SOLVE

FOR HAPPY
MEMORIZATION BOOKLET
Mo Gawdat
 WHY YOU NEED TO FILL OUT THIS BOOKLET!

Theory is useless compared to action.

This booklet is what will separate you from
everyone else.
The science is unequivocal: Learning
Science has shown that retention increases
dramatically when new information is
immediately recalled (verbally or via
writing), as well as when it is practically
applied to your life.
NOW WHAT?
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
1. Studies show that happy professionals are
12% more productive (and therefore have a
competitive advantage) over their unhappy
counterparts.
2. Once you have reached your financial and
business “goals” there is often a lack which
proceeds such success. It’s important, there-
fore, to foresee this trouble and plan for it
ahead of time.

Watch the video online or on your USB Flash
Drive.
Pause the video as needed to fill out the
booklet.
3. No matter how stressful your current life,
there are easy-to-follow, guaranteed ways of
becoming happier. So why not take advantage
of them?

Don’t worry about finishing all at once. Stop.

Start. Come back. It’s all up to you.

Apply the techniques discussed in the book-

let to your life.

Notice the results. Then double down on

what especially works for you. Improve your
career.

NOTE

You do NOT need to read Solve for

Happy to learn and apply its key
Prepared exclusively for Mentorbox members. points. You should read it, but
All rights reserved. you don’t have to.
Copying is strictly prohibited.
 BIG IDEA #1 HAPPINESS IS OUR
DEFAULT STATE

SOLVE FOR HAPPY

Look at a child playing in an orphanage or on the
banks or a polluted river under the bombs of a civil
war. If a baby is not in need of food, water,
warmth, or a cleaning—is it not curious, in love
with its new world, and…happy?
There are countless “meanings of life” which could
be pondered over and debated upon until the ends
of time, and most likely will be, but one universal
truth is surely this—it is our desire to be happy.
Success? Wealth? Community? Comfort? Travel? Lei-
sure? Play? Are these all not synonymous with happi-
ness? They are means to an end. But what if we skip
the in-between and solve directly for happy?
Solve For Happy, then, isn’t trying to get you
anywhere—it’s trying to get you back to where
you came from.
Stress causes overeating, high blood pressure, cardi-
ac arrest, and most importantly—interferes with our
ability to perform optimally when at work. If you’re
ruminating about some small incident that happened
yesterday or fearful of a conversation that hasn’t
even happened yet—you’re not focused on what you
need to be focused on—which is your next task at
hand.

“For human beings, simply put, the default state is happiness.

If you don’t believe me, spend a little time with a human fresh
from the factory, an infant or toddler. Obviously, there’s a lot
of crying and fussing associated with the start-up phase of
little humans, but the fact is, as long as their most basic needs
are met—no immediate hunger, no immediate fear, no scary
isolation, no physical pain or enduring sleeplessness—they
live in the moment, perfectly happy.” - M. G.

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 APPLICATION TO LIFE

QUESTION QUESTION

Imagine yourself free of any worry, care, problem, or What has been your experience with children? Are
pain. How do you feel? they naturally excitable, curious, and happy? Why do
you think that is?
Worried Before we allow ourselves to be consumed by the frus-
Angry trations and comparisons of modern society, it’s true that
we just get along with seemingly everything. This must
Self-conscious be due to our lack of something more universal at play.
We’ve forgotten something along the way…
Happy

NOTE: Happy right?

This is our default state.

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 BIG IDEA #2 SECRET PRODUCTIVITY
IMPROVE WELL-BEING
Studies have shown that workers are 12% more pro-
ductive when they are happy. That’s 12% more work.
12% higher sales. 12% healthier.
Whether it’s for your own career or business ad-
vancement, or for that of your employees—ignoring
happiness as an important metric is costly.
You must, therefore, take decisive action in order
to improve the overall well-being and happiness of
yourself and those around you.
It’ll pay off not only in a more enjoyable life, but also
on the stat sheet.
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DEAL WITH CHALLENGES
“If you take exactly the same steps,
you will always reach exactly the
same outcome regardless of your
expectations, frustrations, pres-
sures, or joy. The quality of your
actions should not vary, and nei-
ther should your persistence in
the face of challenges.” - M. G.
Either way—the best way of dealing with these
stressors is to first acknowledge that they are hap-
pening. Without a firm understanding of what is
actually the problem, it is impossible to activate a
reasonable solution.
 APPLICATION TO LIFE
QUESTION
Imagine yourself angry, frustrated, and upset about
something that happened at home. Then you arrive
at work and you take something personally that a
coworker said about you, rather than viewing it as
a productive critique. How do you think you’ll per-
form that day?
Not well. My mind will be on what happened rather than
what needs to be done…
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QUESTION
Now for your own business—would you rather have
your employees helplessly ruminating over their de-
pressions, unable to get out of their own funks? Or
would you rather cultivate an environment of posi-
tive creativity, one where each employee feels com-
fortable and excited at work. Why?
Well I think the answer is fairly obvious. The trick
though—is to make sure that this actually happens. I
can only control my own emotions, but if I’m the boss, it
is my duty to cultivate the happiest environment I can for
my team…
 BIG IDEA #3 MAKE IT PERSONAL

