to actually internally make yourself happy, to decide to make yourself happy. Because what we've learned somehow, I don't know how it happens, through society, through our parents, through teachers, through friends, through mentors, we get hooked on things. We get hooked on the wanting things. And we're hooked on the idea that something outside of us will make us happy.

6:43And I'm here to tell you that that's an absolute lie. There's nothing that you could get. You could get the biggest house. You could get a brand new Ferrari. You could travel the world. None of that shit is going to make you happy, right not not having that thing is not the reason why you're unhappy getting that thing will not make you happy and so think about this for a second because it's really a conundrum you get stuck in right not having that thing is not the problem not being happy is not the problem the desire for something that you don't have is the problem and the crazy part about that is you're creating the desire.

7:28So let me take you through a real quick journey, right? Desire is the problem. Desire is the thing that's holding you back from being happy. And we take another step back. I'm not happy because I don't have this thing. And when I get this thing, I will be happy. That's how most people think. So the desire is the actual problem because getting that thing is not going to make you happy. And the crazy part is that you're creating the desire. So the craziest part is that the only problems in your life are the problems that you're creating, which means if we could master our minds, there would be no problems and there would only be peace and happiness.

8:04And it took me like 30 something years to learn this, is that the only problems in my life are the things that I'm perceiving as problems. I want this thing and the fact that I don't have it as a problem. I want this to be this way. And the fact that it's not this way is a problem. I want her to act this way. And the fact that she's not acting this way is a problem. And we will be right back. Hey, showing up for yourself day in and day out and doing the hard things is what creates a better life. And noon hydration helps you stay moving with the real deal. Activated hydration built to support you through those moments that challenge you.

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10:54Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com slash mentor. That's it. There's no catch. $45 upfront payment required equivalent to$15 a month. New customers on first three month plan only. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. And now back to the show. The craziest part about this whole thing is that the only problems that exist are the problems that we're creating in our minds. Now, you'd be like, well, I'm trying to figure out how I can pay my bills. Okay, we'll fucking figure it out. That's not a problem.

11:31The problem is that you want the money right now to be able to pay those bills. And the desire for wanting that money is the thing that's actually creating the problem. Okay, you don't have it? Well, that's just a circumstance. That's not a problem that you don't have the money. The problem is that you think that the getting of the money is going to make you happier or that it's going to solve all of your problems. No, no, no, no, no. You're just, that's just a circumstance. You don't have the money to pay your bills. Okay, well, figure out a way to go make yourself more valuable in the marketplace or to go out and actually drive Uber or to do something to make money to be able to pay your bills, right?

12:03And so it's really kind of crazy when you actually fully grasp this is that the only problems that exist in your life are the problems that you're creating in your mind. Like let it set in. Think of all of your problems and then realize that they're just circumstances that exist and your perception of them is the thing that's making them a quote unquote problem. And so let's go back to happiness, right? How do we get happy? Well, you feel happy when you don't feel like something is missing in your life. You feel happy when you don't feel like something is missing in your life. You feel at peace.

12:41You feel content because we often think I need this. I need that. I need this thing. I need that. And it could be wanting a new car or a house or a vacation, or it can be wanting someone in your life to be different than they are or to act differently or to do something differently. And we could think to ourselves like, well, I would be happier if they stopped doing these things to me. I would be happier if she stopped acting this way. I would be happier if my boss wasn't such an asshole, right? They are not the problem. Not having that thing or not having the situation be what you want it to be is not the problem.

13:18You and your thoughts are the problem. And so what happens is we get stuck in these cycles of wanting things. And the more things that you want, the more problems that you are then creating because when you want them, the desire is distancing you from that thing. And you're saying, I will not be happy until I get this thing. If we go back to that quote, which is desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get that thing. But when we feel like we have everything that we need, we can stop worrying and we can stop thinking about the past and the future. And that's when we allow ourself the space to be happy.

13:56Think about that for a moment. Not wanting things creates more peace internally. Listen, I'm not saying that you don't, you should, you should just lose all of your motivation. You should just sit on the couch and play video games all day because that's just, you know, the ultimate state of happiness and peace and not wanting. We do have to live this human life. I do get it. And in this human life, there is some cool shit that we could do and there's stuff that we could buy and there's experiences that we could have. But the more wants that we create, the more that we're deciding that we want to be unhappy.

