To be successful in life, as in business, you've got to be straight, you've got to be sweet, and you've got to love everybody.OK, OK, I know that third is real tough, so pending your (and my) evolution to that level, I've developed a couple of simple tricks to assist us to push the Peace on Earth gig.The first one has to do with physics. I'm sure that most of you have studied some physics and have heard of resonance. Basically, resonance occurs when several forces are acting in the same direction and its result is that the whole is more""and often, substantially more""than the sum of the parts. I mean, let's say, a few of us are having a chat at one of the my-God-yet-another year-end parties and we've had a couple of drinks and we're having a good old time, when another person comes up to us and joins in. Now, if he's in a good mood, chances are that it will add to the joie de vivre and all of us will end up having a better time; if he's not in a good mood, chances are it will put something of a dampener on our mood as well.We've all been there. It happens. It's a natural law.Now, let's extend this away from year-end parties and ramp it up to the whole world. My contention is that if a critical mass of people in the world are happy and having a good time at a particular point in time, the resonance of that joy can be sufficient to pick the entire world up into another joy orbital. Peace on Earth and more than goodwill to all men (and, of course, women). What that critical mass is, I don't know. It may be a billion or just several hundred million. It's hard to do a calculation on that. But the fact is that at any given point in time there are a lot""probably a few hundred million""of happy people on the planet. And the point is that if at any point in time, you (or I) are not happy, not having a good time, you (or I) may be the one person that prevents this critical mass from being reached. You (or I) would then be responsible for blowing the best opportunity for Peace on Earth.In other words, you (and I) have a responsibility to be happy every moment of our life. Not just for yourself (or myself) but for the joyous future of billions of our brothers and sisters.That's all it takes. Physics will do the rest. Pretty straightforward, right? And certainly easier than loving everybody. But, if you feel that being happy all the time is too difficult, I've found another even simpler trick""no, not trick, act""that you can do to enhance the Peace on Earth quotient on the planet.I stumbled upon it quite by accident, when, a couple of years ago, the night before my birthday, my kids, one of whom was just down from the US for holidays, surprised me by giving me and my wife a weekend in Goa""plane tickets, hotel reservations, the works. I was just so delighted and the next morning, which was my birthday, I told everybody I met""people who called to wish me, people I passed in the building, people on the street, I stopped to get some chocolates (or something) and told people in the shop, I went to the office for a moment and told everybody there""it's my birthday and my kids have given me a trip to Goa. It was wonderful.My wife, enjoying my foolish delight, wrote, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY" on a slip of paper and pinned it to my shirt.I wore that badge through the day""at the airport, on the plane, when I got off in Goa, at the hotel, at the beach (although I did take it off when I went into the sea), at every bar and restaurant we went to.And it was amazing. Several people came up to me and wished me happy birthday. A couple of people bought me drinks, and a few even gave me makeshift presents. But, what was most wonderful was that there were hundreds of people I passed that day who were (perhaps) too shy to approach me but who read my badge and smiled to themselves. It was lovely to see. Such a simple thing made them happy.And I realised that people like celebrations""even if they're other people's celebrations. I remembered the numerous occasions I'd been at a restaurant where someone at another table was celebrating their birthday and everyone I was with enjoyed the celebration vicariously. Sometimes, when we joined in the singing, we even got some cake. But far more than the cake was the simple joy that someone in the world was happy and celebrating.And I decided there and then that I would wear an "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY" badge all day on every subsequent birthday""in fact, a friend has given me a wonderful, large red pin that reads "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY" very loudly.And, most important of all, I realised that if everyone in the world were to do this""wear a badge saying "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY" on their birthday""chances are that every single day each of us would pass dozens, perhaps hundreds, of people who were celebrating their birthday. In fact, we already do; with this modest discipline, we would know it. And, whether we were shy or not, we would be delighted by this knowledge, we would enjoy their happiness, we would be happier.And the world would be happier. Peace on Earth would be closer.It's my birthday on December 21. If you're in Bombay, look for me.(The author is CEO of Mecklai Financial)
