Small Business Tips
Expert Q&A | Sarah Moe, Happiness Consultant & Recovering Attorney
At the root of every entrepreneur’s origin story is the desire to be in charge. In charge of creating the flexibility in your own workday. In charge of the direction of the business. In charge of your own happiness. And it’s usually because something about working the traditional, corporate 9-to-5 *Cue Dolly Parton* is draining the life clean out of you. It could be friction with a manager, the frustration of not being able to explore new ideas or strategies, or even just the inability to truly direct your day in a way that maximizes your results…And still leaves you time to enjoy the things that make you happy in life.
We recently hopped on a call with Sarah Moe, a recovering attorney and company culture consultant focusing on happiness in the workplace, to get the true secret to lasting happiness and the dish on making the proverbial leap from corporate life to entrepreneurial freedom.
Laura: Something we hear over and over again in this kind of non-traditional workplace is, “How? How did you guys make that leap?” It’s hard to make that transition from a very corporate setting where you may have stability, but you may not have a lot of control, to becoming an entrepreneur. What was your motivation?
Sarah: I was so miserable as a litigator. As an attorney, the ultimate goal is usually to make partner, and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to be in the courtroom, doing what I was interested in and really good at, but I didn’t have the freedom to do that where I worked. It was like, “No, no, you’re only in your second year. It just isn’t “done” like that.” I cried all the time. I wasn’t being the best worker I could be. I ended up having a minor stroke, and that was it for me. I had to make a change.
L: That’s a huge wake-up call. What did you take away from that in terms of happiness in the workplace?
S: I realized that I had to live life on my own terms and do anything in my power to be happy. You have to look at the big picture. If this is the only life I get, I’m not going to be miserable.
L: Why do you think people have such a hard time making the choice to put their happiness first?
S: Sometimes it’s easier to let others “take over” your happiness. There’s a feeling of stability that comes with working in a corporate setting. You can make excuses for why you can’t quit your job, take control, and make changes. It’s a fear of failure. Failing at your own business is way more personal. But you know, it’s like the Wayne Gretzsky quote, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
L: In your workshop The Science of Happiness, you talk about this myth that we can’t control our own happiness, and you say that according to studies, that’s not true at all. It’s 50% genetics, 10% life circumstances, and 40% choice. But what if you want to make that leap and start your own business, but you really can’t just quit today? What can you do right now to improve your happiness if you’re miserable at your job or in your career?
S: Make a goal. Maybe you can’t quit tomorrow, but in the meantime, you can start putting back money, take a class, do something that moves you closer to your goal every day. You have to retrain your brain to be in charge of your happiness. But to do that, you have to know what really makes you happy.
L: This goes back to your workshop. You talk about a concept called hedonic adaptation, where we become so used to positive or negative stimulation that the emotional effects we get from that stimulation dull over time. So things like having more money, a bigger house, even a partner, those things don’t bring us true happiness. How do we know what really makes us happy?
S: Most people don’t really do the self-reflection. You have to really understand yourself, and it’s scary getting to know yourself.
L: Like, what if what really makes me happy isn’t in line with the life I’ve built. Was it hard to walk away from being a lawyer after going through law school, working in this prestigious position?
S: Yeah, it’s kind of like an identity crisis. Letting go of the title of litigator. What will people think?
L: What did you discover about what really makes you happy?
S: Travel, eating new food, meeting new people.
L: How did you incorporate those into your life when you left litigation?
S: I couldn’t really travel right away, so I made it a point to discover new areas of my city every week. I ate at new restaurants. Your well being has to be a daily practice. Every day, you have to feed yourself with what makes you truly happy in order to maintain happiness and overcome hedonic adaptation. You have to put yourself first.
L: We know that putting yourself first doesn’t become any easier when you become your own boss. If anything, it becomes even harder. How do you do it?
S: You have to prioritize it in the same way you do your work. Block off time for those tasks in your To-Do List. You can do it in the morning, first thing.
L: What are some practices that we can do to really feed our own happiness?
S: Do a gratitude exercise. Write down one concrete thing you are grateful for every day. Do a random act of kindness for someone. Spend time with people, nurture relationships. Meditation and mindfulness are both proven to increase happiness even beyond the actual act and can counteract hedonic adaptation. Meditation builds brain tissue and increases your workplace performance.
L: So, invest in activities that are more experience-based vs. material goods?
S: Exactly.
One of the top takeaways we took to heart when working with Sarah is the importance of understanding that really makes you happy and how to feed that source of happiness on a daily basis. Especially in a busy workplace. In fact, each member of Team Fuze has embarked on a happiness journey that includes daily gratitude journaling, meditation, or sending random acts of kindness to members on our team. We can already begin to see the difference in our daily interactions too.
What are you doing to invest in yourself and your overall happiness? We want to hear about it!
If you’re interested in learning about The Science of Happiness with Sarah Moe and how to create your happiest personal and professional self, you can get in touch with Sarah here.