14:27And so what I like to say is instead of having all of these wants, which most of them aren't even really that important, decide which wants you want. Like which ones you want to keep, which ones you're going to want to get rid of. And when you reach the point of letting go of as many things as possible, when you can reach the point of hopefully sitting there, enjoying your cup of coffee and realizing there's nothing that you need to do. There's nothing that you need to be. There's nothing that you need to accomplish. And you can reach that point. You feel really quite calm inside. And to me, happiness isn't about having good thoughts or bad thoughts or being positive and not being negative.

15:04It's not about people not dying in your life or things not changing. It's not about all of those external circumstances. It's about just deciding not to want so many things and to think that getting those things are going to make you happy, especially not wanting the things outside of yourself. You know, it's about finding the gratitude that you have right now, no matter what situation you're in. It's like that phrase that the rabbi said, and I can't pronounce his name or else I would. but he says happiness is not wanting happiness is not having what you want but wanting what you have like when you really understand that that happiness is not having what you want but wanting what you have the less that i want like the less things that i want to go out and do and feel and buy and accomplish and all that stuff the more i can accept things just as they actually are And the key of that is the acceptance of life as it is.

16:02The more that I accept and I'm just like, oh, that's how that person is. That's how the circumstance is. That's how the bank account is. That's how this thing is. The more that you can accept these things, the less my mind races. So the more that I can accept, the less my mind races. The more that you can accept, the more that your mind will be able to calm. And I don't think happiness is really that hard to achieve. I think that we make it way harder than it needs to be. And I think happiness comes from not suffering. And suffering comes from desire. And so there's a difference between pain and suffering.

16:42Suffering, pain in your life will just happen. Suffering is you choosing to go through that pain over and over and over again. and not wanting things and not worrying too much about what has been or what will be or what's coming up or what you've done in the past and all of that. When you can just remove yourself from the external world that we've been taught to, it's really kind of hard because it's so the opposite of what we're taught since childhood is not wanting things, not being attached to things, not putting, investing so much of our energy and so much of our worth into the external world, but looking inside of ourselves because looking outside of ourselves for anything is a mistake because happiness doesn't come from the outside things.

17:27Happiness is a feeling. It is a state of mind and feelings and state of minds are internal. And so we keep thinking we'll be happy when I get this thing or I get that thing. And that's a mistake that we keep making. So believing that something out there that you'll finally get that thing and it'll make you happy forever is a lie. Like a lot of people like, they're like, well, I just need to get a bigger house. And once I get my dream house, then I'll be happy. And it's like, no, you won't. When you get your dream house, you're going to feel exactly the same, but it's just going to be more space.

17:55And then eventually a couple of years down the road, you're going to be looking at another house, right? Happiness is just an internal job. When you want something, you're basically agreeing to be unhappy until you get it. Why don't you just say, I don't want any more things. I don't need any more things. I'm happy just the way that I am. And what's kind of crazy about it is that it seems so counterintuitive, but as you want less things, more things start working out for you the way that you actually wanted them to in the first place before you decided to release yourself from wanting all these things.

18:21It's like synchronizes just kind of start lining up for you. And we want things all day and we wonder why we're not happy. And it's like, well, you're not happy because you keep wanting more. Happiness comes from inside, not outside. And so when you realize this, you realize, like I said earlier in this podcast episode, I told you I'll talk about this is that happiness is a choice and it's actually a skill set that you can develop. Developing a skill set takes time and it takes attention though. It's not just like you're immediately going to be happy because we've been spending the past 25, 30, 40 years of our lives wanting things.

18:53And so our brain is kind of wired to want things. And so it takes, you know, if you're going to develop this skill set of being happy, and that's a different way to look at life is that happiness is a skill set. It's going to take time and it's going to take attention. And now I can already hear people getting pissed off when I say happiness is a choice because they're like, well, you, yeah, but that might be nice in your life, but you don't know what my life looks like. You don't know what I've been through. You don't know what's happening around me. You don't know about the people that I have around me.

19:22Cool. Okay. Watch this real quick. Let's just try to make this as stupid simple as we possibly can. Like, let's just take life, right? We're going to take life right here. Let's make it stupid simple. You're born. Right? You're born. We're all born into this world. And then throughout birth and death, we have all kinds of experiences. We see things, we hear things, we feel things, we touch things, all of this. We have all of these sensory experiences from birth until death. And then one day we die. Is that correct? Like if we're looking at this from like a hundred thousand foot view, that's what it is.

