thank you I hate introductions I got
shell-shocked at an introduction in 1991
and I’m still not over it right after
college I was signed to a record label
called delicious vinyl and delicious
vinyl had two huge acts at the time one
was a guy named tone Lok what a song
called wild thing you’re nodding yes and
funky cold Medina and there was another
artist on the label name young MC you
want to Grammy for his song called bust
a move and I was the next artist signed
to delicious vinyl and I got a call one
day from the owner of the record company
said that they’re having this huge
concert in Atlanta Georgia where I live
at the Georgia Dome and they’re busting
in 36,000 inner-city kids from all over
the state of Georgia for this concert
that they were accordingly increase the
peace concert today we’re gonna have
black artists and white artists come
together in this community bonding
concert well the day before the concert
I think Vanilla Ice cancelled and they
needed a white rapper and they
volunteered me to be the white act at
the event so I get a plane ticket I fly
down to Atlanta and when I get there
immediately
I recognize like the place is unruly
like really unruly there’s fistfights
going on in the stands and they’re
putting the house lights on to control
the crowd and there’s police everywhere
and the kids are booing every single act
that came onstage they’re booing them
right off the stage so the first guy up
I think was LL Cool J in his prime they
boo him right off the stage I’m sitting
over here in the greenroom
about to go on next to sing my song
called shake it like a white girl
so I called my mother like 21 years old
I called my mother I said mom I got a
really big problem and they’re booing
the best artists off the stage like
they’re booing them off the stage she
said sweetie
just be yourself they’re gonna love you
it doesn’t work like that
so the emcee gets up he’s like ladies
and gentlemen all the way from
California give it up for my main man
Jesse James which was my stage name
don’t Google it the crowd is silent I’m
about to come onstage and I’m looking at
the audience and the kids are pissed off
I’m holding the mic like I’m there the
kids are pissed off that’s how real this
is to me the kids are pissed off that
I’m coming onstage and I had some
t-shirts that the record company gave me
like promotional t-shirts so I bring
them onstage I’m like does this section
over here want some free t-shirts the
kids go crazy I throw them out you guys
over here you want some t-shirts they go
nuts I throw them out middle section you
want some t-shirts I throw them I said
thank you guys very much salt and
peppers up next and I got the hell
still not over that introduction years
later I got one of the best compliments
I ever got in my life last week from a
friend of mine he came over to me he
said Jess you’re one of the happiest
people I ever met thank you so much that
means so much to me thank you so much
and then when he walked away I’m like
how in the world does he know how happy
I am and how do you even measure your
own personal happiness like what if
there was a way that we could measure at
any given moment take inventory on how
happy each of us individually actually
were and it brought me back to my
childhood my first job believe it or not
was as a breakdancer I grew up in New
York in the early 1980s when
breakdancing was emerging on the scene
and I thought to myself one day like
there’s no way the kids in Washington DC
could possibly be as good as the break
dancers from New York like we invented
this stuff so I had this idea like why
don’t I go to DC and try to make money
in Washington DC like the competition
won’t be as fierce so I called up my
friend Myron it was part of my two-man
crew and I convinced my sister who just
got her driver’s license to drive us
down to Washington DC so we get in the
car and we start driving the four hours
down to Washington DC and we show up in
Georgetown and we find a bank with a big
parking lot and I take out my boombox I
had my boombox and I put my boombox down
in the corner of the parking lot I took
my hat to the side and I push play on
the boombox and the music starts playing
I start going through my thing and I
pass it over to Myron and he spins on
his back flips over spins on his head
then he dances it over to me and I start
breakdancing in a crowd comes this big
crowd forms now we have their attention
like this is working and I take off my
hat and I go around to the crowd and I
start collecting all the money from
people there and at the end of the day
we collect two hundred and thirteen
dollars and I give my sister the money
that she invested to drive us down to
gas money and we split up money for food
and at the end of the day we have
eighty-two dollars forty-one dollars
each and Myron starts counting the
money’s counting the money puts in his
pocket then he takes it back out
he starts recounting the money he stuffs
it into his pocket were fifteen years
old and with this huge eyes lit up he
looks at me and he takes a running bear
hug and he squeezes me and he goes Jess
we’re so damn rich fast forward 20 years
I start a private jet company called
marquee jet and I’m looking for my very
first customer ever I need my first sale
I’m struggling I don’t know anyone
that’s rich that can afford time on an
airplane so I heard about the only way
that I could really find qualified leads
like I don’t have a sophisticated way to
bring in leads at the time I had to go
to where people that could afford to buy
time on a plane were and I heard about a
conference in Monterey California called
Ted and I got on an airplane from New
York it was a California rented a car
drove five hours to Monterey California
and I show up at the TED conference and
