What is the secret to happiness? Can a web search help us find it? This morning we start webscotching with the phrase "Secret to Happiness". Impressed with the previous session I choose ask.com as the starting point again. Here we go...
I am surprised to see the first two results have the phrase "Secret of Happiness" instead of "Secret to Happiness". I know the search engines do ignore words to, of, in, on, the,etc..., but if there is an exact match available like one of the results that is shown on the page, I would think the exact match should be listed first. When I tried the "Advanced Search" end enter the phrase "Secret to Happiness" in the exact match field I get a slightly different result set but ask.com still returns results with "Secret of Happiness". Evidently the exact match option also ignores these words.
Stopping being picky about the exact words I continue scrolling down the search results page. Here is the link I find compelling to click:
The Secret of Happiness in 8 Words
It is not the exact phrase I searched but I think what makes it stand out from all the other links is the ending that says "in 8 words". You get the sense that you will get a concise answer. You hope that by clicking on this link you will find the secret to happiness told to you in a short sentence. So what did I get?
Well... The first impression was not good. The site looked like one of those sites that hawks those get rich quick schemes. The 8 words were right there though:
Tomorrow - Today - Live - For - Better - Working - A - While
Not making sense of these words and reading this sense under them: "What? You can't make sense of that? I gave you the words for free, but the correct order is going to cost you plenty...". I start to think yep, it is one of those sites that will ask me to pay to get some kind of ebook for $99.95. So ignoring the instructions to read carefully I quickly scroll down the page to find the 8 words in correct order:
"Live Today While Working For a Better Tomorrow."
There you have it: The Secret to Happiness in 8 Words. You also find an explanation in two paragraphs immediately following this sentence. I never went back to read whatever in between the scrambled and unscrambled versions of these words. Remembering that I alsmost bounced off the page immediately, the author could have done better if s/he did not play any word games and fill the page withh all the fluff. Anyways, at this point, I really don't think amount the wisdom here. It sounds pretty common sense. Not only that, it exactly is what we do on a daily basis. Well, I guess it still is important that we remind ourselves the basics on a daily basis. The truth is that the secret to happiness is very basic and there is no need to look for it in exotic places.
Still thinking the site will eventually ask me to sign up for something, I scroll down to find out "this article is an excerpt from the book Seven Secrets of the Millionaires" and continuing to play webscotch I click on the link which I will not put here because it is the link that asks you to buy the secrets. I immediately closed my browser finishing my game.
Hey! We go wherever webscotch takes us.
