My Story

I’d always dreamed of living in sunshine and working for a multinational corporate – so why on earth after 18 months of living in Dubai and working for Deloitte Middle East, did I decide to leave?

The short answer – to rediscover my best self.

Desperate Times

Living in my dream city and working amongst some of the brightest minds was special. To begin my full-time working life in this position was an opportunity I was truly blessed to have.

The first 3-5 months was all about adjustment. Within work it was about learning email etiquette, formatting documents, taking minutes, client escalations and that everything was urgent. Outside of work it was about making time to incorporate the gym as a lifestyle, making friends (mostly through work events) and being fascinated by the driverless Dubai metro.

I did what was needed to be done. Being a massive morning person meant that the 8am start was smooth for me and I was often in the office around 7.40am with my head down. 6pm was our official time to finish and often I would leave exactly at 6pm or minutes after (opening the laptop at home and sending emails after hours and on weekends was okay for me).

The routine became established. Sunday to Thursday (the working week) 5.40am wake up, 6am -7.15am gym, 7.40am – 6pm office, 6.40pm home, until 7.45pm cooking, cleaning, getting things ready, eat by 8.30pm, banana and blueberry milkshake by 8.50pm with a 15 minute read and bed by 9.30pm. Friday & Saturday (the weekend) consisted of the gym, full days socialising at fancy establishments (which took getting used to) and a couple of hours for calls back home.

8 months of this including my first Dubai summer (extreme heat!) led me to ponder. Pondering about life, the point of it, the one I wanted for myself and beyond. Pondering mostly occurred on Saturday afternoons whilst getting my clothes and meals prepared for the week ahead. Pondering led to reading and reading led to questioning myself and my ambition. A couple of months of this combined with the deepest birthday reflection spiralled into desperation.  

I was desperate to understand more about the path I was on and to take a pause. Everything about life consumed me. A moment to reflect on my current situation and why I was lacking inspiration. A moment to introspect on my social circle and why I didn’t enjoy spending time with them. A moment to remember the feelings I wanted to experience in life and how far I was from experiencing them at that moment.  

Of course, I was immersed with others who had a spark when they closed their laptops at the end of a day, upon skipping to the bar for the end of week drinks and a HUGE punch of the air when a public holiday was announced. This was a similar experience to when I worked for Accenture in London as a 12 month internship student. Sparks were common in these situations. It was one of the reaffirmations that people are very different in very different situations.

I felt myself and those around were escaping something? The weekend was as if the kettle had boiled and we had 3 nights and 2 full days to unleash ourselves onto the world. And of course, after a few weeks and months, I became the same. For a consistent 10 months I saved my happiness for the weekend and the days in between were simply days to get through and to keep my head down.

The desperation combined with learning about escapism led to the unravelling of my mind. It got to a point where I wondered what the money I earned was going to be used for. Another brunch? A gold ticket on the metro? A business class flight? Oat milk in my coffee?

Here it is crucial I remind you that I was very confused about life and lacking inspiration to become the best version of myself. Thankfully, I have never experienced and do not work on illbeing.

Finding the Spark

After months of the same routine, something had to give.

There were a handful of positive role models in my life (one or two in my network and then some I followed on social media). These were simply humans that in my eyes, were fulfilled. They loved their jobs, they loved the people they lived with and they loved their lifestyle. Overall, they loved the path they were on.

They key differentiator to those who were fulfilled and unfulfilled was the spark in their eyes. The fulfilled had a spark in their eyes way beyond their out of office hours.

It was here I first realised the power of perspective – spending time with those who I deemed as fulfilled and unfulfilled gave me an opportunity to see what the key differences were.

Finding this for myself became a need – after 4 months of introspection, wondering what the ‘ideal job’ looked like and many looks into the bathroom mirror, an opportunity to present at University of Wollongong Dubai appeared.

My first ever Goal Setting workshop. 3 hours on a sunny Saturday morning in Dubai. The dream. Blessed is the word because the students were incredibly engaged. Wonderfully, one of the students from this gave me a recommendation for my next event at an Impact Hub (entrepreneur club) in Downtown Dubai. After this I was sure. The train of happiness had slowly but surely, left its origin.

