The 6 Habits of Happy Entrepreneurs

“Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. it will not only improve your life, it will improve the lives of all those around you.” ― Robin S. Sharma

What do a magnificent garden, towering lighthouse, sumo wrestler, gold stopwatch, fragrant yellow roses, and a path of diamonds have to do with living a joyful, wealthy, peaceful life?

This is exactly the same question I asked myself when I was introduced to the fable from the book “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” authored by Robin Sharma. The book tells the story of millionaire lawyer Julian Mantle and his dramatic transformation from successful yet unhappy trial attorney to enlightened monk.

The main message from the book is condensed in a mystical fable that contains 6 key virtues for a life of overflowing inner peace, joy, and wealth. Every element of the fable embodies a timeless principle for mindful living and has great depth of meaning.

Special thanks to Ryan Allis for recommending this book to all of us Hive Leaders! It is definitely a must read!

Who is Robin Sharma?

Robin Sharma is one of the world’s top experts on leadership and personal success. The former litigation attorney is the author of 12 major international bestsellers, including The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. All of Robin Sharma’s books have been published in 60 countries and in 70 languages. This makes him one of the most widely read authors in the world. He is also the founder, CEO and Chief Visionary Officer of Sharma Leadership International Inc. (SLI) which is a global consultancy that helps people in various organizations to realize their potential.

What is This Mystical Fable About?

It teaches the secrets to living fully, one day at a time with greater courage, balance, abundance, and joy.

Ready to be blown away?

Here it is:

“You are sitting in the middle of a magnificent, lush, green garden. This garden is filled with the most spectacular flowers you have ever seen. The environment is supremely tranquil and silent. Savor the sensual delights of this garden and feel as if you have all the time in the world to enjoy this natural oasis. As you look around you see that in the center of this magical garden stands a towering, red lighthouse, six stories high. Suddenly the silence of the garden is disturbed by a loud creaking as the door at the base of the lighthouse opens. Out stumbles a nine-foot-tall, nine-hundred-pound Japanese sumo wrestler who casually wanders into the center of the garden.

As this sumo wrestler starts to move around the garden, he finds a shiny gold stopwatch which someone had left behind many years earlier. He slips it on, and falls to the ground with an enormous thud. The sumo wrestler is rendered unconscious and lies there, silent and still. Just when you think he has taken his last breath, the wrestler awakens, perhaps stirred by the fragrance of some fresh yellow roses blooming nearby. Energyzed, the wrestler jumps swiftly to his feet and intuitively looks to his left. He is startled at what he sees. Through the bushes at the very edge of the garden he observes a long winding path covered by millions of sparkling diamonds. Something seems to instruct the wrestler to take the path, and to his credit, he does. This path leads him down the road of everlasting joy and eternal bliss.”

This is it?

Yep. That’s the whole fable. Simple, yet so much wisdom in it.

It is a simple fable that remarks the importance of keeping things simple and true to their essence. After reading it and understanding all the 6 key elements in it, I was reminded to never overlook the power of simplicity.

The 6 Key Elements Of The Fable

The Magnificent Garden

The garden represents the human mind and as “gardeners”, it’s our duty to nurture and cultivate it with positive encouraging thoughts.

Setbacks? There are no setbacks, only opportunities for personal and spiritual growth.

The quality of your thoughts will determine the quality of your life.

Visualization, affirmations, meditation are all ways to train your mind and help it blossom beyond expectations.

Are you taking care of your garden? It might be time to cut some toxic weeds out.

Check out the affirmations section of this site to help you “nurture your garden”: The Emotion Machine

The Towering Lighthouse

The purpose of lighthouses is to serve as navigational aid and warn boats of dangerous areas.

The lighthouse in the fable represents following your purpose and how acting on clearly defined personal, professional, and spiritual goals brings lasting fulfillment.

Writing things down is by far the most simple yet effective tool to define clear goals.

What’s so special about it?

When you write things down, it’s like a filter and it automatically activates your subconscious mind to focus on these thoughts.

Are you writing your goals everyday?

Are you asking yourself key questions everyday to keep yourself grounded?

Go get a notebook and just write consistently everyday. It will change your life.

How can you make sure you have the right lighthouse for you?

Great question.

One word: Introspection

The best way to get to know yourself is through questions.

Questions are the most effective method of eliciting knowledge.

Check out this awesome resource by Scott Dinsmore about 27 questions to find your passion

The Sumo Wrestler

The sumo wrestler represents the Japanese philosophy called Kaizen, which is a Japanese word that means discipline of never-ending improvement.

Remember this: Self-mastery leads to life mastery.

Courage gives you the self-control to persist where others have failed

You practice kaizen by pushing yourself daily. Constant progress brings happiness.

“Knowledge is only potential power. For the power to be manifested, it must be applied.” -Robin Sharma

How do you apply the kaizen philosophy in your life?

It’s all about rituals and having the discipline to follow through on your rituals.

The most effective rituals to help you improve your life every day are:

Spending some time alone in silence doing some introspection. (meditating, affirmations, writing, going for a walk, etc.)

Exercising for at least 30 minutes every day.

Eating fruits, vegetables, limiting red meat, sugar, and processed foods to the minimum.

Waking up early morning and seizing the day.

Reading about people you look up to.

Living a simple life focusing on what’s important.

Building your character by doing one thing every day that scares you or don’t feel like doing.

For more on building life-changing habits, check out Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning book.

The Gold Stopwatch

The gold stopwatch represents your most valuable resource in life: TIME

Respect your time.

Time is your most precious resource and it’s non-renewable.

We all have 24 hours during the day and what separates successful people from the rest is the way they use their time.

A lot of people come up with the excuse of “I’m so busy that I don’t have time for X”

What are you so busy about?

How can you be more effective with your time?

Use the 80/20 principle: 20% of activities will yield 80% of results.

What are the high-impact activities that will allow you to design the life you deserve?

Focus your time on those and have the courage to say NO to little meaningless things that steal your time away.

The Fragrant Roses

The fragrant roses represent the virtue of selflessly serving others.

The quality of your life ultimately comes down to the quality of your contributions.

How many lives have you touched? How many people can you help today? What opportunities can I create today to practice an act of kindness?

Start your days with these questions and see your purpose unfold.

The Path of Diamonds

The path of diamonds represents embracing the present and a reminder to savor the journey and live each day as your last.

The most important moment is NOW. Learn to live in it.

How many times do you worry about past events that you do not have the power to change?

How about worrying about possible things to come, that never happen?

It’s all useless worries that steal away from your precious present.

What do I like about this book?

It’s easy to read, inspirational, and holds the essence to live a truly meaningful life. The character in the book is so relatable to many of people who are living the “fast lane” life and have lost their sense of purpose.

What I don’t like about the book?

It doesn’t have practical actionable resources to implement all the knowledge that it teaches.

My recommendation

If you are looking to get inspired and improve your life, buy this book. The knowledge you will gain from it has endured the test of time and it will continue to do so because it teaches ageless principles to live a meaningful life.

Once you read the book, act on it.

Look for practical ways you can implement all the 6 elements in the book and improve your life taking action every day.

You can get a copy of the book here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Monk-Who-Sold-Ferrari/dp/0062515675

Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed it, please pay it forward by clicking the recommend button below. It would mean a lot to me.