The secret to happiness is based upon perspective and expectation.

Shaquille O’Neal, the former basketball superstar, NBA champion, actor, and the MBA- and PhD-holding business impresario, offers his secret to happiness:

My secret is waking up saying it could be worse. 85% of all athletes, three to five years after they’re playing, have nothing, no income, no nothing. I could be one of those guys.

I think similarly, though rather than comparing my success to others, I compare my current position in life to where I once was.

Looking back on where I began and the challenges that I have faced, I can’t help but be happy today.

The wife and kids help, too.  

But I also think that happiness is strongly dependent upon expectation.

If you don’t like to relax, you will never be disappointed.

If you don’t like a warm bath or a Jacuzzi or long afternoons sunning yourself on the beach, you’ll never be disappointed.

If you don’t like spending time in bed, you’ll never be disappointed.

But if you love to spend your like moving, playing, working, chasing and creating, you will always be happy.