when I get there I immediately realized
like nobody told me that you need a
credential to get into the TED
Conference it’s like Fort Knox they’re
like I can’t get anywhere near the
conference so I go to the local coffee
shop right next to where the conference
was and as I’m sitting there trying to
map out my strategy like how am I going
to get someone’s attention to try to
sell them into our program I realized
that about every hour people are coming
in with credentials and they’re buying
lattes and muffins lattes and muffins so
I go back to my hotel and the next day
at 5:00 a.m. I’m the first one at the
coffee shop and as soon as they open I
buy every single muffin that they have I
take no matter all of their inventory I
now control all the muffin inventory in
Monterey California I put them in my bag
I keep one muffin on my table I start
reading the newspaper sure enough at the
first break of the TED conference people
with credentials start invading the
coffee shop and sure enough one of the
first customers comes in
and he says I like a latte and a muffin
hey so you can have a latte but I’m
sorry we’re all out of muffins he’s like
oh and as he’s walking out I said I’m
sorry sir I overheard you having a
conversation and it just so happens I
have an extra muffin I’m not gonna have
it he says really I said you know I’m
staring right at his credential I’m like
oh yeah I know really said oh that’s so
nice he said well what do you do I said
oh well I’m here for the conference and
I have a company called Marquis Jet we
sell time on private jets he said no way
I’m actually looking into looking into
programs like that I’m interested in
that and I said he said do you mind if I
join you and have a muffin and I’m
looking at this guy in my head I’m
saying absolutely mr. qualified like of
course you can I’m like sure so we start
to have a muffin and we’re enjoying our
time I’m explaining the program and he
becomes the first sale that I ever have
at a company that goes on to do five
billion dollars in cumulative sales and
we sell that company one day to Warren
Buffett’s NetJets but when we sold the
company I was no more happy than the
fifteen-year-old kid that made forty one
dollars and that forty one dollars in
his pocket and it made me think like it
weighed the same they both weighed the
same and it got me thinking like how do
you measure happiness so for me
obviously it wasn’t money but how do you
measure happiness and what if there was
a simple way that you could identify at
any given time really how happy you are
take real inventory in your life and
identify how happy you are but more
importantly identify what it is in your
life that makes you unhappy so you can
correct it so I came up with a very
simple metric so we’re all gonna do this
and be a group experiment it’s called
the happiness meter it’s super effective
and the results are unbelievable they’re
static so here’s how it works I want
everybody here everyone’s gonna do it to
think about all the different buckets of
your life your wealth your health your
relationships your kids where you live
the job that you have your parents are
getting elderly we’re getting older
everything and put it in a giant blender
okay and on a scale of 1 to 10 with a 10
being the Dalai Lama of happiness
and a-one being someone that’s rock
bottom think about your number I’ll give
you guys a second really honestly really
take inventory and really think about it
we have any volunteers want to share
their number we don’t have to you’re
just scratching it’s like a Bud Light
commercial and I will do it this way
we’ll do this way just by a show of
hands everybody that’s a seven or less
put your hand up quite a few people
right okay put your hands down but
here’s here’s what happens a lot of
people put their hands up sevens a
common number and and for most people
seven is a great number if my son comes
home from school with a 70 on his test
that’s a c-minus in the most important
bucket of your life but the way the test
works is what’s amazing about this test
and why it’s so efficient is as soon as
we do this this experiment your brain
goes to a ten immediately it goes to a
ten right everyone went to a ten and the
two or three things that are impacting
your life negatively pop into your head
like oh my relationship is terrible oh
I’m running out of money
whatever it is pops into your head so
whatever it was that popped into your
head right away those are the two three
things that you have to work on and
here’s why it’s so important the average
American on average lives to be out 78
years old
I’m not saying anyone here is average I
hope I’m not average that’s twenty eight
thousand four hundred and seventy days
okay I’m 49 years old that means if I’m
average I have 29 years left of life if
I’m a seven and I’m walking around life
living as a c-minus in the most
important bucket of my life happiness
that is unacceptable it’s unacceptable I
have a quick drink here I’m a little the
georgous son that’s unacceptable we have
a way to measure all the different so
many of the different buckets of our
life for example we get on a scale to
measure our weight we have an IQ test to
measure how intelligent we are
we have financial statements and bank
accounts and tax brackets to measure our
wealth but we don’t invest any time
really looking at our happiness we can
get on a scale every single day and say
oh man and be upset we gained a pound
we’ve lost a pound but we really don’t
take inventory on our happiness so this
little take at home test which takes 30
seconds to do forget going to the doctor
I’m reading this little test really help
me identify what it is I have to work on
in my life and of course I’m investing
the time to do it so if you’re happy and
you know it
you