OPTIMIZE YOUR LIFE

We’ll go over a few universal truths and some im-

portant misconceptions—but Mo allows for individ-
ualization. In fact, he encourages it.

Though what often happens is that we don’t take this

very basic step of asking ourselves—what makes me
happy?

It’s important to note, though, that Mo is not talking

about things like “money” or “success” or “fame.”

What he means is—what actually

makes you happy? As in, when you’re
doing this activity, you are happy. Or
better—when you are with this per-
son, you are happy.
Why not be aware of these markers and then opti-
mize your life around them?

“You’ll never please everyone. Find those who like the real you and invite
them closer. All others don’t matter to you.” - M. G.

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 APPLICATION TO LIFE

ACTIVITY ACTIVITY

I am happy when… I am happy when I am with…

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

5. 5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

NOTE: Pay attention to these activities and

people — IGNORE THE REST.

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 BIG IDEA #4 WHAT IS HAPPINESS?
STORY
Mo became a very successful day trader at a rather
young age, allowing him to buy almost anything his
heart could desire. In one particularly interesting
point, be bought a classic Bentley (online!). He’d al-
ways enjoyed cars, though once it arrived—he felt
as though nothing had changed. There was still an
emptiness within him.
Moral?
Studies show that in the United States happiness
only increases until someone makes $70,000/year.
After that, the marginal gains are hard to come by.
Therefore, no matter how “successful” you end up
being, you’re going to have to face the same chal-
lenges as everyone else.
So if not traditional success
—what is happiness?
10
HAPPINESS EQUATION
Mo describes it in his happiness equation:
Happiness is when your expectations for what life
should be matches or exceeds how it actually is.
And on the contrary—unhappiness is when
reality falls short of what your expectations for
life are or should be.
Think of it this way—if everything is generally easy
in your life, a rude taxi-driver may take you into a
tailspin, because your expectation is that the taxi-
ride will be easy and pleasant. Though if you’re
starving in a desert and a rude taxi driver picks you
up—I bet you’re pretty happy right? This is because
your expectations was not for the taxi ride to be
pleasant, your expectation was that you were going
to die alone in the desert! See how this perspective
changes the same event?
“And yet—and I expect I’m not the first
person you’ve heard tell this tale—the
“mo’ money” I made, the more
miserable I became. Which led me to
simply work harder and buy more toys
on the misguided assumption that, sooner
or later, all this effort was going to pay off
and I’d find the pot of gold—happiness—
thought to lie at the end of the high-
achievement rainbow. I’d become a
hamster on what psychologists call the
“hedonic treadmill.” The more you get,
the more you want. The more you
strive, the more reasons you discover
for striving.” - M. G.
 APPLICATION TO LIFE

QUESTION QUESTION

If you expected to get an A on a test and you get a B, What is a situation in your life where you objectively
are you happy or sad? Why? “succeeded” though you were still unhappy because
your level of success did not match or exceed your
Sad. Because… expectations?
I remember one year my company did $250,000 in
sales, though our target was $400,000, so even though I
had far exceeded the previous year’s numbers…

If you expected to get a C on a test and you get a B,

are you happy or sad? Why?
Happy. Because…

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BIG IDEA #5 THOUGHTS VS. REALITY

THOUGHTS PERMEATE

This concept is undeniable. The difference

between an event and it lingering in our
brains for days, weeks, months, years, or
decades even—is profound. It’s the differ-
ence between watching a bad movie one
time and forcing yourself to watch that
movie over and over again every day for
the next year.

“We wear different masks and hide our reality from every-
one, including ourselves. Our assumed identities becomes
our whole lives, and we start to believe them—even more
than others do.” - M. G.

