It was instant love. The day I heard Tony Hsieh (Author, Delivering Happiness – A Path to Profits, Passion & Purpose) talked about Delivering Happiness in his seminar at MAGIC tradeshow (Feb 2010), I was inspired to look for my own happiness.

I don’t think it was a coincidence to have found Delivering Happiness. I believe that when you are ready for a guru, he will come to you.

After the seminar, Tony was sweet to stay and answer our questions. I waited in line to thank him for his inspiring talk and of course for a fan photo (I wasn’t the only one, okay?!)

I’ve been following every DHBook happy hour USTREAM (except during my trip to Melbourne – there wasn’t internet at my host’s) and loved every second of it (from Ava’s chicken egg business story to LiveStrong fundraising). I have of course read the book and have given it away to help spread the happiness.

When DHBook team decided to launch a bus tour (http://www.deliveringhappinessbus.com/), I jumped up and down with joy. Finally I have the chance to meet the whole team!

Delivering Happiness Bus Win a Spot on The Bus Contest

So, when they announced “Win a spot on a bus” contest, I immediately decided to give it a try. Having said that, I did give myself a few days to think about the reason “why I belong on the bus”. I am not going to lie. There was self-doubt. I am naturally a shy and introverted person. It takes time for me to open up. Would I be a good fit on the bus? Would DHBook team like me?

I turned to Tony’s book for answer and I think I got it. DHBook team and I hold the same core values. We are quirky and fun, eager to learn new things and are interested to meet new people. Also, we are all about building relationships with our open hearts. I think we’ll get along just fine. :rtdance1:

Initially I wanted to submit a video entry. My mind ran wild with ideas for the movie and I would LOL in my dreams. Then, I read the contest terms carefully, and saw “To enter, prepare an original essay of no more than 150 words…. Essays that exceed 150 words or are otherwise non-compliant with these Official Rules will be disqualified.” Arggghhh! Although we were encouraged to be creative, I didn’t want to take the risk of being disqualified. So, I scrapped my video idea, reluctantly. 🙁

Then, I took some time to recollect my thoughts, and wrote a 150 words essay on my immigration story – how I emigrated from Borneo to the U.S. ten years ago, and have been struggling to find my own identity, etc. It was a good essay. But after reading Colin Wright‘s blog post on “Time Released Personality and Your Brand”, I had to scrap that immigration story idea as well. Like how Colin puts it, “You don’t want to introduce the parents and look at childhood photos right away; there’s definitely a time for that, it’s just not on the first date.” Even though to me that immigration essay had my unique point-of-view, but my problems might not matter to anyone because no one knows me on a personal level.

Then, a light bulb went off. A McDonald resume that I have read before inspired me. So, I listed down my mission, goals, skills, etc.; everything straight from my soul and heart, honestly and sincerely. The most important reason for me to be on the bus would be to uncover my core values, and to inspire others along the way. It might be a life-long process to get to know myself, but the sooner I start working on it, the better! It’s only when I am comfortable with myself, confidence would follow and I would be able to discover my true passion, from heart.

It might seem absurd to you that I’ve spent so much time analyzing and thinking about this contest. It was actually a soul searching process on its own. I only live once, so I got to spend time doing things that I passionate about. I didn’t even pay attention to the time when I  was having a blast playing with all the essay ideas.

I want to dream the biggest dream I can. 🙂 You should too. No excuses, just crush it.

P/S: You can find all the contest entries at http://deliveringhappiness.ning.com/.