Book Review_3 : Book Name ~ If you are smart , why aren't you happy ? ~

Book Name: If you are smart, why aren’t you happy?

ISBN: 978-1-101908-073-6

Publisher: Vermilion London

Author: Raj Raghunath

No of Pages: 325

Published in 2016

Raj Ragunathan author of the book “If you are smart, why aren’t you happy?” is a professor of Marketing at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. His areas of expertise includes psychology, behavioral science, decision theory and marketing to explain consumption behavior. He also conducts the study on the effect that people’s judgments and decisions have on their own happiness and fulfillment. This book authored by Raj gives insights on how to turn career success into life success.

The book “If you are smart, why aren’t you happy?” is based on seven distinct traits, each divided into two complementary parts – sins and habits. He explores the possibilities of these traits in people that deflate their joy and can improve one’s happiness quotient. The irony reflected in the book is people who are smartest should be making the right decisions in life, but that does not happen. So why are so many of the smartest, brightest, most successful people profoundly unhappy?

Raj explains that there are certain sins that becomes the reason for unhappiness for many. These traits are common in almost every individual. He explains how at times advancement in career, earning more money and stuff becomes impediment in our path of happiness. Some key points are -

1. Devaluing the importance of happiness for materialistic success.

2. A constant high need of superiority may end up us being sacrificing long-term learning and development.

3. Lack of quality time with our relationships directly affects our inner self for our near and dear ones are not happy.

4. The possessiveness that one generates while being in love also affects the state of happiness for an individual.

5. The insecurities in relationships can lead to the downfall of one’s happiness.

Raj further adds the habits that an individual should adopt which act as the counterpart to these seven deadly sins. Some key points are -

a.Being with the flow is being present totally in 100 %.

b.Being generous rather than just being selfish and working around one’s own needs is another important trait.

c. It is important to realize that there is always a greater joy in giving than taking.

d. Healthy lifestyle is just about eating right, sleeping better and moving more.

e. One should also practice to exercise smart trust which happens when one knows whom to trust, when to trust and how much to trust.

f. Practicing meditation and doing exercise daily helps us in improving the happiness quotient in an individual since it induces certain types of hormones

The key highlights for me as a reader from the book are as follows:

-Intelligence, financial well being, creative satisfaction or a healthy marriage promises happiness, but does not guarantee. Intelligent and successful, can you be happy as well? Yes – Provided you do take decisions related to work by, mind and handles relationships by heart, not the other way round.

-One can skillfully turn the traits that leads to sorrow into attitudes that one should adopt to be happy while being materialistically very sound.

-Feeling inferior, lack of love and connectivity with others, and lack of control over themselves and other people are the areas where the negative mental charter fall into mainly. So one should adopt the opposite attitude with respect to above.

-Let the child in you always stay alive. It is often observed that most of us wear our professional caps at our home, losing that naturalness in our communication and relationships.

-One can become the CEO of his or her own life when one lives with Commitment towards responsibilities, Enthusiasm to live and Open mindedness towards learning

The exercises used in the book would help the reader to quantify happiness. The book is targeted towards an audience who loves certain measure of materialistic comfort and at the same time wants to use their intelligence for happy decisions in life. The content of the book is rich with good vocabulary usage. Raj has been successful in clinging the audience until the last, where he shares all the seven secrets that inflates and deflates happiness of an individual besides the career success. He has projected that the happiness is our natural state; all the aspects that deflate our joy are external factors like people and events. The structure of the sentences are simple and understandable. This book is a good read for all young enthusiastic readers out there who are looking for success and happiness together.

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