Alcoholics Anonymous
Summary of The Present
by Spencer Johnson
1. The Present is the most valuable gift you can receive.
"The Present is the best gift you can receive because it makes you happy and successful!"
The Present is transformative. It's not a physical object, but a state of mind that allows you to fully engage with your current experiences. By embracing the Present, you can:
• Achieve peace of mind and feel more alive
• Become more productive and prosperous
• Find what's truly important to you and those around you
The Present is a powerful tool that can be applied to both personal and professional life, leading to greater satisfaction and success in all areas.
(listen here)
"When you are fully engaged in what you are doing your mind doesn't wander. You enjoy life. And you are happier and more effective."
Embrace the moment. Being in the Present involves:
By focusing on the Present, you become more aware of your surroundings and the opportunities they present. This heightened awareness allows you to:
"It is hard to let go of the Past if you have not learned from the Past."
Extract valuable lessons. To learn from the Past:
By examining past experiences objectively, you can:
Remember, the goal is not to dwell on the Past, but to use it as a tool for personal growth and improvement in the Present.
"The more clearly you imagine what you want to see happen, plan for it, and do something today to help it happen, the less anxious you are in the Present, and the more the Future is known to you."
Shape your destiny. To create a better Future:
By actively working towards your desired Future, you:
Remember that while you can't predict or control the Future entirely, your actions in the Present significantly influence what's to come.
"When you live and work with Purpose, and respond to what is important today, you are more able to lead, manage, support, befriend, and love."
Find your driving force. Having a Purpose means:
When you work and live with Purpose:
Purpose provides a framework for decision-making and helps you stay motivated, even in difficult times.
"Being more successful means becoming more of who you are capable of being."
Unlock your potential. Success is a personal journey that involves:
Success can take many forms, such as:
Remember that success is not a fixed destination, but an ongoing process of personal growth and self-improvement.
"The Present would always be there for him. He could give himself the gift whenever he chose."
Access anytime. The Present is not a one-time gift, but a constantly available resource that you can tap into whenever you need it. To use the Present:
By regularly returning to the Present, you can:
Remember that it's normal to occasionally lose focus on the Present. The key is to recognize when this happens and choose to return to the Present moment.
The book makes the point that the ups and downs of life are inevitable but it is possible to manage them in a way that allows us to find more peace and success. We can do this by taking the Peaks and Valleys approach to dealing with the good and the bad times. The more we use this approach we are able to do three things: get out of a valley (our lows) sooner, stay on a peak (our successes and highs) longer and have more peaks and fewer valleys in our lives.
(listen here)
The book in a nutshell, The audio version is also great ! Buy Amazon Books & Audio
I listen to this book over and over, everybody I suggest this to , loves it and suggests it to somebody else. * also try “The Present by Spencer Johnson ”
Key takeaways
Peaks and valleys are normal but it’s how you feel about and respond to them that makes the difference in your life. It is natural for everyone to have ups and downs at work and in life in general. Some can last minutes while others can last days, months and even years. The key is to separate what happens to you from how good and valuable you feel you are as a person. It is possible to still feel good about yourself even when bad things are happening in your life.
Peaks and valleys are connected. The mistakes you make when times are good create the bad times that follow. Conversely, the wise things you do when things are bad bring the good times. The problem is that we fail to manage our good times and don’t realize that we are the ones creating our bad times by wasting too many resources, forgetting the basics, and ignoring what matters most.
Peaks are moments when we appreciate what we have. Valleys are moments when we long for what is missing. But we can change a valley to a peak by either changing what is happening or changing how we feel about what is happening so that it works to our advantage. We can find and use the good that is hidden in the bad time.
How we manage our valleys will determine how soon we reach our next peak. If we fail to learn while in a valley we become bitter instead of better. Similarly if we are unprepared for a peak we will soon fall from it and feel pain. Our ego makes us arrogant on the peak but fearful in the valley. On a peak, our ego makes us see things better than they are and in a valley they seem worse. It makes us think a peak will last forever and a valley will never end.
To stay on a Peak we have to shed our ego and embrace humility and gratitude. We continue doing the things that got us to the peak and continue to improve ourselves, the people around us and our environment. We save resources for the valleys we know are going to come.
The best way to get through a valley is to create a compelling but achievable vision and start working towards it. It has to be something you want so much that you don’t have to force yourself to do what you need to do to make it happen.