The surprisingly magical part of these experiences was the full day of preparation in a coffee shop in Jumeriah Lake Towers. Staring at a laptop screen for 10 hours had been the bane of my recent months at the office but somehow, in these moments I was glued to the screen and engrossed in the content I was preparing. Four hours raced by without checking my phone. That’s when I felt for the first time that this could be ‘something’. Maybe this was my spark?

A workshop in Mumbai at Mumbai Network (whilst on holiday to watch the Indian Premier League) and another at a SP Jain University (Dubai campus) led to some one-to-one follow ups with attendees about CVs, job applications, the corporate world and life altogether.

This was really where the belief in myself leapt to another level as others were directly reaching out to me for guidance.

*all of the above was volunteering my time for experience (zero payment)*

The Leap from the Corporate Finance World

‘Amazing things happen when you are radiating positive energy’. I had heard that (or words to its effect) for many years and read it many times but now I was feeling the impact of the snowball (or sandball) in Emirati lands for the first time.

Days after this new found belief in myself, I commenced an online course by Happiness Co – 21 days of happiness. This was a transformational experience with 21 days of gratitude and 21 different exercises that would show me the light. Not only the light of practical activities but the light of seeing ‘happiness professionals’. For the first time in my adult life I saw a role that I could imagine myself thriving in.

All those days wondering about the dream job, was it at Facebook or Instagram? Was it working within HR? Nope. It was a happiness man!

Within days of the happiness course, I was ready to go to Australia and jump all in to this new life. To the credit of Julian Pace and Robbie Figg (two absolute legends) they wanted to see what I was made of. Julian asked me to then complete the 10 week happiness challenge focused on neural pathways before taking a decision to host me. I was up for that!

Parallel to this momentum shift with online happiness courses, I met Neil Shah (founder of The Stress Management Society) in Dubai and right away we clicked and he offered me a volunteering opportunity in London (2 months).

This was a wonderful opportunity to learn first-hand from someone who had spoken across the world. He was the first person I had physically met who had done this as a career.

My mind was crystal clear that to transform my path, I would leave Deloitte and the Middle East. For a moment I thought about staying at Deloitte and conducting these workshops outside of office hours for another few months but I knew at the ripe age of 24, I was in a fabulous position to dive heart first into my dream.

The team at Deloitte were very understanding and encouraging for my move and I am so grateful that my colleagues turned into friends and that I’m still in regular contact with them (and have since conducted a workshop in the same office!).

My family and friends believed in me but were equally quick to warn me of the ‘risks’ of leaping away from the tax-free salaried job, medical insurance, flight allowance and so forth to the opposite.

However, I remember sharing that the bigger ‘risk’ was staying in an unfulfilled environment and letting time pass .

Life in London

18 months after a one-way ticket from London to Dubai to work as an International Tax man, I was doing the opposite on another one-way. This time, the aspiration of becoming an International Happiness man.

Whilst in London I was incredibly fortunate to be staying with a dear friend during my volunteering phase for the Stress Management Society.

I was immersed back into life in the capital city. Boom, a daily commute that was the best part of 2 hours. I used this time to the best of my ability – listening to audio books, reflecting, replying to messages and mostly people watching. Looking for their spark.

The 2 months as a volunteer didn’t fully align with my head or heart. Highlights were an incredible experience at the Wellbeing @ Work conference in Amsterdam and going through the Train the Trainer programme.

The reason I did not take an offered full-time role was simple, I realised early on that a career focusing on stress was not authentic for me. I was a product of personal development and positive psychology. For me to authentically live my best life and contribute to the world with a spark, whatever I did would need to be fully aligned with my identity.

Identity – such a small but big word. Perspective is everything I remembered.

I remember reaffirming myself that this 2 month period will be invaluable. Sometimes to learn who you are, you have to learn who you are not.

Despite being fascinated by stress and our ability to deal with it, I was not a stress man. I wanted to be a happy man and knew I was already one deep down. This was an identity I needed to channel more of.

The Pursuit of Happiness

A quick throwback – for my 20th birthday my fabulous flatmate Oliver Pilkington bought me ‘The Art of Being Brilliant’ (wonderful read). Two years later (final year at Loughborough University), Andy Cope (co-author) of this book came and delivered a session to some of the business school students. EPIC is the word. I was inspired and went to activate 2%er mode right away!