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 APPLICATION TO LIFE

ACTIVITY ACTIVITY

Let’s imagine this thought experiment:
Think of a terrible event in your past. Really dive into
it for about a minute. How does that make you feel?
Write it down.
Now let’s imagine an incredible event in your life—
one that you look back upon with pride and impor-
tance. How does that make you feel? Write it down.

Now—in your immediate life, what was the differ-

ence? Did anything change? Did your bank account
grow or decline? Did your relationships change in
the past few moments? Anything traumatic or won-
derful occur? NO! This is because your happiness
or unhappiness has very little to do with reality—
and almost everything to do with your thoughts
about reality.

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 BIG IDEA #6 SUFFERING VS. PAIN

FORGIVE YOURSELF AN EXAMPLE

Pain is a pin prick, a scrape of the knee, a sudden
death of a family member, a bad breakup. No matter
how severe it seem—it happens, it occurs, and then
it stops.
It’s actually quite useful. It triggers necessary biolog-
ical responses in order to help your body fight in-
truders, heal wounds, and deal with stressors.
Mo explains it this way: imagine you need a
root canal and the dentist offers either (a) the
standard procedure with a few days of recovery or
(b) a root canal with additional bonus days of
extensive excruciating pain.
Why would you choose (b)? This is what suffering is.
It’s useless and avoidable.

Suffering, on the other hand, is a self-imposed prison

of self-generated pain.

It has no useful purpose. It offers no benefit.

“We view memories as archives of past events—of what has

actually happened. But in reality, memories are nothing more
than descriptions of what we think happened.” - M. G.

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 APPLICATION TO LIFE

QUESTION QUESTION

What’s a past event in your life that you haven’t let
go? That has caused you continuous suffering?
When I was young my sister died in a car crash. I was
supposed to pick her up from school that day but I
didn’t—so instead of safely riding with me…
Does ruminating on this past pain have any benefit
on your life? If you could—would you choose to not
suffer in this way?
Of course I would, but so often I feel like I just can’t help
it.

NOTE: Happiness is a choice. But first you must

change the way you think. In the following Big Ideas—
we’ll show you how.

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 BIG IDEA #7 STATES OF THOUGHT

THE 5 STATES OF THOUGHT BUT HOW DO THEY WORK?

State of Joy We most often attribute happiness to what Mo calls

Rising above the clutter of thought (choosing con- the State of Escape, which is when you go out drink-
tinuous happiness). ing with friends, buy new toys, exercise, or accom-
plish a goal. This mode is fine, and should be used
wisely, though it is not the ultimate end.
State of Happiness
Positive thoughts (when your expectations meet or A few of us are in a State of Confusion, where we
exceed reality). are so distracted by our illusions of pain and
suffering that we are unable to even see when
expectations meet reality. This would be a state of
State of Escape depression, victimhood, and negativity.
Suspended thoughts (when you distract yourself
with “fun” activities). In order to get from this this state to the next lev-
el…we must eliminate the Six Grand Illusions of
our lives. Then once we are back to a state of
State of Suffering expectation vs. reality—we can eliminate the
Negative thoughts (when your expectations do not Seven Blind Spots in order to reach a State of
meet reality). perpetual Joy.

State of Confusion NOTE: use your “what makes

Falling below clarity of thought (when you are
affected by illusions).
me happy list” when applying
the State of Escape to your
life.

“Once the thought goes, the suffering disappears! When a rude per-
son offends you, he can’t really make you unhappy, unless you turn
the event into a thought, then allow it to linger in your brain, and
then allow it to distress you. It’s the thought, not the actual event,
that’s making you unhappy.” - M. G.

16
 APPLICATION TO LIFE
QUESTION
In your own words—describe a moment or
time when you were in a State of Confusion. What
did you do to get out of it?
I remember for a few years after college I felt completely
lost. This was before I started my business. Although I had
a ton of advantages, lived safely, and had a steady job—I
was continuously unhappy with almost every aspect of
my life. I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started
taking conscious actions in order to improve…
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QUESTION
In your own words—describe a moment or time
when you were in a State of Suffering. What did
you do to get out of it?
For the first year of my business, I lost a ton of money.
My parents had loaned me some money in order to start
and I felt like even though I was moving in the right direc-
tion, I was not performing up to my capabilities. The
truth is—I didn’t do much differently except allow time
to pass. I got better. Learned from my customers…and
eventually turned things around.
 APPLICATION TO LIFE