Final thoughts.
This is a short book packed with what at times feels obvious but rather compelling advice. Going through the ups and downs of life doesn’t have to make us stressed or anxious. Once we realize that we are not the peaks or the valleys, we are able to find peace. We can learn how to better manage our peaks and valleys so that our peaks last longer and our valleys last a much shorter time. By being honest with what is happening in our lives and changing our attitude to it we can find the positive in any situation. We can learn from these experiences and make better decisions as we move through life.
Notes:
What I like about "Peaks and Valleys" and the other books by Spencer Johnson is that they remind us of the simple, and encourage us to apply these simple lessons to our own lives. One of the lessons in "Peaks and Valleys" is to imagine yourself enjoying a better future in such specific, believable detail, that you soon enjoy doing what takes you there.
Here’s how to get out of a Valley sooner, how to stay on a Peak longer, and
how to have more Peaks and fewer Valleys in our future.
Peaks And Valleys Are Connected in Two Ways:
The Errors You Make In Today’s Good Times Create Tomorrow’s Bad Times.
And The Wise Things You Do In Today’s Bad Times Create Tomorrow’s Good Times.
The secret is to truly appreciate and enjoy each time for what it is, while you are living it.
What’s the key to enjoying every situation in our life?
Look for the lessons and be grateful for them.
In fact, gratitude is the key to happiness in any situation.
Peaks Are Moments When You Appreciate What You Have.
Valleys Are Moments When You Long For What Is Missing.
So, if you want to have fewer Valleys, avoid comparisons of others.
The only comparison you should be making it your current self with your future self.
If you enjoy or appreciate what’s good about the moment, you feel more like you are on a Peak.
The Path Out Of The Valley Appears When You Choose To See Things Differently.
Many people don’t realize that they need to be truly prepared if they want to stay on a Peak longer. Myself included.
I have experienced this so many times throughout my life.
You can change your Valley into a Peak when you find and use the good that is hidden in the bad time.
Creativity is formed out of constraints.
Between Peaks there are always Valleys.
How You Manage Your Valley Determines How Soon You Reach Your Next Peak.
If you do not learn in a Valley, you can become discouraged , you spend time on a plateau.
Like a healthy heartbeat, your personal Peaks and Valleys are an essential part of a normal, healthy life.
So are the Plateaus, if they are times of healthy rest, when you take stock of what is happening, and pause to think about what to do next.
Like resting 1 day a week or taking vacations, or my favorite, going camping out in nature away from the city.
It is unhealthy to try to escape by blocking out reality, by having a drink.
it can often be very healthy to just relax and rest and trust that things will get better. Because, after a good night’s sleep or a few days’ break, they often do.
How can it be healthy to have ups and downs? How can that be peaceful?
Don’t all the highs and lows make you feel anxious and stressed out?
Only if you go up and down with them.
Once you truly learn to manage your good and bad times, you gain a sense of healthy balance.
But how?
To begin with, you become more peaceful once you realize that you are not your Peaks, your ‘good’ times, and you are not your Valleys, your ‘bad’ times.
You Can Have Fewer Bad Times When You Appreciate and Manage Your Good Times Wisely.
How do you manage your good times poorly?
When you were feeling so good, did you perhaps boast a little?
What is the source of a person’s fear? For most of us, it’s ego.
Your ego can make you arrogant on the Peak and fearful in the Valley.
It keeps you from seeing what is real. Your ego distorts the truth.
When you are on a Peak, your ego makes you see things as better than they really are.
And when you are in a Valley, your ego makes you see things as worse than they really are.
It makes you think a Peak will last forever, and it makes you fear a Valley will never end.
The Most Common Reason You Leave a Peak Too Soon is Arrogance, Masquerading as Confidence.
The Most Common Reason You Stay in a Valley Too Long is Fear, Masquerading as Comfort.
When you put your ego aside, you are more likely to leave a Valley sooner.
I find the best way to get through a Valley begins with gratitude.
What are you grateful for? Then take complete ownership for where you are.It may not be your fault, but it’s still your responsibility.
This is the same with peaks.
By putting your ego aside and disciplining yourself to remain grateful, this is the key to help you stay on a Peak longer.
Then to get to the next peak, imagine a vision of a future Peak you want to be on that makes good sense to you.
