Table of Contents

Foreword by Dr. Kasisomayajula “Vish” Viswanath

Happy note from Sammy

What is Project Heha?

The Secret of Transformation

Project Heha is born

“5+1+Others”

Mindset

The Others

Project Heha – a movement towards a happier world

Are you ready to co-create a happier world?

Foreword by
Dr. Kasisomayajula “Vish” Viswanath

Happiness, in many ways, is an elusive concept that invokes different meanings depending one’s position, social status, cultural settings and situations. The many shades of happiness and ways to achieve it feels even more elusive when we observe the turbulence around us – wars, poverty, discrimination, forced migration and other myriad conditions that we face going through life. And, the scientific evidence, on how happiness is related to various dimensions such as health, remains unclear. It is in this context that Mr. Sammy Lee penned this gem of a book that calls for a social movement to build happiness by “co-creating” habits, mind-sets and ideas to attain happiness. Mr. Lee relates his journey, simply and pithily, from a crisis when he faced an imminent collapse of his business, health and family to self-learning and discovery drawing from ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism. In this book, he distills and codifies the lessons learned on that journey that include tested ideas such as physical activity, purpose in life and spending time with family and friends to more philosophical approaches such as thinking of others first. He ends with a clarion call to join, in his words, “the happiness social movement.” It is a small book but packed with ideas worth thinking, exploring and testing.

Dr. Kasisomayajula “Vish” Viswanath

Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication
Co-Director, Lee Kum Sheung Center
for Health and Happiness at
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Happy note from Sammy

Happiness is a curious phenomenon; the more you help make others happy, the happier you make yourself. At Project Heha, we’ve long understood this much about happiness, and as we’ve developed a greater understanding of how to make ourselves happy, we’ve also become increasingly interested in how to make others happy and to build a movement to co-create a happier world.

In this book, I’ll try to explain what Project Heha is all about. I’ll share my own little story – of how it has changed my life. I believe, by joining hands together, we can change the world and create a new age of happiness. I hope the message in the next few pages will inspire you to take a step toward Super Happiness and share what you learn with others.

Sammy Lee

What is Project Heha?

We all know we work better, feel better and live more fulfilling lives when we are happy. But almost everyone has a different idea of what happiness actually is. Of course, from time to time all of us feel happy, especially as a result of external things, such as going to a movie, enjoying a nice meal with friends, or buying a beautiful handbag. But all of these are just temporary. Could there be a greater form of happiness? A sort of Super Happiness that never fails to keep us in good spirits? We believe there is. And that’s why we came up with Project Heha.

Project Heha “Super Happiness”

Project Heha (meaning “Super Happiness”) comes from a Chinese word

“爽” (pronounced “shuang”) , which means “to live in a state of deep, fundamental happiness that is unshakable; a happiness that persists even in times of hardship or misfortune”. Hard to believe? Well, bear with us and see if the next few pages can explain how the idea works and how you can join a movement to refine our ideas and to help others to become happy too.

The Secret of Transformation

Perhaps the easiest way to begin is to tell you a little about myself and how I arrived at the Project Heha idea in the first place.

Losing everything

In the late 90s, our family was building a new business in China. I was working 20 hours a day and suffering all kinds of stress. Then, just as our business was starting to really take off, the government introduced new regulations that shut our entire business down almost overnight.

I was devastated. Everything I had worked for through all those long hours and lost weekends was swept away, just like that. It broke my heart, my spirit, and almost ruined my family. On top of that, I had damaged my health through too many heavy drinking sessions wooing clients. I felt I was finished; my life was over.

But you know what? It was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Finding true happiness

Today, everything has turned around for me. Our company has been resurrected and in the last 16 years has actually grown 180 times.

My golf handicap is down to 6; I recently managed my best round ever of 71! I have time for my friends and family again. My home is filled with smiles. My weight and blood pressure are down. And for the first time in years, I can put my hand on my heart and say honestly, “I feel great. I am truly happy. And not just happy, but Super Happy.”

What changed?

So what happened? Did I win the lottery? Find a magic wand? Not at all. It was something much better: I learned to take a higher view and look at things from a different perspective. By moving away from a purely self-centered point of view, I started taking a third-person perspective (we call it “3P”) and looking at situations from a “We > I” point of view. I call it this higher perspective the “Helicopter View”.

Project Heha is born

I discovered a new way of thinking

My path to the Helicopter View came in a roundabout way. I had come across the philosophy of Taoism (the Tao, or the Way) , and the teachings of a Chinese philosopher called Laozi. One of the teachings that inspired me was his idea that there are four types of leaders, and the best type was the “Invisible Leader”, This prompted me to reflect a little more on my attitude to life in general, and helped to shine a light for me on the importance of habit building and creating a new path to my own happiness.

