So, growing up in Israel, my guest, Paul Ben Shahar, he wanted to be the best squash player, not just in the country, but in the world.
And he turned pro at a pretty young age and quickly rose up the ranks.
Then this weird thing happened.
He achieved his dream, but then he crashed hard, realizing it didn't make him feel how he thought he would feel.
And that experience set in motion this lifelong sort of quest into the science of happiness that led him eventually to study in the United States at Harvard and eventually teach what became the most popular course at Harvard on happiness.
Kyle is now a best selling author and lecturer, working with executives and multinational corporations, everyday humans and at risk populations, exploring everything from leadership, happiness, education, innovation, ethics, self esteem, resilience, goal setting, and mindfulness.
His books have been translated into more than 25 languages and have appeared on bestseller lists around the world.
Kyle is also a serial entrepreneur and is most recently the co founder and chief learning officer of Happiness Studies Academy, which is all about bringing together the thinking of the world's leading scholarship and the latest scientific research on happiness, and then educating and training leaders who are themselves really dedicated to personal, interpersonal, and communal flourishing.
So excited to share this conversation with you.
I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is good life project.
Growing up, I know it seems like squash for you was really the thing that was not just a passion, but also almost an obsession.
Very much so.
You know, I remember when I was 16 years old and very, very much into squash, waking up one morning and having the following thought, which was, what will I do with my life when I no longer play squash?
Because at least as a professional athlete, that you have quite a short half life.
And I thought, what will I do when I'm 30 or 35 with my life?
And of course, my decision was then, I will become a coach.
I thought of becoming the israeli national coach at that time, but could not see my life without it.
The notion of you as a 16 year old, thinking about what comes next before you had actually stepped into the ultimate.
What you were aspired to do is an unusual thought process for, I think, any 16 year old.
Yeah, you know, there are certain people who are more inclined to reflection or rumination.