It has to be believable. Because… —->Beliefs influence your goals, —>Goals influence your identity, —>Identity influences your Habits, —>Habits influences your attitude,
—>And attitude determines the altitude of your peaks and valleys.
So, imagine something as big as you can imagine that is also realistic and attainable that you really want.
Imagine how your future Peak will look, sound, smell, taste and feel, until it becomes so real to you that the image of getting there pulls you through your Valley.
A great way to get to your next Peak is to surround yourself with like minded people who are on the same journey as you are.
Consider these potential mindsets…
Stuck – Uninterested in feedback
Passive – Open to feedback
Proactive – Request feedback
Ambitious – Pay for feedback
Imagine yourself enjoying your better future in such specific,
believable detail that you soon enjoy doing what takes you there!
Why does being in a Valley have to be so painful?
The Pain In A Valley Can Wake You Up To A Truth You Have Been Ignoring.
You are always creating a vision of your future, whether you are aware of it or not—either a fearful vision, or a sensible vision.
And it’s just a question of which vision you follow.
Avoid Believing Things Are Better Than They Really Are When You Are On A Peak – Arrogance masquerading as confidence.
How Being a Drug Addict Made Me a
Better Entrepreneur
by TIM STODDART
Last week, my friend Brendan told me “Never stop telling your story.”
People need stories of hope and perseverance. We all have fears and doubts. More often than not, those doubts keep us from doing our best work.
I want people to read my story and be able to pull hope from it. I want you to say to yourself, “If he can do it, then I can do it.”
Because believe me, you can.
So, here’s the truth.
The Things We Don't Say in Public
When I tell people that I have been sober for 11 years, they always say "congratulations." As if I woke up one day and decided I was going to accomplish sobriety.
It's not like that. You don't get sober because you want to . You get sober because you're going to die, and because you have no other choice.
It was terrible. Absolutely the worst. Addiction brings you to dark places, it makes you do dark things. I'm not going to get into details because I have no desire to tell you my war stories. There's nothing glamourous about that lifestyle. It's dirty and toxic.
But here's the thing, I wouldn't take it back. Not any of it. Not a single day.
Actually, I'm grateful for it.
Everything I have, I have because of my past. My darkness brought me to a reckoning and it taught me things that I would never have been able to learn otherwise.
You can't learn these lessons in business school. You can't read about it in a book. They must be learned by walking through the fire.
Being a drug addict is the best thing that ever happened to me. It gave me a purpose and it gave me an insight that few people will ever have.
My addiction made me a great entrepreneur. Here's how.
Harnessing the Power of Obsession
My entire staff at Stodzy (with exception to 2) are people in recovery.
Why on earth would I employ a group of people with criminal records and histories of dishonesty and theft?
I do it for two reasons.
1. Because I have a duty to give away second chances, in the same way I was given one.
2. Because drug addicts have the ability to harness the power of obsession.
My team at Stodzy can perform in a way that your team can’t. That might
sound cocky, but it's true.
“How could this be?” … you ask. Drug addicts can perform miracles. They can solve problems.
If an addict wakes up in withdrawal and decides he/she needs to get high, what are the odds that they will figure out how to get what it is they need?
I’ll tell you right now. The odds are 100%. Absolutely, guaran-fuckin-teed they will figure it out. Not even a sliver of doubt. It would be the surest bet you could ever make.
Why?
Because when people are under the spell of addiction, the obsession kicks in and turns regular people into problem solving machines.
And obsession is adrenaline for the mind.
I define obsession as "a thought that overpowers all other thoughts." It is all consuming. It is the alpha and the omega. It is the king of kings. Obsessed people don’t think about relationships, or food, or drinking water, or paying the electric bill. When drug addicts become obsessed with getting high, there is absolutely nothing that will stop them.
Nothing except death.
We know that obsession can be destructive. Everyone knows examples of men and women that have been self-consumed in a pit of obsession.
However, obsession can also be used to create and spread prosperity.
The trick is to learn how to harness that obsession and turn it into something positive.
We all have this magical power of obsession, it's available to anyone, but it comes at a cost.
The difference between you and me is that I have paid that cost. More than likely, you’ve never gone so deep into the dark parts of yourself that you’ve been willing to tap into that power of obsession. You’ve never wanted something so badly that you were willing to tear yourself and everyone around you to pieces in order to get it.
