How To Be Truly Happy In Life
In this self‑help video certified high‑performance coach Sean Butner explains that simply finding a passion isn’t enough for lasting happiness. He argues that true fulfillment comes from pairing a passion with a concrete, meaningful challenge – a "passionate challenge" – that gives purpose and growth. Drawing on his own journey from a hobbyist computer enthusiast to a burnt‑out software engineer at Walmart, Apple and other firms, he shows how losing the sense of purpose made his work miserable. He then outlines a five‑step journaling framework to help viewers identify their own passionate challenge: (1) pinpoint big problems or challenges that fascinate you; (2) list activities that are both fun and challenging; (3) define the next skill‑level you need to reach; (4) consider how solving the problem benefits society or personal life; (5) reflect on how tackling the challenge will change you. Throughout, he promotes a free three‑day "Meaningful Revolution" challenge that guides participants through clarifying their future, building a plan, and establishing habits. The video ends with a motivational call to act, emphasizing that solving a passionate challenge boosts motivation, resilience, and overall joy.
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So most people say that the secret to living a happy life is to find your passion and chase that with everything you have. And the truth is, there's one more thing past finding your passion that will actually help you lead a happy life. So continue watching to find out what that is. Hey, everyone, I'm certified high performance coach Sean Butner, and today we're talking about how to live a happy life. So have you ever had a hobby or passion that you wanted to double down on, maybe take a side hustle into your main hustle, but you worried about turning it into work or that you'd lose the passion you had for it because you were so focused on this thing that that is now a job that you have to do, and you stop doing it for fun and for play, or that it'll turn into something you dread. Now, I've done this in my life before. Real quick. So I originally went to school for business and, you know, had computers kind of as a hobby. And so I had a couple of semesters of computer science in high school, took, I think, one set of classes in grad school, and was able to turn that into a very successful software career at places like Walmart, Corporate, and Apple. So how did that happen? Right? It. I just love computers, I love technology, I love video games. And so naturally just kind of kept around that space. My schooling allowed me to kind of step into that from the business side, you know, having a master's Information systems. But what happened is the first couple of years where there's deadlines to get software done, so instead of solving problems that was super fun, it turned into this slog of never being able to have enough space to learn, to kind of feel and celebrate. And I got burnt out, right? And so something that I loved from, like, as little as I can remember, you know, being around computers and being super fascinated with them, through learning how to do HTML and Java and all that kind of stuff, to making a career out of it and being miserable, all came from this problem of taking something that I was passionate about and not having this extra step that would allow it to turn into a life's passion, right? And so what is that next thing that you really need to focus on once you're like, this is a passion, this is something I want to work on, and that is to find the reason why you need to solve that challenge, Right? It's a challenge. Focus on, okay, I love software. What problems do I want to solve in this field? Or what are things that I think are important for the world? To know about this and how can I ride my challenge line to where I'm growing with this passion versus getting tossed into the deep end, way into an aspect that you don't love about it, that you didn't know about or that is just way outside of your skill zone. So you feel crushed by it, right? And that takes the joy out of it. So that's what we're talking about today. And so for me, I needed to switch jobs a little bit in my tech career. In the middle of it, I became a business analyst. So it was the less focused on writing code and more on working with business people and engineers that kind of helped rekindle that. That passion. Years later, I was able. I had enough distance from the grind of trying to keep up and had a little bit more experience under my belt and was able to translate that at Apple as a quality assurance engineer. So writing code to do automated tests and, you know, being able to pick that up really quickly because of that experience, you know, was a different change in that. So, you know, when we talk about now, what is your passion and where is that challenge line? Because again, having both of those aligned where you're not, you know, so went over your head or so bored with it that it becomes exciting is where we want to be. So I got five different ways to help you find your passion and challenge, because that's one of the big ways to open up a lot of joy. Because when you are at that edge of your skill or edge of your capability and you're able to grow and you're able to solve interesting things, that's where a lot of that dopamine gets released, where you're like, oh, I solved this cool problem and I've learned a little bit. And so, like, that's for me where I've always found that that learning aspect or phase of any job, of any. Anything I've done has been the most fun. So, and I think brings the most joy. So, okay, five things to do to find your passionate challenge, right? For first thing to think about and to journal about. And so pull out your journals and take some notes on this to journal later on or take pause the video after I ask the question to journal out and write something for a couple minutes. But first thing is to think about what are the big challenges or problems you are fascinated by, right? Are you currently super focused on AI? Are you super focused on cooking, you know, in the French style or cooking Italian food? Or are you super focused on running right now or playing the guitar? Like there's all these different things that you could be focused on, but like, what are the big challenges or big problems that you really are fascinated by? So if you are a guitar player, right, know what you might, might think like, oh, I love rock and roll. There's not a lot of rock and roll in the US they're coming out of the US that's getting a lot of attention. Maybe you want to write a song that fixes that, right? That gets noticed in the ways that Nirvana did back in the 90s. Or maybe you are super, super passionate about French cooking and you know how it's kind of been taken over by the hipsters and so you want to bring it back to its roots or whatever, whatever that thing is, but finding that, that big challenge, that big kind of mission statement on why this passion