A thought for 2022 from our favourite management guru

I want to wish a Happy New Year to all of the Idler community. But I think I should first remind you of the Chinese definition of happiness:

As Confucius says – to be happy you need something to work on, something to hope for and someone to love. Please note, you have to do the loving and only if you are lucky do you get something in return; it’s not someone to love you, it’s you to love someone.

And the slog goes on because work it seems is essential to happiness. Work and other people, particularly the family, those closest to you.

At the moment I tick all three boxes – work, hope and lots of people to love, most of them under the age of 10. So, I am kept pretty busy. And thanks to the Idler, I still have work to do.

And of course, my hope is that this wretched pandemic passes by and we can all get back to what we used to call life.

So I hope you too can tick all three. Remembering that work is essential, that other people to love is essential, and to hope, even if it’s a long way away.

So, something to work on, something to hope for and someone to love, then you’ll be happy. And I wish that for all of you in this coming year.

This is Charles Handy wishing you all a happy New Year, Chinese style.

Published by William Heinemann, Myself and Other More Important Matters by Charles Handy explores the issues and dilemmas – both moral and creative – raised by the turning points of his long and successful life. Buy a copy below:

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