In the past, this obsessive nature of mine was unhealthy, toxic, sick, and self-serving.
But through years of self-development, soul searching, relentless self- evaluation and service work, I’ve been able to harness this dark magic and apply it for good.
Today, my higher calling is guided by a spiritual belief that there are good things in store for me. My higher calling is a purpose more than an objective. As long as it is fueled by gratitude, my obsessive nature ensures that I will meet my goal. I have no other option. I'm obsessed.
When I talk about this concept, I'm reminded of an interview with Will Smith.
Will Smith has a monster inside of him. He has learned to harness his obsession. Believe me, I know it when I see it.
Will Smith > "I will not be outworked. Period. You might have more talent than me. You might be smarter than me. You might be sexier than me.
You might be all of those things. You got it on me in 9 categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there's two things. You're getting off first. Or I'm going to die. It's really that simple."
- Will Smith
The same is true for the team I’ve built around me.
For all of their flaws, their faults, their insecurities and their quirks, I wouldn’t trade them for anything. They're super heroes. They've journeyed into the belly of the whale, and they've resurfaced with a better understanding of themselves.
In the end, my drug addiction became my greatest weapon, because it taught me how to harness the power of obsession. There is nothing in the known world more forceful than an obsessed mind.
There is No Finish Line
One of the challenges of living a life in sobriety is that there is never a
reward. There’s no trophy. There’s no “congratulations, you did it.”
20 years of recovery can be completely wiped away in an instant by one bad decision. When that happens, those 20 years of recovery don’t mean much. They disappear. Their utility becomes null and void.
I’ve seen this happen more times than you would believe. I’ve seen men and women build families, build businesses, build respect, a reputation, and then one relapse clears out all of that accomplishment like a tsunami. I’ve seen millionaires go homeless in a matter of months. I've seen people who were once swimming in abundance walking down the street in dirty clothes trying to find enough change to catch the bus.
Why does this happen? People relapse because they seek instant gratification.
Drug addiction incentivized me to chase instant gratification.
Recovery incentivized me to ignore it.
Instant gratification is a trap. It is a dopamine hit. It is your amygdala tricking you into thinking that right now is the most important moment you have.
It is the rush of sugar that your lizard brain still craves. It's the feeling of applause that reminds you you're not in danger of being kicked out of the tribe. It's the dopamine hit of likes and shares on social media and dunking on people on Twitter.
All of which are distractions to your higher calling.
As an entrepreneur, I hardly ever celebrate wins. But I hardly ever sulk over losses. Wins and losses are fun, and one might even call them important, but they're irrelevant.
My objective for each day is to get a little further ahead than I was the day before. My intention is to do my best to add a little bit of value to the world.
There is no substitute for time. You can't "lifehack" your way through continuous sobriety. It will always take 10 years to achieve 10 years of sobriety.
The same is true for entrepreneurship. You can't lifehack your way through building trust, or establishing a brand, or A/B testing sales pages.
Life, recovery, and entrepreneurship are not separated from each other. They are simply different wavelengths of the spectrum.
The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is they think in terms of reaching a finish line. They want to believe that they will win something. They worship themselves for reaching a goal and they convince themselves that "as soon as I get to this place, then I will be happy."
You must deliberately retrain your brain to let go of the quest for safety and happiness, and replace it with a quest for fulfilment and service.
I'm not saying that you should never reward yourself. Rewards are great. I fully encourage celebrating your wins.
I'm telling you to avoid the trap.
You'll always feel unfulfilled the morning after the company party. Closing a big deal feels great for about 10 minutes, and then you'll immediately start thinking about the next deal to close. The excitement you feel when you drive your new car off the lot will last you the car ride home, and then you'll pull into your driveway and realize that the feeling was fleeting and you're still stuck with yourself.
This is the battle we all face. This is the daily fight against instant gratification.
You're much better off accepting that each day is another page in your book. There is no finish line. No one gives you a trophy on your deathbed for winning life.
You won't find self-worth in success or rewards. Your happiness and self-worth will be determined by the impact you have on others, and the service you bring to the world.
Drug addiction taught me about the trap of instant gratification. I was a slave to it. It was my master and my muse.
Recovery taught me how to bypass that impulse, and instead stay focused on making daily progress, without being emotionally invested in the outcome or the expectation.