The Autopilot Leadership Model

Entrepreneurs, and especially those running start-ups, are often hands-on for everything. They hope that through the sheer power of their control and passion, their companies will become successful. But this usually ends up in total burnout for them, with overworked, stressed out and miserable staff. The bottleneck that leads to this is nearly always the owners’ time, stamina and health.

To overcome this problem, I developed the “Autopilot Leadership Model”, and challenged myself to become this “Invisible Leader” that Laozi talked about. I led by inspiring a bigger team to work towards a common goal.

Then, along with my team, I established an “Autopilot Leadership Lab (ALLab)” in 2017 that allowed us to share our experience with more individuals and organizations. That way, we co-created happy “autopilot” journeys, and started to nurture more “Invisible Leaders”.

You can refer to all of this in my book “THE AUTOPILOT LEADERSHIP MODEL”, or you can scan the QR code top next to find out more.

“5+1+Others”

The “Autopilot Leadership Model” enabled me to seek something else beyond business success. And it was this change that led me to come up with the idea of “5+1+Others”. This is basically a list of habits and practices that leads to Super Happiness.

Different people might put the habits in a different order than what I have, but for me, the first habit on my list is the habit of maintaining good health.

Health

When I was working 20 hours a day, my health went steadily downhill. I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, a fatty liver and gout. I even went to the hospital for a coronary angiogram at one point as I had a suspected heart condition. I tried hard to follow different kinds of health tips, but I was totally confused by the variety of methods and beliefs. And I kept thinking, why couldn’t there be just one simple, but effective healthy habit that anyone could follow?

And that’s when I started the habit of walking 10, 000 steps every day.

This has benefited me far beyond my health, and showed me the power of changing my habits.

Family

The power of changing my habits also influenced how I related to my family. My daughter was born right at the time when I was building our family business in China. I was so busy, I had very little time to spend with her. It’s something I regret to this day. But, surely, I thought, there must be a simple, but powerful habit that can help enhance any family relationship. This inspired me to the concept of “1-on-1 quality time”.

Compared to family gatherings in groups, “1-on-1 quality time” between family members can build much deeper bonds. Now I have two daughters, and I make it an unshakeable habit to spend 1-on-1 time with each of them on a regular basis. I listen to and learn from each of them and we’ve grown much closer and understand each other much better as a result.

Work

And then there’s work. What is the connection between work and happiness? Actually, there’s a strong connection, but not quite what I used to think. Work is not necessarily about how much time you spend in the office or about how much money you make. I found the key thing is to ask: “Why I am here?”. Because if we can find a purpose, we can all be happy at work, and indeed in our lives. Happiness is about purpose.

The purpose of my work today is to help start a movement to co-create a world of Super Happiness with Project Heha.

Friends

I used to think the source of happiness was health, family and work, but when I shared this thought with my daughters, they quickly pointed out that friends too are essential to happiness. When I thought about it, it was true. When I was too focused on my work, I missed out on precious moments with friends. Now, I make it a habit to meet up with my friends regularly and I find tremendous happiness in their friendship.

Leisure

Over the years, I have come across many first-generation business owners who were successful, but clearly were not happy. How did this happen? I believe it’s because they devoted themselves so totally to their business that they ended up with no other interests. Sometimes I have wondered if they actually enjoyed their lives at all.

Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes leisure. But by definition, leisure is something you enjoy, something that relaxes and refreshes you. For me, leisure is playing soccer with my friends, or golf. I also really love snowboarding. These activities not only add to my happiness, but also inspire me to think positively. And this leads me to that extra element on the list.

Mindset

Mindset is the “+1” part of the “5+1+others” model. You can’t control everything in life. We all know that. There will always be things that happen that you can’t do anything about. But no matter what happens, you can always control how you respond to it. Beside the following three elements, there will be other elements that can be added on.

Positive Thinking

Imagine there are two people who have just found out they have cancer, and have only three months left to live. They can’t control the fact of their terrible situation. But one of them lives out his three months happily and with joy, while the other is utterly miserable and if anything, simply adds further anguish to his plight. Why the different responses?

It boils down to mindset. By reframing his mindset, the “positive” patient saw this unfortunate diagnosis as an opportunity to discover his true purpose in life, and possibly live these last few months happier than before. The “negative” patient simply couldn’t change his focus and enjoy what little time he had left. Critical to happiness is how you reframe your mind to deal with all the unpredictable situations in life – not just in times of crisis, but in everyday situations too.

