The Joy in Business

9Houses of Mad, Glad, Sad, and Scared

• Q. Ever wish there was a place you could go where you could feel happy and content more often?
• A. There is. The House of Glad is the place. Here’s how to get there….

There are four core human emotions and three of them rhyme. Mad, Glad, Sad, and Scared. I call them houses. So you have the House of Mad, the House of Glad, the House of Sad, and the House of Scared.

Ask yourself: “Which house do I live in most, and is it time to move?” When you ask yourself this question, you get the real answer. You feel it immediately. Most people do not live in the House of Glad. The most common answer is the House of Scared, followed by Mad and Sad, or Sad then Mad. Only a rare few report that they actually live in the House of Glad.

The good news is that, if you discover that you live in the House of Mad, Sad, or Scared, you have the capacity to move—right now!

Below are a few stories about the houses of human emotions, followed by concrete ways that you can make the House of Glad your primary residence.

Mackenzie’s Story: Getting to Glad

My daughter Mackenzie, at age 10, awoke and came in my bedroom very upset. She said she didn’t want to go to school. I asked why she was so upset. She didn’t want to tell me. I said it was OK to tell me, and she burst into tears and said, “I didn’t finish my assignment and I am so afraid my reading teacher is going to be really mad at me.” Mackenzie had never been afraid to go to school before, and now she was in ...