I sound like one of those Internet wanker gurus, don’t I? 

Talking about spirituality or something. Don’t worry.

I know nothing about spirituality or wellness.

I’m a business coach so I’ll talk about how your business can help you be happier.

Or, importantly, how you can operate your business and yourself so you’re happier.

This thought of mine was prompted by my recent holiday to Bali.

(Did I mention I just got back from Bali? I’ve been talking about it non-stop, so you’ve probably heard. Or it’s coming to social media soon.)

Michelle and I noticed how happy the Balinese people are – the staff at the hotel, the waiters and cleaners, the people running the washing places and street food stalls. Pretty much everyone you meet is ready to smile and seems happy.

Happier than most of us Westerners seem to be (and than me and Michelle feel, I think, too).

Bear with me, I’m going somewhere with this.

We were chatting about it because we were on holiday and we had time to think about s#!t like that, we weren’t rushing around so we Googled it. (Michelle did.) Research has been done on why Balinese people are so happy and cheerful.

Michelle found a study, I think it was a survey, so people were asked why they were happy (in a psychological study data may not necessarily be 100% reliable as our biases skew our answers) and the conclusion was faith and family which I think is suspiciously alliterative.

Faith meaning, their religious beliefs and ceremonies and family, a reference to how they live – communally in family groups.

I’ve done a bit more research now, for this blog.

They do a lot of spiritual ceremonial stuff – ritual cleansing, leaving offerings out for the spirits, they dance a lot and play music for fun.

I made a few observations of my own. 

They’re happy despite being statistically poorer than us here in Australia.

They’re patient and tolerant – accepting of things rather than striving all the time and getting frustrated if things don’t go their way (think about how this traffic works there – feels like chaos but nobody seems bothered).

I’m told they’re happy with little, enjoying nature and green spaces and the little things.

I noticed they like the small interactions and also to f#%k around.

They’re not shy of work but they seem to approach it differently to us. You don’t see them rushing about like Australian tradies trying to work fast or juggle lots of things. They take their time and pace it a bit slower.

There’s a bit to unpack there so I’m going to focus on my observations of how we work and live – Michelle and I, and our friends, and the people I coach.

As an aside I just told my team that I was writing this blog and the girls in the Philippines said they thought all Asians were similar, thousands included. They called it being resilient and we all agreed.

So it’s not just the Balinese.

So if Asian people work at a sustainable pace and without taking on loads of stress, Westerners work a bit differently, don’t we?

I see it in business owners and in their comments about their tradespeople.

People, especially the bosses – my clients, me, my partner Michelle, and some of my friends, work in a less sustainable way. 

We take on a lot of stress and carry it and work in a slightly frantic way, I think.

“So much to do, gotta keep ploughing through it, get it all done.”

“Got to work fast or we don’t make money.”

“I need a team to keep up a pace like I would or I’ll lose money. And they f%3k around too much.”

We seem to work differently, striving harder rather than doing the best we can and not stressing.

Lots of people – not all of you, do this.

I do it a bit – work hard on tasks and then bludge for a bit, feeling guilty and repeating the cycle.

We worry more as well, especially about things we can’t change or can’t change in the short term.

And this is the main difference work-wise in our happiness.

So, if you’re less happy than you might be and the way you carry stress and the way you work are contributing, you should consider trying to change things.

Now, I’m very aware as I write this that we have different lives to the people in Bali and we have income needs and mortgages and ambitions so I’m not proposing massive changes, I’m looking for the small changes we can make so we can have a nicer time.

I don’t know much about you but if I realise I don’t have a meeting booked at 9, I’ll mess around a bit in the morning and start a bit late. But I’ll feel a bit guilty while I’m doing it instead of enjoying it. I’m going to work on that – on giving myself permission to take it easy sometimes.

What can you do?

You run a trade business so 9 o’clock starts are not your thing but can you crowbar in some time to do something you like every week? Golf or tennis or surfing or riding your motorbike or something?

A big thing for you guys is smashing through work, I’ve spoken about it before. It means you’re often charging hard all day long and have periods where you’re not very effective but you’re still working.

Can you offload some of that work to someone else?

Do you see where I’m heading?

For most of you who are a bit more profitable and a bit bigger, you can have more people to do some of the work; this makes your business a whole lot more enjoyable.

Why don’t you try for that?

Book a call if you want to see if my program is for you.

Or ask for a link to the ‘Triangle’ video which is the framework I use to help people to scale their business.