“The secret to happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never forget the drops of oil on the spoon.” - Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

In that part of the story, a character recalls a story of a boy who visited a wise man to learn the secret to happiness. The wise man said he would tell the secret, but the boy first had to walk around the wise man’s castle holding a spoon filled with oil and not drop the oil.

The boy did that, but failed to notice the beauty around him. When the wise man challenged him to go back and notice the beauty, the boy returned but spilled oil.

Finding happiness and being effective is about a formula - Big > Small > Big.

• Big - Stop and notice what’s around you, the big picture, taking it all in.

• Small - Do focused work.

• Big - Stop and reflect. How far have you come? Where are you headed? What are the challenges?

• Small - Do focused work.

… and so on, and so forth.

Finding effectiveness and happiness is less about “doing these 5 things for a happier life” and more about stopping, focusing, working, reflecting, focusing, working, reflecting… without spilling a drop of oil.