H = S – F

At my school’s general commencement, we had the pleasure of having Steven Wozniak as the keynote speaker. One of the things that was prominent with everyone in the audience was his equation H = S – F, where H = Happiness, S = Smiles, and F = Frowns. It seems like such a simple equation when you think about it. As long as the moments of smiles outweigh your moments of frowns, your happiness level should remain relatively high. Wozniak went on to explain that it’s not always about the exact moment that makes you smile or frown, but instead, looking back whether it makes you smile or frown.

One particular example that I thought of was my love/hate relationship with running. I’ve tried to make running part of my new workout regime and it’s a really difficult thing for me to do. While I’m running, there’s plenty of frowning going on but when I look back and see how many miles I’ve run or how far I’ve come from only being able to run one 13 minute mile, I smile.

Another point of this equation that makes it so poignant is its subjectivity. What works for you might not work for someone else. And I think that’s a piece of advice I often forget. What makes me smile may not make another person smile and the Woz touched upon the differences of each individual and to quote Dave Mason: “There ain’t no good guys/ There ain’t no bad guys/There’s only you and me/ And we just disagree.”

We were so lucky to have someone as well known as Steven Wozniak speak at our commencement. I even had the chance to hear Governor Jerry Brown speak at my political science commencement as well! The Woz was a great speaker and really used his humor to deliver a speech that was inspiring, witty, and profound.

You can watch some of the highlights of his speech here: