7 Steps to Happy - Stefen Sagmeister at Alt Summit 2013

Stefen Sagmeister

I seem to have taken a little side path on my road to authenticity.  I think that is ok to do that, if it brings value to your life or even just a single day.  The past five days I have been in Salt Lake City at AltSummit.  It was my first time to Alt but it won't be my last.  I met some wonderful people, heard inspiring speakers and came away feeling like I have tons of work to do to catch up to the amazing creativity I witnessed.  I have feelings of "getting with the program" mixed up with "stop and smell the roses".  Not sure which will win or if I will find a balance of the two, but either way, I feel richer for the experience.  There were so many great things to experience at Alt but this was one of three which really resonated with my soul.  I will share the other two in the next couple of days.  

Photography by Karen Walrond of Chookooloonks

First, Stefen Sagmeister, the famous master guru of graphic design was a keynote speaker, who first shocked us by opening his speech with nude pics of himself.  The pictures were his calling card when launching his new business to clients.  After that point, he had our attention for the next hour, while he explained his new project "The Happy Film" which I cannot wait to see in its entirety. The twelve minutes we saw left me wanting more. Actually, his entire speech left me wanting to know more about Stefen Sagmeister and how his brillant brain works.  It was an amazingly insightful hour of rethinking everything I have ever thought about "being happy". He talked about his seven rules for making more happy . He shared the statistics his firm had gathered for happiness.  One statistics that surprised me was that  the person who makes $50,000 a year is as happy as the person who makes $350,000 per year.  He said anything over $50,000 bring minimal happiness to the person.  

Stefen takes a year off for every seven years of work, to mediate, and gather inspiration.  He shared film clips of his last sabbatical.  During his sabbatical he continues to do research on his topics.  Wonder what our lives would look like if we adopted his 7 year sabbatical idea?

So what makes you happy?  Have you thought about it?  Stefen said he is a big list maker and he sat down and wrote out all the things that made him happy.  Have you ever done that?  I'm working on my list and suggest you do the same.  
That's the first step in identifying how to get happy if you aren't totally happy.  Join me on step #1 ...

What Makes Me Happy?
What Makes You Happy?

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If you haven't signed up for Design Camp in Atlanta, Ga with Kelli Ellis and Lori Dennis, run don't walk...only a couple of tickets left!!  The line up of speakers is fabulous!  The who's who in the industry will be there!  You don't want to miss out!!!