QUESTION QUESTION

In your own words—describe a moment or In your own words—describe a moment or time

time when you were in a State of Escape. What
happened after you stopped doing this activity?
After my company began to turn a profit, instead of put-
ting out fires I consumed my life with “showing off ” my
success. I bought a nice car, moved into a new neighbor-
hood, and found myself often out at happy hour celebra-
tions. Didn’t really help anything. Truth is it still doesn’t…
when you were in a State of Joy. What can you do
to maintain this feeling in every moment of your
life?
I think the first year dating my now wife was pretty
much a constant state of joy. Sure things were going
pretty well at work but there were problems. Hell there
were even problems with our relationship—but for
some reason I just felt like for that entire year…as if I
was flying. Nothing could hold me back. Not that I love
her any less now, but there’s something different. As for
right now—according to Mo, the next step is to
eliminate the six grand illusions…

In your own words—describe a moment or

time when you were in a State of Happiness.
What hap-pened after it wore off?
My first million was a hugely defining moment in my life
for two reasons: one I found out that I could actually do
it, and second—that it didn’t change much. What hap-
pened after? I’m still searching…

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 BIG IDEA #8 THE SIX GRAND ILLUSIONS

KNOW YOUR PLACE THE 6 GRAND ILLUSIONS ARE

In order for us to reach a State of perpetual Joy, The Illusion of Thought

which will ultimately allow us not only to be more You are not the thoughts inside your head.
creative, fulfilled, successful, and productive—we
must first be aware of our proper places in the
universe. The Illusion of Self
You are not your emotions, beliefs, name, tribe, fam-
This is not a spiritual exercise—it is a logical, philo- ily, or achievements.You are the observer, the one
sophical, and metaphysical one. Who are we? who sees and experiences all these things.
Really? And what is our place in the world?

Understanding the answers to these questions, or The Illusion of Knowledge

more importantly, acknowledging what is not under Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ig-
our control and what is—will lead to a state of per- norance. We really never know anything “for sure.”
petual joy and efficiency.

The Illusion of Time

Time does not move, you move through time.
“What keeps us alive and propels us
forward are our actions, not our The Illusion of Control
fears. Fear, if anything, paralyzes us. It The only thing you control are your actions and
your attitude.
blurs
our judgment and blocks us from mak-
The Illusion of Fear
ing the best possible decisions. Fear of
There is no safe model. The harder you try, the
failure doesn’t drive our best perfor- more you will fail. And this is OK.
mance. All it does is add anxiety.
What
truly drives us to success is our hard
work.And you don’t need to be afraid to
work hard.” - M. G.

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 APPLICATION TO LIFE

QUESTION PRO TIP

What’s something that, when you think about it, al- When you are angry or unhappy because reality
ways makes you happy? is not matching up with one of your perceptions,
beliefs, or modes of existing in the world—remind
My daughter. yourself that your beliefs are not who you are. They
change.

QUESTION

What’s something that you once did not know, that

you now know? Or better, what is something
that you still do not know, though you once thought
you knew?
I remember thinking I was a pretty good basketball play-
er. I “knew” all the tricks and plays—until I played with a
high-caliber team at college and realized that I basically
knew nothing…
Note: When you feel like you can’t control your
thoughts—think of this happy thought.You can prime
your brain and it will obey.

QUESTION

What’s a belief that you once held dear that you now
completely disbelieve?
When does time seem to stand still for you? When
I used to be against gay-marriage until my nephew came
does it go by quickly? Is there a difference in the ac-
out…
tual time that passes?
When I’m playing a sport time seems to fly by,
though when I’m in a particularly boring meeting at
work…

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 APPLICATION TO LIFE

PRO TIP QUESTION

The next time you’re ruminating about something
from the past, remind yourself that neither the past
nor the event exists any longer. It only exists if you
allow it to exist in the present moment.
What’s your worst fear? What’s the worst that could
happen if you face it? How likely is this to happen?
Could you recover from the worst-case scenario?
What will happen if you do nothing? What is the
best-case scenario?

QUESTION
Imagine you’ve got all your “ducks in a row” as they
say.Your financial plan is set, your business is running
on auto-pilot, and your family is happy and healthy.
Does this mean the market will not crash? That your
biggest customer will pull out? That a loved one will
not suddenly get sick? What are you actually in con-
trol of?
The only thing I can really control is how I react to events.
I’m afraid of spiders. The spider could bite me. Unlike-
ly, especially if it’s small. Unless it’s a deadly spider, yes.
And even if it was—I could call poison control. So yes,
I could recover. If I do nothing—I’ll forever be
worried about spiders. Best-case scenario is I get over
my fears and move forward. This would certainly help
me during camping trips…

The next time you’re afraid of something—skip the

middle steps and just go for it.

