“The Happiness Formula” - Longevity Doctor REVEALS Why Money Won’t Make You Happy
Episode Stats
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Summary
In this episode of the Business Development Podcast, Kelly Kennedy sits down with her mom to talk about what it means to grow up in a low-income family and why it s important to have a sense of purpose and a purpose in life.
Transcript
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I'm Kelly Kennedy. I've been called a hope dealer for leaders and with over 300 episodes
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of the Business Development Podcast, we'll guide you and we'll always be in your corner.
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Follow the Business Development Podcast on Spotify and let's make 2026 your best year
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I came from a very low income, nobody was winning, family, divorce, finances, we had
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nothing, you know, food stamps, my dad was a cashier at a 99 cent store and I read a book
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called The Genius in All of Us that said, you know, the average low income kid is raising
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a family that is rejected 600,000 times from zero to 18 years old, more negative affirming
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Then it was middle class was 100,000 more negative than positive and an upper class was 100,000
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So you have to reaffirm yourself to beliefs of power of positive thinking and you read
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these types of books to kind of elevate yourself and read the right affirmations.
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How does one go if you're raised in an environment that there's so much negativity around, ah, that'll
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And you want to make it out of that environment.
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So, I mean, that obviously I'm not a psychologist, so I wouldn't say that I'm the right person
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to really answer this question, you would probably talk to someone like Dr. Arthur
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When he came out, I told everybody in my office, you guys got to read it.
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So, I mean, I think there's, people respond differently to that type of negative, like
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you were talking about negative background, where you're never going to be able to achieve
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something, or like it's a very, what's the term for it, where you basically, it's like
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you're defeated, you know, where you're just constantly defeated, and it's almost like
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Um, I think that it depends on, you know, you have to kind of like train yourself to
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like realize that you actually can do things, and it's, I don't know if it's an affirmation
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you do every day, um, exercise is something that also helps with that, I think positive
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thinking, where it helps you kind of just get out of that negative thinking, where it's
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not going to work out, but you also have to realize that worshiping things like power
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or money, or fame, I mean, these things are also trying to fulfill a void, that happiness
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So, like, there's plenty of people that are very successful, very wealthy, very powerful
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And I think that's, that most of us out there that do know people like this, or we see like,
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look at Hollywood actors, I mean, their marriages are constantly breaking apart, right?
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I mean, they're, they're wealthy, they're famous, they have, by anyone's standards would
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think, oh, they have everything, but there's always this treadmill of, it's not good enough,
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it's not good enough, I need more, I need more.
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And it's a very, it's a slippery slope to get on that, you know, that, that treadmill
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of, let's say you start to get some success, but then you're comparing yourself to everyone
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And so you're not happy because you're not getting those things.
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And I think that's what comes back to, you know, those macronutrients of happiness
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that Dr. Arthur Brooks talk about, where it's, it's the, it's the enjoyment in the
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Like, what is it, what, you have to have that sense of purpose.
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Are you someone like me, who I love help, helping and educating people to live healthier?
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I feel like that's a purpose, my sense of purpose.
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Satisfaction of doing something, accomplishing it.
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Whether it's a 10 minute workout in the morning, you know, whether it's reading a book,
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you know, finishing reading it, whatever it is, you have to, you have to have the
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And all these things help you maintain happiness and have happiness.
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Yeah, you know, in 2008, when the market crash happened, the next year in 08, 09, I don't know what the study was.
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There was more books, 2,000 plus copies, I believe, where the word happy or happiness was in it.
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Because everybody wanted to find out how to be happy.
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So think about this run that we have, man, I just want to be happy.
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And then you realize, you know, even happiness is temporary.
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It's what am I doing that there's a deeper purpose to what I'm doing.
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The deeper part, you know, you go through the survival phase.
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I'm, you know, and I got 100,000 followers on Twitter.
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And then eventually it comes back to what you were talking about, the purpose.
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And you feel it when somebody is in pursuit of something bigger than just money.
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And somehow, somewhere, when you're in the pursuit of purpose, money shows up.
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And it's funny because after I talked to Dr. Brooks about this, I realized it's something
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that, like, the Tibetan monks and people like Buddhists do.
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Like, I know it sounds morbid, but I think it's actually a good practice and experiment
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for people to try because when you think about life being, you know, it's finite, right?
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And when you are in that phase of, you know, the end of your life, what is it that's going
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Is it going to be another, you know, million dollars?
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What is it going to be that's meaningful to you?
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And for me, it was the time I was with my family, the experiences that, you know, there
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And it's something that if you, again, if you, it's called mortality dwelling.
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But I mean, if you think about it, because for me, I, as a high achiever, being, being
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a parent, I mean, my productivity went down and I struggled with that for a while.
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And it wasn't until I really started thinking about what was the most important to me.
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And again, I think people can really tap into that by thinking about their death.
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And when you think about it, you'll find what's important to you.
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It's going to be the memories and the experience and the experiences and those treasure moments
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with your people that you love, your family, your kids, your friends, your parents.
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And, you know, that also brings me back to like a lot of people, like they're searching
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Like there's like God or something, you know, spiritual, right?
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And, you know, as I got older, I kind of drifted and became a little bit too analytical.
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And, and it wasn't until I became a mother that I found God again.
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Because the love I experienced becoming a mother and the love I had for my son, not that
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I didn't love my husband as much because I definitely love my husband too, but there's
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something about having a child that this, your overwhelming sense of love.
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And I, and I would go on these long runs and think about it and think about my, think about
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my mortality and never seeing my son again after I die.
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You can't experience the bonding and the closeness and the love that you do as a parent.
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And, and, you know, for other people, it might be something that's very traumatic.
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Sometimes there's, you, you get to your lowest point and that's how you, you basically can
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But, but for me, it was becoming a mom and the love that I had for my son and thinking that
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And I think part of that component is, is finding, you know, finding your spirituality,
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Some people find that through meditation and eventually find God.
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But, you know, I think it's all part of, of happiness and people do sort of seek that out.
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Um, it, it, it got, it got me closer to everyone that I love, everyone that I love.
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And, and it also helped me prioritize those relationships because it's so easy for people
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that are high achievers to get caught up in the, you know, productivity loop.
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I have to do this work and get that satisfaction of like achieving and accomplishing those things.
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And there's a little bit of ego there and you have to separate that.
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And I realized that, no, I'm going to take time to do the family vacation.
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I'm going to take time to spend, you know, a few hours with friends that I care about.
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I mean, you have to put in that work and that effort, but it's so rewarding.
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And this is the year, like, as I was doing a podcast prep for Arthur, Dr. Arthur books,
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I know I've, I've come to some of this realization on my own, but reading some of his books, like
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skimming some of his books and his material, everything was like, it was like this moment
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You know, you need to make the effort to really be happiness.
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I think a lot of people are sort of, it's like they have this misconception that happiness
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No, it's just like, it's just like a good diet.
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You have to like give yourself the right components.
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But the more you're talking, it's just, it's prompting books in my mind.
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Outwitting the Devil is a book Napoleon wrote in the late thirties, early forties.
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I read this book at a P.F. Chang's in Woodland Hills, California.
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How so many different institutions when we're kids use the concept of fear to scare the crap
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And we're raised in such a confined, you know, no, I can't do, no, no, I can't.
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And then you finally realize, no, no, that's a business model.
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Anyways, I just think you would enjoy this book as well, Outwitting the Devil.
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