The Happiness Trap (You Don't Need to Be Rich to be Happy) (#31) — Transcript
Updated: Oct 26
THE PICTURE OF WEALTH · EPISODE 31
Dustin Serviss reflects on a passage from Russ Harris’s The Happiness Trap and the desire to be rich. He explores the experiences and values people hope money will make possible.
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This transcript was generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability. It may contain transcription or speaker-attribution errors. Refer to the recording for exact wording.
Chapters
[00:00:22] An excerpt from The Happiness Trap
[00:01:57] Finding fulfillment before becoming rich
[00:03:12] Art, travel and small steps now
[00:04:35] Giving yourself permission to be genuine
[00:06:06] Family values and living today
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Transcript
[00:00:01] Show announcer: Welcome to the Picture of Wealth, a podcast all about living more of your life now yet being responsible for your future. Lifestyle experimenter, wealth scientist, and financial coach, Dustin Service, shares life hacks, wealth tips, and interviews successful entrepreneurs on how they're thriving in happiness, purpose, and prosperity.
[00:00:22] Dustin Serviss: The happiness trap. I wanna read you a excerpt out of the happiness trap book written by Russ Harris. And, I read it a while back, but I now I now reflect on this section of the book as I work with many clients who get confused sometimes in their life. And I'm gonna just jump right in. Now imagine two people talking, Jeff and Russ is who Russ, the author is is citing, but here's how the conversation goes. Russ is a therapist, and Jeff is a guy. Russ says to Jeff, well, what do you really want? Jeff says, to be absolutely honest, I wanna be stinking rich. Russ says, fair enough. If you were stinking rich, what would that enable you to do?
[00:01:13] Dustin Serviss: Jeff says, lots of things. Russ says, such as, Jeff, travel around the world. Russ, what would you do on your travels? Jeff, I'd laser around beaches, explore exotic countries, and visit the wonders of the world. Russ, okay. What do you value about lazing around on beaches? Jeff, relaxing. It's a great way to chill out. Russ, and what do you value about visiting exotic countries? Jeff, meeting new people, tasting new cuisines, discovering exotic arts and crafts? Russ, okay. Now I wanna be clear on this. I'm not, for a moment, suggesting that you give up on your goal. If you wanna be rich, by all means, go for it.
[00:01:57] Dustin Serviss: In fact, if you want, we can spend some time brainstorming how to make that happen. But I'd hate to see you spend the next ten years feeling miserable because you think you have to be rich before you can find fulfillment. See? You identified relaxing and chilling out as activities you value. Well, there's a zillion different ways you can relax and chill out right now, and you don't have to be rich. You could have a hot bath, lift... Listen to some music, do yoga, Jeff. Yeah. But I really do like lazing on beaches. Russ, absolutely. So it makes sense to save up your money and plan a beach holiday,
[00:02:36] Dustin Serviss: but you don't have to wait until you're rich to have the satisfaction of relaxing. That's something that you can do every day, and it's the same for those other values. For example, if you value tasting exotic cuisine, you could do that right now. Jeff. I guess I could try some authentic restaurants. Russ. Yeah. Or some authentic cookbooks. Jeff. Yes. But that's not the same as eating the local food in a foreign country. Russ, I'm not suggesting that it is. I'm just pointing out that if you truly value eating exotic food, you don't have to wait until you're rich enough to travel the world.
[00:03:12] Dustin Serviss: And the same goes for discovering the little known arts and crafts. If you wanted to do that right now, what could you do? Jeff, go to art galleries? Russ, exactly. Or visit museums or local arts and craft fairs. Or you could read about it or do research on the Internet. Jeff. Yeah. But that's not the same as Russ. I know. And, again, if you wanna travel overseas, then it makes sense to save money and plan for it. All I'm saying is if you value relaxing, eating different foods, and learning about unusual arts and crafts, you can do all those things right now. You don't have to go through life desperately wanting.
[00:03:51] Dustin Serviss: Now let's come back to your goal of being rich. Why else is that important? Jeff, because people look up to you when you're rich. Russ, well, I don't know if that's always the case, but let's assume you're right. What's so important about having people look up to you? Jeff, they treat you better. They respect you. Russ, so let's suppose that people treated you well and respected you and looked up to you. What would that enable you to do? Jeff, I guess I'd be more at ease. I wouldn't have to try and impress anyone. I could just be myself. Russ. So what you're really valuing so what you really value is being yourself, being genuine. Jeff, yeah.
[00:04:35] Dustin Serviss: I just wanna be me. Russ, okay. So you can be genuine right now. Do you have to wait until you're rich? Jeff, it's easier if you're rich. Russ, maybe so. But are you going to wait until you're rich before you give yourself the satisfaction of being genuine? Jeff, what if I'm genuine and people don't like me? Russ, do you wanna spend your life building friendships with people who only like you because you're rich? Jeff, no. Russ, what sort of friendships do you wanna build? Jeff, ones that I can be myself where I can be accepted for who I am. Russ, okay. So if you value being genuine, why not start right now in the relationships
[00:05:19] Dustin Serviss: you already have? Ask yourself, what's one small thing I could say or do that could be truer to the real me? As you can see, Jeff was quite convinced that he needed to be rich before he could find satisfaction in life. But in time, as Jeff chose increasingly to live his values, he found deep sense of fulfillment even as he pursued his financial and business goals. End of paragraph. I see this a ton in business where goals are continually increased and goals are reset, and things are achieved and reset again. And there's a never ending pursuit of checking off the list when true happiness really comes down to living your ultimate values.
[00:06:06] Dustin Serviss: And what are those values? And in our own world right now, we're laying out our family values again to help with teaching our kids what's really important and helping them understand why when we're explaining to them why something is the way it is or why they can't have something that they want. And that, I believe, is when the true true moment is for a lot of people when they realize, like my fictitious character, Harv, who I teach about, he goes his whole life sacrificing everything, working weekends, missing out on every single thing just to reinvest back in his business in the hopes that
[00:06:43] Dustin Serviss: when he is sixty, he has more money than the average person, and is then able to be materially more happy in retirement. Let's start living our life now, yet be responsible for our future.
[00:06:59] Show announcer: If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend. If you found this episode super valuable, leave us a review on iTunes. It will help us continue to bring you top quality content. For more information on anything discussed on the show, visit w w w dot service wealth dot com. That's service spelled s e r v I s s. Any investment topics covered on the show are not investment recommendations, and you should seek professional advice before making any investment decisions. This show was produced by Podgy podcast. Thanks for listening.