no stress
Source of Happiness
"No one whinging, no stress. Everyone being happy. I don’t like angry people. That’s one of the reasons I sold my business, because I had so many contractors and then they had problems and with that comes fighting and aggression. I don’t need that. I’m happy if everyone else is happy. That’s what makes me relax. That’s what I’ve been teaching my two daughters, the older one gets quite angry at times so I step back and tell her, “Look, we’ll try again tomorrow. I’m not having any negativity for something that I haven’t caused”. That’s it. My dad, before he passed away, was the same. When I was younger, I always used to fire off whenever there was a problem and he’d tell me, “Woah, woah, Paul, let’s sort out the rest of the day first and then see what happens.” The next day when I’d calmed down, he’d always love to come and rub it in my face that he was right. Which of course, he was. So I’m trying to put that into my kids, don’t stress until we try and sort something out. You’re going to get angry, that’ll build up and you’ll sort it out but then it takes you some time to calm down again. There’s no need to waste all that time being angry. Just get rid of it."
Struggle
"Apart from being homeless, I think I’ve cleared everything up. I’ve wrapped up my business. Sometimes it could get a bit stressful. I don’t need that now. All that pressures off me. I’m at a crossroads. At the minute life’s smooth, but ask me that in six months and it might be a completely different story. If I run out of money, then I’ve got to start another business or work for someone. I know it sounds like the perfect answer but at the minute I’m not struggling with anything. I’ve been in Bali for two months and I love it, but like I said it could change completely in six months."
Regret
"Arguing with my daughters. It takes a lot for me to get angry. If my daughter kept pushing me and pushing me over issues, I’d end up shouting at her and I hate that. I hate that. I think I did the right thing, my both my daughters births were the proudest moments of my life. I told them I’m not going to be around forever so I just want to be happy while I’ve still got them.
I had a good relationship with my dad before he passed away. Used to tell him I love him, I don’t regret telling him that. I’ve never had an argument with my mum in my life except of course the little ones everyone has. Back when I was 18, I was seeing two girls at the same time, she didn’t like that. She really didn’t like that shit. I was lucky I bought my first house when I was 19 so it was really only that 18th year where I was trying to tiptoe in at 3 in the morning."
Inspiration
"Anyone who can speak more than one language. I respect that, people who are making an effort to learn and communicate in different languages….
My daughters! They’ve done well. They’ve been working since they were 14, I made sure they got a job and they didn’t argue about it. They worked in the supermarkets, really learning what the moneys about. Now they’ve got two really good careers, surprised me a little bit if I’m being honest."
One piece of advice
"Just be happy. Don’t always run after the money, money is not that important. When I sit down with my kids, that’s one of the 5 most important things in my life. Money is about number 4. Family, happiness, health, are all more important. You can have all the money in the world but without your family you have nothing."