Mindfulness

My love of golf inspired me to consider another aspect of mindset: mindfulness. In golf, some players keep thinking about the last putt they missed, and worry about whether or not they can break their own record. In mindful golf, the player focusses only on the present moment in order to play the immediate shot in the best way they can.

When you practice mindfulness in life, you won’t allow past errors (or future what ifs) to interfere with what you need to do in the present moment. This way, you will start worrying less about unpredictable situations and become a happier person.

The “Helicopter View”

The “Helicopter View”, which I mentioned before, is another aspect of mindset in which you learn to rise above the situation in a series of steps from a We > I perspective. I try to look beyond myself so that I can see things from a global perspective to identify people’s unmet needs of happiness.

This mindset has driven the Lee Kum Kee family and Harvard University to jointly establish the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness. The center will support the identification of psychological, social, and emotional strengths and assets that may protect against some diseases and enable people to enjoy longer, happier, and healthier lives.

The Others

I have taken you through the “5+1” part of the “5+1+Others” formula. So what about the final element: “Others”?

The Others are what we don’t yet know. The Others are additional habits that can also contribute to Super Happiness, because there is no one happiness formula that fits everyone. There are always new recipes for Super Happiness. You may know some yourself, which is why we are so keen on co-creation and working with other people.

For example, for many people, writing down three things they can be truly thankful for each day, can contribute to Super Happiness beyond the 5+1 foundation. That is just one example of what might be called “Others”.

So we shouldn’t limit ourselves to any single path to happiness. Instead, we should keep co-creating with different people to find other paths to happiness beyond the 5+1 foundation.

Once you understand the role of the “5+1+Others”, and you start to nurture your friendships, improve your health and relationships, make time to pursue your passions and hobbies, and improve your working practices, you will notice a marked improvement in your sense of wellbeing and overall happiness.

Project Heha – a movement towards a happier world

As I mentioned in my introduction, one of the interesting things about happiness is that as we each become happier ourselves, we want to help others become happier too. In fact, the very act of helping people, adds to our own happiness.

That is why we are inviting you to join us in a Project Heha Workshop and together co-create the movement toward a Super Happy world.

Are you ready to co-create a happier world?

Start with finding a focus for your habit change

In terms of the “5+1+Others”, different people find they have different levels of fulfillment in different areas. For example, some people may feel less fulfilled in terms of their Family, and others may feel less fulfilled in terms of their Leisure. If you feel you have any weak links in your personal chain of “5” of “5+1+Others” then these are areas on which you should concentrate. As you increase your own happiness, you will be acquiring new insights that will enable you to help yourself.

Learn, Practice and Coach

There is no question that Project Heha philosophy works. It has worked for me and for others who have tried it, and I believe Project Heha philosophy can work for many more people too. By joining the Project Heha movement, you can help spread ideas for Super Happiness across the globe – not just in the abstract, but in reality. Because it’s not just what you believe that counts in life, but what you actually do.

So, learn about the Project Heha philosophy. Practice it and coach others to benefit from it too. We want to spread the idea of Super Happiness to help people everywhere to live happier, healthier and more successful lives.

Building momentum through co-creation

As we all learn and grow in our knowledge and capabilities, we gain momentum from each other’s contributions. Perhaps you have some new insight to add that leads others to add theirs. That’s what co-creating is all about. Like building a vast global resource of happiness that everyone can access.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT

This is a movement to help you and others like you to achieve what you want in life. But in a spirit of happiness.
A spirit of helping others to reach their full potential and yours too, not just as a business person, but as a complete, well-rounded human being.

So what do you think? Would you like to be happier and help others to be happier too?

Well, now there’s an opportunity for you to do just that.
Come and join our Project Heha Workshop about starting a movement of Super Happiness. And together with us, you can help the whole world to live a happier life.
Visit www.ProjectHeha.com to check out the details of the Project Heha.

Mr. Sammy Lee Wai Sum graduated from the University of Southern California. He is the fourth generation of Lee Kum Kee Family, and Chairman and “Chief Invisible Officer” of the LKK Health Products Group (LKKHPG).

The LKK Health Products Group (LKKHPG) was named one of the “Best Companies to Work for in Asia” two years in a row in 2016 and 2017. The award recognises the Group’s remarkable performance in employee engagement and talent management, as well as workplace practices.

The Group also won the title of Aon Hewitt’s Best Employer – China Award for the fifth time.