matters to you, right? So what are a couple of things, a couple problems, a couple of things in your hobbies, or the things that you're really super fascinated by. So take some time to jot that down, pause this video for a minute, and then hit play again. Second thing to consider too is what are the things you find fun and challenging? Right. You know, for me, in my software career, it all started back, you know, like I said, I was growing up, like we had access to computers in grade school, Apple iis. And so I was always super fascinated on how that stuff worked. I was always like, we got hand me down computers from my grandparents, so I was always trying to figure out how to get them to work with certain video games. But it taught me how. All the different components, you know, the cpu, the graphics card, memory, all that kind of stuff, all the basic things you need to know about hardware and how they work together. And that helped me, you know, going forward in my life and further that interest in computers. So, like, you know, what are those things that you find fun and challenging? Right? So for me, like, the whole software interest came because I was trying to play games on computers. I could not play them, but I figured I could figure out a way and I never did. But I, it, I. That challenge of trying to figure that out pushed me again further along in that career. Okay, third thing to journal about, right? So what does the next level of your passion look like? Or like, what do you. You need to learn in order to be better at it, right? So maybe if you are a guitar player and you want to play, you know, your favorite songs, but you don't know how to solo because, you know, that's a big component of like a Led Zeppelin song, Say, right, so what are the skills you need to learn how to sew, you need to learn scales, you need to know how to go up and down the fretboards, etc. Etc. So that's the next problem you have to solve in order to advance there. And, and so that's kind of the level of thinking, of leaning into where your challenge level is versus, you know, being overwhelmed, because it could be really overwhelmed. How do you break it down is another way to do it. Fourth thing to think about is, you know, how does society or humanity end up better if this problem's solved? And, you know, it could be something as simple as, you know, I'm just a happier person, so I treat people more kindly out in the world because I'm more capable of that. Or it could be that, you know, you're going to revolutionize the music industry by changing how music, pop music, exists right now. Or I'm going to change how the medical field works. Right? It could be something that big. It could just be also that you raise really good kids, right, and they become productive citizens that do great things themselves. So there's a different, a whole bunch of different angles on how to look at this, but so it could be, you know, super local and personal and affect your family. It could be, you know, at a societal level, but connecting with that part of why this is an obsession for you, why this is challenging, why this is why you're passionate about it can help pull you through some challenges when it gets kind of. When you kind of get stuck. So that's why that question's there. Before we get to the fifth thing, I want to let you guys know that I'm running a new three day challenge called the Meaningful Revolution Challenge. Right? So I have a podcast called the Meaningful Revolution where I've been interviewing people about what they nerd out about and try to apply lessons to your life and inspire you to live into your personal, meaningful revolution. So what is a meaningful revolution? It's a fulfilling transformation. It's purposeful impact. It's an authentic movement that helps you get more engaged in your life. So that's how I help people as a coach through the podcast, is to help people really engage in their life. And I'd love to help start your personal, meaningful revolution. And so we go through a three day challenge. The first day, we talk about getting clear on what you want for your future, what your meaningful revolution is. The second day, we help you build a plan to realize that revolution. And then the third day, we talk about commitment and habits, strategies and tactics to make sure you follow through with that plan. So you make this next year your best year yet. So I love interacting with folks in this community during this challenge and, you know, seeing the ripple effects on people, really getting focused on their personal, meaningful transformations, fulfilling transformations, their meaningful revolutions. So if you are interested, it's free to sign up. The next time we're running, this will be on the page when you click the link below to learn more about it. But a lot of people have gone through it and have been really impressed with how it's changed their outlook for the next year. And so I want that for you as your coast, to cheer you on, to interact with you on a live type of event, and to really propel your goodness out in the future. So if that's you, click that link below. If not, let's get back into what we're talking about today, which is finding your passionate challenge, right? And so the final thing that I wanted to leave you y' all with is how do you change by solving that this big problem or changing how this particular channel, this passion exists out in the world, right? And this is like at Apple where they talk about denting the universe. You can't make an impact in society and culture out in the world unless you yourself change from that experience and change for the better. Right? And, and so it could be that you are just a happier person to be around. It could be that it'll help you get into better shape and take care of your health because you're. You want to more, you have more capacity to it. It could be that you're role modeling for your family members, friends, you are leading this movement that is super important to you. But you know, at the end of the day, we are going to change through these passionate challenges that we give ourselves and that commitment to wanting to be a better human, to showing up as our best selves to solve this passionate challenge really can add some oomph to motivation, to resilience, to make sure you follow through with, you know, facing and tackling your passionate challenge. So with that said, y' all find your passionate challenge this year and get after it. Because, you know, we so often will delay doing something that we love, something that we're passionate about, something that gets us going in the morning and feeling excited for the day and making an important contribution and leaving the world just a little bit better than we found it and just feeling a little bit more connected to our day to day life. So that's my wish for you as we're recording this in January. So, guys, go out there live with more joy, more growth and more impact in your lives, and we'll see you guys next week. Take care.