shell-shocked at an introduction in 1991
and I’m still not over it right after
college I was signed to a record label
called delicious vinyl and delicious
vinyl had two huge acts at the time one
was a guy named tone Lok what a song
called wild thing you’re nodding yes and
funky cold Medina and there was another
artist on the label name young MC you
want to Grammy for his song called bust
a move and I was the next artist signed
to delicious vinyl and I got a call one
day from the owner of the record company
said that they’re having this huge
concert in Atlanta Georgia where I live
at the Georgia Dome and they’re busting
in 36,000 inner-city kids from all over
the state of Georgia for this concert
that they were accordingly increase the
peace concert today we’re gonna have
black artists and white artists come
together in this community bonding
concert well the day before the concert
I think Vanilla Ice cancelled and they
needed a white rapper and they
volunteered me to be the white act at
the event so I get a plane ticket I fly
down to Atlanta and when I get there
immediately
I recognize like the place is unruly
like really unruly there’s fistfights
going on in the stands and they’re
putting the house lights on to control
the crowd and there’s police everywhere
and the kids are booing every single act
that came onstage they’re booing them
right off the stage so the first guy up
I think was LL Cool J in his prime they
boo him right off the stage I’m sitting
over here in the greenroom
about to go on next to sing my song
called shake it like a white girl
so I called my mother like 21 years old
I called my mother I said mom I got a
really big problem and they’re booing
the best artists off the stage like
they’re booing them off the stage she
said sweetie
just be yourself they’re gonna love you
it doesn’t work like that
so the emcee gets up he’s like ladies
and gentlemen all the way from
California give it up for my main man
Jesse James which was my stage name
don’t Google it the crowd is silent I’m
about to come onstage and I’m looking at
the audience and the kids are pissed off
I’m holding the mic like I’m there the
kids are pissed off that’s how real this
is to me the kids are pissed off that
I’m coming onstage and I had some
t-shirts that the record company gave me
like promotional t-shirts so I bring
them onstage I’m like does this section
over here want some free t-shirts the
kids go crazy I throw them out you guys
over here you want some t-shirts they go
nuts I throw them out middle section you
want some t-shirts I throw them I said
thank you guys very much salt and
peppers up next and I got the hell
still not over that introduction years
later I got one of the best compliments
I ever got in my life last week from a
friend of mine he came over to me he
said Jess you’re one of the happiest
people I ever met thank you so much that
means so much to me thank you so much
and then when he walked away I’m like
how in the world does he know how happy
I am and how do you even measure your
own personal happiness like what if
there was a way that we could measure at
any given moment take inventory on how
happy each of us individually actually
were and it brought me back to my
childhood my first job believe it or not
was as a breakdancer I grew up in New
York in the early 1980s when
breakdancing was emerging on the scene
and I thought to myself one day like
there’s no way the kids in Washington DC
could possibly be as good as the break
dancers from New York like we invented
this stuff so I had this idea like why
don’t I go to DC and try to make money
in Washington DC like the competition
won’t be as fierce so I called up my
friend Myron it was part of my two-man
crew and I convinced my sister who just
got her driver’s license to drive us
down to Washington DC so we get in the
car and we start driving the four hours
down to Washington DC and we show up in
Georgetown and we find a bank with a big
parking lot and I take out my boombox I
had my boombox and I put my boombox down
in the corner of the parking lot I took
my hat to the side and I push play on
the boombox and the music starts playing
I start going through my thing and I
pass it over to Myron and he spins on
his back flips over spins on his head
then he dances it over to me and I start
breakdancing in a crowd comes this big
crowd forms now we have their attention
like this is working and I take off my
hat and I go around to the crowd and I
start collecting all the money from
people there and at the end of the day
we collect two hundred and thirteen
dollars and I give my sister the money
that she invested to drive us down to
gas money and we split up money for food
and at the end of the day we have
eighty-two dollars forty-one dollars
each and Myron starts counting the
money’s counting the money puts in his
pocket then he takes it back out
he starts recounting the money he stuffs
it into his pocket were fifteen years
old and with this huge eyes lit up he
looks at me and he takes a running bear
hug and he squeezes me and he goes Jess
we’re so damn rich fast forward 20 years
I start a private jet company called
marquee jet and I’m looking for my very
first customer ever I need my first sale
I’m struggling I don’t know anyone
that’s rich that can afford time on an
airplane so I heard about the only way
that I could really find qualified leads
like I don’t have a sophisticated way to
bring in leads at the time I had to go
to where people that could afford to buy
time on a plane were and I heard about a
conference in Monterey California called
Ted and I got on an airplane from New
York it was a California rented a car
drove five hours to Monterey California
and I show up at the TED conference and
when I get there I immediately realized
