Warren Buffett's 7 Secrets for Living a Happy and Simple Life

Secret #1: Happiness comes from within. “In my adult business life I have never had to make a choice of trading between professional and personal. I tap-dance to work, and when I get there it’s tremendous fun.” -- Warren Buffett If you do what you love and love what you do, you’ll naturally be productive. Secret #2: Find happiness in simple pleasures. “I have simple pleasures. I play bridge online for 12 hours a week.” -- Warren Buffett You can also learn to be happy with the simple pleasures of playing cards with friends, playing with your children or taking a walk in the wilderness. Secret #3: Live a simple life. “I just naturally want to do things that make sense. In my personal life too, I don’t care what other rich people are doing. I don’t want a 405 foot boat just because someone else has a 400 foot boat.” -- Warren Buffett Keeping up with the Joneses is the worst epidemic among those who should never contemplate that notion in the first place. Less is more. Secret #4: Think Simply. “I want to be able to explain my mistakes. This means I do only the things I completely understand.” -- Warren BuffettIf you apply this rule in your life, you can develop clarity and sanity in your thoughts. Life is about simple yet profound choices. Secret #5: Invest Simply. “The best way to own common stocks is through an index fund.” -- Warren Buffett Often, the simplest route will bring you the most riches, and the most happiness. Secret #6: Have a mentor in life. “I was lucky to have the right heroes. Tell me who your heroes are and I’ll tell you how you’ll turn out to be. The qualities of the one you admire are the traits that you, with a little practice, can make your own, and that, if practiced, will become habit-forming.” -- Warren Buffett Having a mentor is as important as having a purpose in your life, but having a wrong mentor is as devastating as having a wrong purpose in your life. The mentor has to be someone you can trust. You’ll find that person in your inner circle if you think hard enough. Secret #7: Making money isn’t the backbone of your guiding purpose; making money is the by-product of your guiding purpose. “If you’re doing something you love, you’re more likely to put your all into it, and that generally equates to making money.” -- Warren BuffettMoney should never become the object and end all of your motivation. Sources:Success Soul July 15, 2008, article source

What Coaching Isn't

I think it is important to make some distinctions between what coaching is and what it isn’t. These brief comparisons will help clients needing therapy, consulting, mentoring or another service discern which type of professional is best suited to meet their needs. My hope is that clients who are considering hiring a coach will have some basis for comparison about what they can expect and ask for from their coach. Coaching isn’t therapy. Generally, therapy goes back to the roots to work through unresolved issues of the past. Coaching assumes that the past is perfect, whether it is or not, and focuses on putting your energy to work in the present and moving forward. Therapy is appropriate for clients who need to resolve their past in order to move forward. Coaching isn’t consulting. Consulting typically begins with a particular problem that a client wants to solve. A consultant, the expert, does tests and evaluations and delivers a report with potential solutions to the problem. Coaching assumes that the client has all the information they need to problem-solve. Coaching questions the true problem to ensure that the client won’t find answering another question more meaningful and profound. Once the client has selected the question they want to answer or the problem they want to solve, the coach and the client work together to devise strategies to create a win. After the client has articulated exactly what the win looks like, the coach and client work on creating the win together. Coaching isn’t mentoring. Mentoring is about providing advice and guidance based upon past experience and “having walked in the clients shoes.” The coaching partnership is focused on the client and helping them discover their own truth. Because the mentor is assumed to have greater knowledge, in the mentoring relationship there tends to be a hierarchy between the client and the coach. In coaching, the client is the expert on their life and the coach brings questions, ideas and thoughts for the client and coach to ponder together. Hence the relationship is flat.Therapy, consulting, mentoring and coaching all offer tremendous benefits to the client looking for change. Understanding where you are and what your objectives are will help you best determine which type of professional is best suited and most qualified to work with you. Check out other articles on MargaretPundmann.com: Globalized Workplace Integrity - We Are Our Word Connect to me: Margaret Pundmann's LinkedIn.com Margaret Pundmann's MySpace.com Profile