19:59We're born. We have all kinds of experiences. We see things, hear things, feel things, all of that, and then we die, right? Those are all just sensory inputs. That's correct, right? So how we choose to interpret those experiences in our life is up to us. And how we interpret them will dictate whether we're happy or whether we're pissed off or whether we're sad or whether we're mad or whether we're a victim, all of that. So what it comes down to is we all have birth, we all have death, we all have sensory experiences. How we choose to interpret those experiences is fully up to us. That's the best part.

20:33We get to choose. And so it shows you it's not about what happens to you, but it's about how you choose to interpret them. You can choose to be happy. There is somebody, if you're pissed off and you're like, no, my life is shit, all that stuff. There is somebody else in this world whose life is worse than you, that is happier than you. Guarantee it. I'm just going to say this one more time, right? If you think to yourself, my life sucks, I don't have what I want, then the reason why I'm not happy is because I don't have these things because my life sucks. There is somebody in this world that has less than you that is happier than you.

21:08Which proves to you that it's not about what you have or don't have, it's what you choose to think about your life. And how you choose to interpret your experiences. So you can decide, like literally right now from this moment on, nothing outside of me is going to control my emotions. it's just my life is going to be the way that it is and as things happen things will happen and don't expect life to be a certain way for you life is just life and when you understand that there is no reason to be happy or sad or to be any of that and when you stop feeling like there's something missing you're left with happiness it's this really wild thing like when you stop wanting things you just sit there and you're like oh nice well that's pretty awesome so don't worry about how things should be or shouldn't be and all that stuff, just focus on your own experiences and start changing how you interpret them so that you can make yourself happier.

22:01Now, let's talk about peace for just a minute, okay? Real happiness comes from being at peace. Like, I think that when you are happy is when you internally are more at peace. Now, you'll never be here 100 % of the time, promise you that. You're going to be happy and peaceful and then someone's going to say something and then you're going to, you know, someone's going to cut you off and you're going to flick them off and honk your horn and you're going to be like, oh my God, what am I doing? You're going to lose yourself many times over your lifetime. But most of the time, happiness comes from just accepting things as the way they are and not wanting to change what's around us.

22:31And it's about really being present and allowing ourselves to be comfortable in the present moment. Because when you're comfortable being present, it's like the door opens up and peace walks in because you're just like, I'm here. And in being here and not wanting things, I can be present. And it's like the reason why a lot of people struggle with meditation. I've been there many times. You know, this morning I did a 30 minute meditation. The first 15 minutes was me thinking about all the shit I had to do today. And then I realized I spent 15 minutes thinking about all the stuff I had to do today.

22:59And instead of getting myself mad and pissed and, oh, what did I do? I just wasted 15 minutes. I just brought myself back to my body, to my breath, feeling into my body and just feeling my heart rate. And really what it came down to is I was wanting to be out of that meditation, out of that moment so I could get things done, right? We all find ourselves there. and it really comes down to how can we just allow ourselves to be more present because we all want moments that make us feel alive and to feel present don't we like we want to travel we want amazing experiences you want to watch your team win the super bowl but here's what's crazy wanting those moments can actually pull us out of the present moment and it's really crazy when you actually think about it we want things that make us feel present we want things to make us feel present winning the super bowl our team winning the super bowl that would make you feel really present, really excited in the moment.

23:50You wouldn't be thinking about anything else except for how excited you were in that moment. When you're in Greece and you're having a glass of wine and there's a beautiful sunset, you're very present. You're watching the sunset. You're tasting the wine. You're looking at it and you're like, holy shit, this is amazing. We want things that make us feel present, but the wanting of those things steals our presence right now in this moment. And so we're always chasing after the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. And this constant chase makes us start to feel anxious. And so what I've been trying to do lately.

24:17You can try this if you want. Completely up to you. I've been trying to make myself really bored lately. Like yesterday I meditated and then I made coffee and I sat on the couch and I looked out my back window for 45 minutes doing nothing. Literally nothing. There wasn't any music that was playing. I wasn't reading. I was sitting on the couch. I was looking out my back porch. My dog was sitting next to me and I was just sitting there doing nothing. Have you ever tried doing that before, not doing anything, not reading, not listening to music. It's hard, isn't it? And the reason why is because we're always anxious about having to do something, having something that needs to come up next.