Aaron and I go way back, as he was one of my first blogging friends, and has showed me a great deal about networking and communication. His words still ring in my head sometimes as I decide if I will take a casual or professional tone in a conversation “you got it brother!”

Aaron operates a website called Today is That Day ^[1], where he freely distributes invaluable information and products about success. His moto? “My Goal Is Your Success!” I can digg that.

Aaron is a success-entrepreneur. He recently launched a personal development forum ^[2], which has a tight knit group of people, all interested in promoting each other’s well-being.

Aaron leverages his experience and knowledge as a personal trainer by providing free information in his site Fitness Destinations ^[3]. With Aaron’s unique holistic approach to personal development, you won’t find the same voice anywhere else on the net.

Aaron’s books:

• Energy Harmonics ^[4]
• How To Invoke The Law of Attraction ^[5]
• Mental Meltdown: Weight Loss Begins in the Mind ^[6]
• The Definitive Weight Loss ^[7]

1. How do you define happiness?

Happiness is whenever you are perfectly content to do whatever you are doing at any given moment, and you have absolutely ZERO desire to change anything. If someone were to come up to you in that moment and ask “If you could do anything that you wanted to do right now, what would it be?”, your answer should be “This is it. I’m already doing it.” That’s happiness.

2. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your happiness now, versus when you were a child?

I would have to go with #8, and I would say that the number hasn’t really changed that much over the years!

When I was a kid, we didn’t have a lot as far as money and some of the gadgets that other kids had, but I was raised in a very loving environment, I was incredibly self-sufficient with a drive to “get out and see the world,” and I had plenty of friends who enjoyed the adventure with me. I was always looking towards the future, though, and I had BIG plans.

As an adult, the situation is very similar. I am happy most of the time – right up there around #8 – and I have more than enough to be grateful for in my life, and to keep me happily doing things that I enjoy doing. However, just as when I was a child, I have BIG plans, and those plans require resources that I am still in the process of manifesting.

In the meantime, a lifetime (so far) of living around the #8 level is something that I can be…uh…HAPPY about! Numbers 9 and 10 coming right up!

3. What do you do on a daily basis that brings you happiness? (and how consistent is the feeling of happiness throughout your day)

More than anything else, I remind myself consistently throughout the day that I am doing whatever I am doing because I have the CHOICE to do it or not do it. I work at home, or wherever my laptop happens to take me, and no matter what the actual tasks are that I am concentrating on, I know that I am the only person in all the world who gets to decide what I do/don’t do from one moment to the next, and that in and of itself is the accomplishment of one of my past goals.

As far as the consistency of the feeling, it really depends on my workload. If I start to feel overwhelmed, then it is easy for stress to try and creep into my emotional state. However, I am able to keep that at bay for the most part, and productivity practices that I have implemented in recent months have really helped. It’s funny because “productivity” and “happiness” are two completely different words, yet one of them can lead to the other by providing a stress-free environment.

4. What things take away from your happiness? What can be done to lessen their impact or remove them from your life?

I am my own worst enemy! Although it is certainly true that I have what amounts to a ridiculous amount of work to do every day, that also doesn’t change the fact that I am the only one who can become stressed, frustrated, or fearful if those thing don’t always get done, or don’t get done completely.

What takes away from my happiness is whenever I feel like I haven’t “gotten the job done” well enough to provide the resources that both my present and my future life need. The best way for me to remove those obstacles is to stay productive. I am a firm believer that once you have truly done all that you can do in any given circumstance, worrying or stressing about what didn’t get done is a total waste of time. I work hard, and I work smart, and I work consistently, and as long as I stick to those principles, I can “shut down” after work each day with a clear conscience, and then I’m good.

5. What do you plan on doing in the future that will bring you even more happiness?

Spend a lot more time at the beach! OK, maybe not JUST the beach, but spending more time outdoors, near the water’s edge, and traveling around the world are all things that bring me happiness, yet I do not do them as often as I would like right now.

When I get to the #9 or #10 level of happiness, I will likely be working in the same “arena” that I am working in now, I will just be doing it while spending less time actually “working”. Instead, I will spend more time relaxing and having fun while I plan the next stage of the journey! The next stage is already on the drawing board, by the way, and it will make A LOT of people happy!

____

To get more info about what the Happiness Project is and isn’t, please visit the Introduction Post ^[8]. To see a running list of all participants, which I will be updating as things happen, please visit the Happiness Project Page ^[9].

^[10] Tweet This Post ^[10]