I spent at least 45 hours interviewing and transcribing the results in Microsoft OneNote (which is the best thing that happened to me as a tool, besides Microsoft Word) and I wanted the interviewee to focus on my questions, so I threw a question on them that they did not expect: “Describe what happiness means to you”. The second question was “Does money and happiness correlate in your mind?”.
Some of the interviewees had issues in giving a direct response to the first question, but most of the people said that happiness for them is “to live in balance with yourself, your family and your work”. I was very happy to hear that as my topic for my book is “how to balance your international life, career and family”.
The second question about money and happiness was clear to everybody. Money has not anything to do with happiness unless you are so poor that you have no money for food or clothing.
I told each interviewee to read the book The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want from Dr. Sonja Lyobomirsky. This book explains what is known about happiness from a research perspective and it is written in a very clear and format that anybody of us can understand.