The motto for this blog is “Work Smart Not Hard” but it could quite easily have been “Live Well”, another motto I feel quite strongly about.  The third choice of tag would have been “Die Happy”.  I was discussing my findings from living as a vegetarian the other day and we were discussing my idea of living well, but without restrictions which I mentioned in that post.  I thought that it might be a good idea to try and explain this concept in full for a blog article.

Morality and Ethics

Living well takes two steps.  The first is to be conscious of how your actions affect the world and the people who are around you.  The second is weighing up the effects of your actions with your moral and ethical code.  Everyone will have a slightly different code but I find mine especially empowering. It’s actually quite simple.

  • I want to leave the world in no worse a state than I found it
  • I must be conscious of the effect my actions have on the world and the people around me
  • I can’t be responsible for other people’s feelings but I shouldn’t be needlessly malicious either
  • I want to be positive in everything that I do and feel good about my actions retrospectively
  • The most important person in my life is me, I should honestly and proactively pursue what will make me happy
  • Above all, I want to be a value giver, not a value taker

The first five are inter-related.  When I make a decision about wether or not I do something I have to consider wether or not I feel good about it.  I will feel guilty if my action doesn’t fit with the first three.  I don’t want my life to be full of negative emotions such as guilt, fear and anger so actions which promote these are actions to be avoided.

Being a value giver is perhaps the hardest to define.  I want similar people to want me to be associated with them and I want to make them have a better time by my being there.  I don’t want to be tagging along on other people’s coat tails.  This doesn’t mean I want to be a pathological people pleaser either.  This would go against rule five.

I follow these guidelines.  This becomes second nature to me.  Whenever I feel bad about doing something, for whatever reason, this is the point where I feel the need to re-evaluate why I am doing it in the first place.  Here are some examples of how this code can be used to live well in various situations

At Work

I am “lucky” because I get to do something I find incredibly enjoyable.  As a physicist, I am challenged mentally in a number of different ways.  My job allows me to inject my own personality and thoughts into the situation and I really feel like I am giving value to my community.  In the past I have worked in jobs which were much less fulfilling.  I never wanted to go, I felt angry that I had to waste my time doing something that really didn’t help anyone much and certainly never got appreciated.  I needed the money at the time and hadn’t developed the financial intelligence to do anything other than trade my time for money stacking shelves.

When I graduated, I had the choice to either continue at university and attempt to get a PhD or go out and get a job.  In making my decision I wanted to be as happy as possible. What would give me the best opportunity to grow as a person?  Where would I be giving the most value and which path did I find the most interesting?  I reached the conclusion quickly and have never looked back.  I realized that, as well as the previously convincing argument, it would be unfair on other employers to have me employed but never truly happy.  They would be better off employing someone who really wanted to be there.

At The Shops

Whenever I make a big decision I need to consider my code.  I recently bought a mac.  I use my computer a lot and at almost £1000, this was a really important purchase.  I had to get it right.  I really like macs, I think they look better than any PC and the operating system is slick and easy to use.  I knew I wanted a mac and I got one.  I felt that if I didn’t I would regret it every time I used whatever I bought instead.  I didn’t want to have this negative emotion every time I used my computer.  Since buying it I have felt incredibly positive every time I used it.  It is a good feeling.

On a more day to day basis, I don’t feel too bad about not always buying the fair trade products or the free range products or even the organic products.  I like to try and contribute but I prefer to have the freedom to chose.  Given comparable products I will usually pick the fair trade or organic option.  Often these products are higher quality anyway.  It’s a win win situation really.  It’s a bigger deal for me to pick food which is sourced locally.  The injection of capitol into local economies and keeping it there is important to me.

In General

In general I found that if I feel good about doing something it is the right thing to do.  If I feel resentment or misgiving or just general dislike for anything I do, I reconsider why I am doing it.  Is it in my best interest?  Does it fit with my code?  Almost invariably the answer is no.  It’s best not to dwell on small matters, my gut is a great judge for those.  Big issues, such as relationships, career choices and large purchases need to be treated with a bit more care in my opinion.

The most significant thing I found is to live without boundaries.  This is a theme that I have used before but it’s probably worth mentioning here too.  I do not count myself as a member of an organized religion, a philosophical group or even a fan of a particular band.  In this way, I can pick and chose the best of everything.  This makes me happy.  I feel good about everything I do and I am living well.

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