Writing

Whatever Makes You Happy

I originally was started out to write a book with my Dad called “Everything I Needed to Know in Business I learned in the Meat Market” but he passed away before we could complete the project. Every question I ever asked my Dad would be answered with a story, first about the Meat Market, then Johnson Matthey, and finally his marriage to my Mother. These 3 broad areas covered every topic! The Meat Market included stories about Italian immigrants running family businesses on 9th street in South Philadelphia. Johnson Matthey made the first catalytic converters in North America for the auto industry and of course, any relationship inquiry was covered by his 50+ years marriage to my Mother. The stories would illustrate a point rather than glamorize or criticize the subjects. Concurrently, I had been running a personal 10 year lab study on happiness. My hypothesis was “How happy would I be if I made a habit of doing things I enjoyed on a daily basis?”. My Dad encouraged me and my brothers to do what makes us happy and I was instilled with this philosophy from a young age! I decided to write a book that was in the spirit of my Dad’s teaching method of telling stories rather than simply answering questions. I was able to pick 12 topics that had impacted my overall happiness over the course of my study including Safety, Humor, Conversation, and Music. I lay out the premise and then illustrate each point with a maximum of 3 stories. I was able to include a story from the Meat Market in 8 of the 12 chapters, stories my Dad had told me more than once. In the meantime I tested the chapters at lunch with my son or when I socialized with my daughter and her friends. They went over well and killed two birds with one stone as my Dad thought highly of young people. Eventually, adults were inspired by my mini-lectures and more than once I was encouraged to write a book! I love people and I enjoy writing so I decided it might be a good idea. Hopefully it would inspire people as well as spread my Dad’s philosophy. And it gave me a chance to spend time with him in spirit as I wrote the book. It’s written in a conversational style so as not to be boring, and I’m hoping it inspires people to write their own personal template for happiness!