Fear is the Only Foe
There are only two motivating factors in life.
Faith and fear.
Everything we do is determined by what state of mind we are in at any given moment.
Decisions based on faith have no expectation attached to them. Faith is acceptance of what will be, and that what will be, is what is best.
If we are making our choices from a state of faith, then we are more likely to succeed because decisions based on faith are aimed towards serving the greater good.
If we are making choices from a state of fear, then the choices we make are meant to serve ourselves. Those choices seek to serve the parts of ourselves that live in a scarcity mindset.
1. Afraid of what we might lose
2. Afraid of what we won't get
3. Afraid of what people think about us
So, ask yourself, are you living in fear? Or are you living in faith?
Addiction is a life of fear. Fear that you will never have enough. Fear that the real world is too painful. Fear that if people knew the real you, they wouldn't like you.
Bad entrepreneurs make decisions like addicts do. In many ways, bad entrepreneurs are addicts. They are addicted to the quick buck and they are hooked on the idea of easy wins. They think they are gaming the system, when in reality they are only gaming themselves.
These are the timeshare fraudsters. These are the scam dealers. These are the dream sellers. These are the hacks who are willing to sacrifice their reputation for a quick win in the present moment.
But what happens to these people? Eventually, they are sniffed out, they are exposed and they lose all credibility. Their fearful thinking put them in the exact position that they were afraid of.
I have been there. I know where living in fear will bring you. It's not a place you want to be.
Entrepreneurship is a life of faith. Because in entrepreneurship, there is no guarantee that things will work out. Everything you do as an entrepreneur is done under the pretense that what I do today might pay off in the future. It's a sacrifice of the present moment for a possible return in a later date.
So almost by definition, good entrepreneurs live in faith. Faith in something they cannot see or put a finger on. Faith in an idea. Faith in a vision that must be manifested from something that cannot be seen or heard or touched, only believed in.
I've been on both sides of this duality.
In Conclusion
All of these lessons have a common theme. In fact, all of these lessons essentially say the same thing.
The lesson of success is simple...
"Be comfortable with being uncomfortable."
Success requires you to live in discomfort. Anything worth doing is uncomfortable.
• fitness
• sobriety
• healthy eating
• selling your services and products
• promoting yourself
• raising a family
• having honest discussions with people you disagree with
It's much more comfortable to be fat, to be drunk, to hide in the corner and to scream and yell at people we disagree with and pass them off as ignorant.
But that's not what we want out of life, is it?
People all want the same thing. We want to be connected.
For me, entrepreneurship is a spiritual endeavor. My businesses give me a sense of connection and the sense of belonging that I was always seeking while living in addiction. This is true for everyone. This is why companies refer to themselves as "families." Because when you belong to a company, you belong to something that is bigger than you. You belong to a fellowship of men and women who are all supporting each other, all looking in the same direction, challenging each other to achieve a higher cause.
The biggest difference between people who have success and people who don't is that those who have it decided to live in discomfort long enough to get it.
When you break it down, that's the only quality you need. Kindness, talent, empathy, leadership, communication, and developing a skill of any kind is all completely determined by your ability to live and stay in a zone of discomfort.
It's difficult, but worth it.
My 10-year battle with addiction taught me as much as I care to know about pain and discomfort, and I'm blessed and fortunate to have lived through the experience.
Tim Stoddart
1-Sentence-Summary: 10% Happier is an introduction to mindfulness and meditation for skeptics, taking a non-fluffy, science-based approach to this practice in order to show you how letting go of your ego can help you live a stress-free life.
Read in: 4 minutes (listen here)
Life as an ABC News correspondent must feel pretty good right? The pay is great, millions of people know your face and name, and you get to tell everyone what’s important. But for some, the pressure can become too much — and they crack. This happened to Dan Harris 12 years ago. His voice broke in a live, on-air panic attack on national television. The incident convinced him that it was time to do some digging into his self and life. Harris went on a long journey into the science of stress and, eventually, mindfulness. Originally a skeptic himself, Dan eventually learned to tame his ego with the power of meditation. In his 2014 bestseller, 10% Happier, he shares his takeaways.
Here are 3 lessons to show you why your ego causes problems, that letting it go won’t make you lose your touch, and how meditation helps with this process:
1. The problem with your ego is that it’s never satisfied.
2. Be simple, not a simpleton — why letting go of your ego won’t make you a pushover.
3. Meditation increases your mindfulness and compassion by giving you a fourth habitual response.
Ready to crank up your happiness by at least 10%? Let’s go!