like nobody told me that you need a
credential to get into the TED
Conference it’s like Fort Knox they’re
like I can’t get anywhere near the
conference so I go to the local coffee
shop right next to where the conference
was and as I’m sitting there trying to
map out my strategy like how am I going
to get someone’s attention to try to
sell them into our program I realized
that about every hour people are coming
in with credentials and they’re buying
lattes and muffins lattes and muffins so
I go back to my hotel and the next day
at 5:00 a.m. I’m the first one at the
coffee shop and as soon as they open I
buy every single muffin that they have I
take no matter all of their inventory I
now control all the muffin inventory in
Monterey California I put them in my bag
I keep one muffin on my table I start
reading the newspaper sure enough at the
first break of the TED conference people
with credentials start invading the
coffee shop and sure enough one of the
first customers comes in
and he says I like a latte and a muffin
hey so you can have a latte but I’m
sorry we’re all out of muffins he’s like
oh and as he’s walking out I said I’m
sorry sir I overheard you having a
conversation and it just so happens I
have an extra muffin I’m not gonna have
it he says really I said you know I’m
staring right at his credential I’m like
oh yeah I know really said oh that’s so
nice he said well what do you do I said
oh well I’m here for the conference and
I have a company called Marquis Jet we
sell time on private jets he said no way
I’m actually looking into looking into
programs like that I’m interested in
that and I said he said do you mind if I
join you and have a muffin and I’m
looking at this guy in my head I’m
saying absolutely mr. qualified like of
course you can I’m like sure so we start
to have a muffin and we’re enjoying our
time I’m explaining the program and he
becomes the first sale that I ever have
at a company that goes on to do five
billion dollars in cumulative sales and
we sell that company one day to Warren
Buffett’s NetJets but when we sold the
company I was no more happy than the
fifteen-year-old kid that made forty one
dollars and that forty one dollars in
his pocket and it made me think like it
weighed the same they both weighed the
same and it got me thinking like how do
you measure happiness so for me
obviously it wasn’t money but how do you
measure happiness and what if there was
a simple way that you could identify at
any given time really how happy you are
take real inventory in your life and
identify how happy you are but more
importantly identify what it is in your
life that makes you unhappy so you can
correct it so I came up with a very
simple metric so we’re all gonna do this
and be a group experiment it’s called
the happiness meter it’s super effective
and the results are unbelievable they’re
static so here’s how it works I want
everybody here everyone’s gonna do it to
think about all the different buckets of
your life your wealth your health your
relationships your kids where you live
the job that you have your parents are
getting elderly we’re getting older
everything and put it in a giant blender
okay and on a scale of 1 to 10 with a 10
being the Dalai Lama of happiness
and a-one being someone that’s rock
bottom think about your number I’ll give
you guys a second really honestly really
take inventory and really think about it
we have any volunteers want to share
their number we don’t have to you’re
just scratching it’s like a Bud Light
commercial and I will do it this way
we’ll do this way just by a show of
hands everybody that’s a seven or less
put your hand up quite a few people
right okay put your hands down but
here’s here’s what happens a lot of
people put their hands up sevens a
common number and and for most people
seven is a great number if my son comes
home from school with a 70 on his test
that’s a c-minus in the most important
bucket of your life but the way the test
works is what’s amazing about this test
and why it’s so efficient is as soon as
we do this this experiment your brain
goes to a ten immediately it goes to a
ten right everyone went to a ten and the
two or three things that are impacting
your life negatively pop into your head
like oh my relationship is terrible oh
I’m running out of money
whatever it is pops into your head so
whatever it was that popped into your
head right away those are the two three
things that you have to work on and
here’s why it’s so important the average
American on average lives to be out 78
years old
I’m not saying anyone here is average I
hope I’m not average that’s twenty eight
thousand four hundred and seventy days
okay I’m 49 years old that means if I’m
average I have 29 years left of life if
I’m a seven and I’m walking around life
living as a c-minus in the most
important bucket of my life happiness
that is unacceptable it’s unacceptable I
have a quick drink here I’m a little the
georgous son that’s unacceptable we have
a way to measure all the different so
many of the different buckets of our
life for example we get on a scale to
measure our weight we have an IQ test to
measure how intelligent we are
we have financial statements and bank
accounts and tax brackets to measure our
wealth but we don’t invest any time
really looking at our happiness we can
get on a scale every single day and say
oh man and be upset we gained a pound
we’ve lost a pound but we really don’t
take inventory on our happiness so this
little take at home test which takes 30
seconds to do forget going to the doctor
I’m reading this little test really help
me identify what it is I have to work on
in my life and of course I’m investing
the time to do it so if you’re happy and
you know it
you
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