Brad Feld

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Being A Student of The Pursuit of Happiness

Nov 01, 2007

I’m usually an excruciatingly happy person.  I’m a little cranky this morning because I have a cold and didn’t get a good night sleep the last two nights, but I’ll get over it.  Oh – and even though I’m cranky, I’m still happy.

Ted Leonsis just gave the morning keynote at the New New Internet Conference.  I first met Ted in 1990 at the first Birthing of Giants event that I participated in.  Ironically, five minutes ago, I bumped into Verne Harnish – the creator of Birthing of Giants and the founder of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization (that co-sponsors Birthing of Giants.)  Since I’m now way off the rails on the actual content of this post, I thought I’d mention that Verne was the only guy I knew in Boulder when Amy and I moved there in 1995 – and Verne split for the east coast a few months later leaving us completely alone in our new mountain hideaway.

Back to the post.  In Ted’s keynote, he stated that he’s been a 25 year student in the pursuit of happiness.   He asserted that deep scientific research (not cited) has uncovered five key things that generate happiness in humans.

  • Relationships
  • Community
  • Self expression
  • Giving back
  • Pursue a higher calling

Interesting to ponder.  He also mentioned that AOL’s peak market cap was around $200b and Google is now closing in on $160b.  Also interesting to ponder.