Lesson 1: Your ego gets in the way of your happiness by constantly wanting more. The friction between acting in the present, but constantly thinking about the future and past is what causes your ego to be impossible to satisfy. This issue is also addressed in The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle in a very similar manner.
Dan Harris says your ego constantly assesses your worth by looking at your own wealth, looks and social status, and then finding the next best person with more of it to compare it against. Therefore, your ego’s default setting is more. The minute you feed your ego a new achievement, toy or compliment, the baseline for desire is reset and it starts looking for the next thing.
It thrives on drama and worry, and will instantly look for the next bigger achievement to compare yourself to, and if none is there, dig up some ancient problem or crisis and pester you with it. That’s why the ego is never happy, and it’s up to you to take charge of that, because no matter which new heights you reach, it’ll never be enough. Time to reign it in!
Lesson 2: Be simple, not a simpleton—why letting go of your ego won’t make you a pushover. Now you might say: “If my ego is my drive to achieve greater things, won’t I lose my edge if I completely let go of it?”
Nope! That doesn’t have to be the case at all. To the contrary. Often people overdo it with the Buddhist attitude of letting go and in some cases even end up not letting themselves orgasm during sex or letting other people order for them at restaurants in order not to express personal preference.
That’s just stupid. As Indian meditation teacher Munindra taught his students to keep things simple and easy, one of them approached him when he was fiercely negotiating the price of a bag of peanuts at the local market about how this matched his earlier lesson. Munindra replied: “I said be simple, not a simpleton!”
Mindfulness just makes you more creative and productive, not a pushover. It removes the need for competition and fuels your drive by removing wrong assumptions and bad thoughts, so instead of the usual stress you’ll approach things more clearly, because you’re not giving in to aggressive temptations.
Dan found himself filling pages upon pages with notes during a meditation retreat, because his mind was less cluttered and chaotic, and his creativity flowed freely.
Lesson 3: Meditation makes you more mindful and compassionate by giving you a fourth habitual response.
So what is it that meditation can help us do to tame the ego and fuel our drive?
It makes us more mindful and helps us live in the moment, as well as act more compassionately towards others. Meditation achieves this by giving you a fourth habitual response. According to ancient Buddhist wisdom, we usually exhibit three characteristic habitual responses to all of our experiences:
1. We want it. Ever passed by a hamburger place when you were hungry? Yeah. That.
2. We reject it. Did a spider ever land on your hand? You probably instantly threw it off.
3. We zone out. I bet you always listen to the flight attendant’s safety instructions all the way to the end too. Yeah, right.
But once you start meditating properly, you’ll be able to choose a fourth alternative:Observing, without judging. It usually starts with physical pain, and you notice when your legs are sore or your nose itches, but you can resist the urge to scratch it and just let it be. But after a while, this transfers to your emotions and thoughts as well. You’ll catch yourself while gossiping, acting out on a bad habit, or when you’re thinking negative thoughts – and can just observe your feelings until they pass by, without reacting to them.
It’s this little pause between thinking and acting that makes you realize often no action is necessary and thus helps you make better choices altogether.
When I originally wrote this summary of 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works–A True Story (isn’t that title a mouthful?), I was a skeptic about meditation too. By now, I’ve meditated every day for the last 5+ years (here are some lessons from around day 800).
If you’re unsure as well, this book is perfect for you. It cuts away all the mumbo-jumbo, flower-power, hippie stuff and takes a purely scientific, down-to-earth approach to mindfulness. The book spends more time using logic arguments to get you to try meditation than explaining it, and that’s exactly right, I think.
The process itself really is that simple: sit and focus on your breath. If your thoughts wander, bring them back. That’s all there is to it. The book explains that but then mostly focuses on the benefits, which are more important for beginners to understand than to exactly nail the technique.
It takes a lot of guts to write a book about the most embarrassing moment of your life, but in this case, Dan Harris’ courage sure paid off! Who would I recommend our summary of 10% Happier to? The 15-year-old high schooler who often gets angry at her classmates and doesn’t know why, the 32-year-old journalist with a demanding and stressful career in a competitive environment, and anyone who thinks meditation is hocus-pocus.