If we feel like we can control everything, we’re des-

tined for unhappiness.The trick, then, is to know that
we do have control…over ourselves. So the next
time you’re faced with an unexpected new reality—
ask yourself this question: how can I solve this prob-
lem? What can I do next? Anything else is a waste of
your time.

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 BIG IDEA #9 THE SEVEN BLIND SPOTS
IT’S BIOLOGICAL
Once we are out of the State of Confusion, once
we cut out the Great Illusions from our way of
thinking—we enter the State of either Happiness
or Suffering. This is surely a step up from
confusion—though in this state we are still
susceptible to suffering. Though to combat this, we
must be aware of the Seven Blind Spots which lead
to said suffering…
Our biological brains have a tendency to focus on
the negative—because their primary goal is to keep
us safe and alive. Everything else is secondary.
Though in our modern society—this creates a few
“blind spots”—irrelevant reactions.
“It begins when you believe that
you are the center of the
universe,
that good things happen because
you’ve earned them and bad things
happen just to annoy you. And
that’s the furthest thing from the
truth.” - M. G.
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THE 7 BLIND SPOTS ARE
Filters
Our brain naturally filters out all the normal/good
parts of the day, looking for potential threats. This
causes unhappiness.
Assumptions
Our brain assumes the worst in most cases, to
prepare us “just in case.”
Predictions
Your predictions of the future lead to the future,
though often our predictions are wrong, and there-
fore lead to unintended or unwanted futures.
Memories
Memories are just a record of what we “think hap-
pened” but are often not the whole truth. This can
be troubling when deciding upon false pretenses.
Labels
We quickly label events or people when the reality
is much more complex and nuanced.
Emotions
We are not as rational as we think. Emotions often
fog our judgment.
Exaggeration
We exaggerate nearly everything to fit our precon-
ceived notions of reality. Though this can lead to
false optimism and a separation between expecta-
tion and reality (unhappiness).
 APPLICATION TO LIFE

OF THE FOLLOWING

Which are you most guilty of? Underline.

FILTERS - ASSUMPTIONS - PREDICTIONS - MEMORIES
LABELS - EMOTIONS - EXAGGERATIONS

Write an example of when you were too quick to

use these outdated blind spots and it came back to
haunt you:
Labels. I’m definitely guilty of labeling. Some may call
this stereotyping even. I remember one particular-
ly interesting encounter I had with a new coworker.
She was small, young, and obviously new to the office.
In our next all-hands meeting I was discussing where
I thought she could fit into our team—assuming that
she would be able to help a bit though I didn’t push it.
While another manager had a lot of ideas for how she
would do great under her tutelage. And guess what—it
turned out that the new girl was a total rock star. If
I hadn’t falsely labeled her just by her age and
stature, I would have had an incredible team
member to help me going forward…

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 BIG IDEA #10 THE FIVE ULTIMATE TRUTHS

REACH CONSTANT JOY THE 5 ULTIMATE TRUTHS

To reach the penultimate State of constant Joy All of life is here and now.
—there is still one step farther to go.

The end of the line is in understanding the five ul- Change is constant.
timate truths, and embedding them in our Do not resist it, be grateful for your ability
deepest selves. to experience it.

Unconditional love is real.

It’s the only emotion not generated by a
thought in your head.

Death is real.
So enjoy yourself while you’re here.

You are not that important.

“Everything is both good and bad.

Or perhaps everything is neither.
Even at the individual level, with
the passage of time nothing is all
bad. How often did something in
your own life start out as bad but
turn out to be good?” - M. G.

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 APPLICATION TO LIFE
QUESTION
Which of the Five Ultimate Truths speak to you
most powerfully? Why?
Death is real. Seems morbid but reminding myself of
this truth really gives me the proper perspective that I
need in order to calm myself down, to fight against the
urge to sway with life’s everyday punches.
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EXERCISE
What can you do every day to remind yourself of
the larger picture? To dive deeper into your true-self,
your true purpose, and awareness?
I remember from a previous MentorBox, the idea of hav-
ing a growth mindset. This really fundamentally changed
the way I view the world. This idea that “change is con-
stant” is, I think, the same idea, but written in a different
phrasing. For me—accepting that I can only affect my
actions. It may feel like less power, but in fact, I feel much
more powerful after this realization. I can choose every-
thing—even happiness.
MY OWN NOTES

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MY OWN NOTES

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MY OWN NOTES

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