What I Learned from the Happiest Man in Atlantis
I heard a story recently that hit me like a freight train.
It’s about a prince who had everything - money, power, women, servants - yet felt completely empty inside.
Sound familiar?
We’ve all been there. Maybe not the “prince” part, but definitely the “I have all this stuff but why do I still feel like shit?” part.
The Secret Triangle
So this prince hears about someone called “The Happiest Man in Atlantis” - an old guru living in a cave who’s about to die in 3 days.
The prince thinks, “What do I have to lose? Just another day of elegant misery.”
(I love that phrase - “elegant misery.” That’s exactly what success without fulfillment feels like.)
So he packs a bag and sets off to the cave.
When he gets there, the guru draws a simple triangle on the wall and says: “Everything you need is in this triangle.”
And over the next three days, he teaches the prince three lessons that completely transform his life.
Lesson 1: FOCUS
On day one, the guru gives the prince a single gold coin and tells him to buy an expensive golden cup at the market.
When the prince returns empty-handed and frustrated (“Why would someone give away something valuable for one coin?”), the guru drops the first truth bomb:
“How valuable is your happiness? Then why do you give it away for so cheap?”
A servant spills wine, and you trade your happiness for anger. A rival succeeds, and you exchange it for envy. A storm delays your ship, and you barter your joy for worry.
The first lesson: Choose what you focus on.
The world is throwing a thousand things at you every minute. But what you decide to focus on determines your experience.
Most of us are like the prince - we gladly hand over our happiness to the lowest bidder.
Lesson 2: STATE
The second day, the guru demonstrates with two bowls of water.
Into the first, he violently dumps rocks, causing water to splash everywhere. Into the second, he gently places the rocks, creating only small ripples.
He sends the prince to the market to practice both states - first reacting to everything like the turbulent bowl, then responding like the calm one.
The prince returns with a massive realization: “The world did not change, but I did.”
The second lesson: Control your state of mind.
You can’t control the pebbles, but you can control the nature of your water.
If you enter a situation feeling optimistic, charming, playful, and determined, you’ll make completely different choices than if you enter feeling tired, stressed, or frustrated.
Your state determines your decisions. Your decisions determine your destiny.
Lesson 3: STORY
On the final day, the guru shows the prince a seemingly ordinary stone.
At first, the prince refuses to trade his thousand gold coins for it.
But when the guru tells him it was left by his father specifically for him, everything changes. The same stone, once worthless, becomes priceless.
The third lesson: The power of the story you tell yourself.
A story can make a stone precious or worthless. A story can transform a punishment into a blessing. A story can turn a disaster into a triumph.
Events are meaningless until you give them a label. The story you apply gives weight and worth to everything in your life.
The Triangle of Happiness
So there it is - the triangle of happiness:
FOCUS determines what you see. STATE determines how you feel. STORY determines what it means.
Master these three, and you’ve mastered the art of living.
The prince gets up to leave and asks, “Did I find the happiest man in Atlantis?”
The guru smiles, and the prince realizes: “I did not find him - I became him.”
So What?
I love this story because it’s so damn practical.
Most of us are like that prince - surrounded by everything society tells us we should want, yet feeling empty inside.
We focus on trivial bullshit. We react instead of respond. We tell ourselves stories that make us miserable.
But here’s the thing…
If you’re unhappy right now, you don’t need to run away to find some guru in a cave (though that does sound like a cool adventure).
You just need to remember the triangle:
- What are you focusing on? Is it the one negative comment among a hundred positive ones? The one thing that went wrong in your otherwise perfect day?
- What state are you in? Are you the turbulent bowl or the calm one? Remember, you can choose.
- What story are you telling yourself? Is it serving you or sabotaging you?
This isn’t some woo-woo positive thinking BS. This is about taking control of the operating system of your mind.
Because if the prince’s story teaches us anything, it’s that happiness isn’t about having everything - it’s about how you experience what you already have.
Oh, and by the way - I copied this from Shaan's new episode and he's hosting a free CEO Boot Camp on April 16th where he'll be sharing his method of running companies and explaining what “founder mode” really means and how to activate it. If you’re interested, here's a link CEO Bootcamp with Nick Huber & Shaan Puri · Zoom · Luma
Until next time,
Uncle CT
P.S. Did this story resonate with you? Let me know which corner of the triangle you need to work on most. For me, it’s definitely the “story” piece - I’m an expert at turning small inconveniences into dramatic narratives.