The way this started was my sister's husband was dying.

And so I flew to England where she was living. And I sat down with her and a husband and I said, you know, we know that you're not going to die. But just in case, you know, you're in my will and you can use the money now. So I'm going to bring it forward and give it to you now. And she said, what is that? I said, it's a prequest. Bring this prequest, and give it a. She was overjoyed, burst into tears because she was a girl. You know, that's what they do. And it really worked very well for them because they could fulfill last wishes. And it was a great experience. But then I thought with my friends, you can't just, I mean, that was a family member, special circumstances,

but you can't just sit down with your friends and say, look, here's a big chunk of money,

you know, hang in there and be happy. I said, look, it's not a condition, I said, but, you know,

I want you to use this money, spend it all within the next two, three, maybe top, top, wait,

five years. And that was a shock to the money. I said, but look, I also want this money to have the greatest effect for you, for your success and happiness. So I want to see a plan. And they said,

well, what kind of plan? I said, I want you to make a happiness plan. And they said, what's a happiness plan? So I said, well, I'll hire a happiness coach. I'll sit down with you, do the planning with you, create the plan. It'll be your plan, not for me to approve because it's your plan. But once you send it to me, I'll send you all the money at one time. And that's what I did.

And it worked out really, really well.

And you know what?

The thing is, Dave, many of them said it wasn't the money.

It was the planning.

It was the thinking that they did and the planning that made the biggest difference.

All right, everyone, as you know, I am off the grid for August, but that does not mean that we don't have content for you. In fact, we do have content for you. And joining me today is the author of the new book, The Happiness Experiment. My friend, although I haven't seen him in real life, in probably a decade, if that's possible. We've just done this virtually.

Carl Barney, how are you? I'm very well, thank you, Dave, and congratulations on taking a vacation.

I am very happy. I assume wherever I am right now, I am very happy and hopefully relaxing and decompressing

and working on my own personal happiness experiment, which is exactly why when you reached

out to me a couple weeks ago, I thought this would be a perfect interview to put up for

August because part of the reason I do it is

to reconnect with not only my family and my friends, but myself. It's to disconnect from the

algorithms in the world that keep us in a certain state of neurosis and craziness and to get,

to pilfer a little happiness out of this existence.

But you are a happy guy.

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