After 2.5 years had passed since this event and 4.5 years after reading the book, I decided to look up the man himself, Andy Cope (by then he was a Doctor and the first Doctor of Happiness in the UK!). I was brave and tweeted him to ask him for some life guidance.

One coincidence led to another and we had a Skype call. One of his first comments was words to the effect of ‘Most people want to change their career at 44 or 54, Sanj, not 24, so tell me what’s going!?’. He welcomed me with open arms to see what he and his team did at Art of Brilliance.

After a few 5am trains to different parts of Britain to see him and his colleagues do what they did best (inspire and empower others to believe in themselves) , he was quick to challenge me to take a swim in the deep end.

Andy guided me to approach schools in my local area, offer a full free day of work with children and see how I felt after it.

Within a couple of weeks I went back to Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School (where I studied for 2 years) for my first solo workshop within the happiness world. A morning with around 50 teenagers and an afternoon with 60 or so primary students from Neath Port Talbot and I was sold. A huge slice of gratitude to Bethan Marks for organising this. Throughout the day I was on feeling feelings I had never felt before. Children have such a zest for life!

This was me at my best.

The content aligned wonderfully as it was all science based, but with the big words carefully extracted. Most importantly, it was the stuff I had read about and implemented into my life for my last year of University at Loughborough.

Andy believed in me from the start. A man who prides himself on keeping it simple, advised me that ‘if you’re loving it, they will love it’. It was true!

Boom! I had my first taste of a day as a trainer.

Again, like I’d experienced in Dubai 6 months earlier, the belief in me went up another level. Magical things start to happen in this stage of belief.

A previous colleague (and now great friend) at Accenture, Maha Khan spontaneously invited me to speak with her team of 20 in the new year. All because of the gratitude videos I had been posting on Instagram. For a couple of days I pinched myself and then focused on delivering an outstanding session.  

Again, this was a volunteering opportunity but I knew this was as big as it gets. The morning rapidly approached, I was back at the office I interned at for 12 months. This time with a guest pass as a presenter. The session was 30 mins and went like a dream. So dreamy that Maha asked me to stay for an evening session with the 50 person group. Wowza!!

Boom! After tasting this exhilarating feeling of being me on stage, I wanted more. I knew and wanted to do this every hour of every day for the rest of my life.

This led me to act fast and source more exposure.

Operation #1 - Break into the Happiness World

I had a zest for life that was fuelling me each day. The biggest difference between this version of me and that of the corporate finance world was was waking up excited to ‘work’ and a new association with emails. Emails now would often result in a phone call, meeting or at best a confirmation for an opportunity to engage an audience.

Art of Brilliance was definitely the vehicle I wanted to be in, but opportunities in the short term had been allocated to their existing team of world class trainers. Waiting and watching would do me no more good. I was like a batsman who wanted to just bat and bat and bat, regardless of who was bowling. I wanted to put myself in new situations, try new content and ultimately test myself to see what was in my comfort, stretch and panic zone.

Thankfully, I had saved some of my tax-free salary at Deloitte and decided to invest a healthy chunk of it in a bid for exposure.

I plotted the adventure of a lifetime – 3 months across UAE, India and Australia.

#1 Dubai – 10 days of networking amongst my old colleagues and friends led to my first paid workshop with CCL in Dubai International Financial Centre. This was an incredible experience, 3 hours with some incredible minds. It was even more special because I remembered attending a meeting in the same boardroom to take minutes during my Deloitte days. Big thanks to Lewis Knell for making this happen and believing in me!

#2 India – the Motherland. Thanks and so much love for my brothers Siddhesh and Pranav Sharma for giving me the platform and nourishment to sample the Indian market for some happiness. This led to my second paid workshop (and most challenging to date) with Baksons Homeopathy in New Delhi and a series of school workshops with Team Youniverse thanks to the magical Tanya Bakshi. This connection was the epitome. The experience was golden because we worked together with the privileged and underprivileged. Guess what? The message was wonderfully received by both. My first experience of conducting workshops with another human and a truly special feeling to be so deeply aligned. We also hosted our first public event in Lodhi Gardens, 30 humans from across Delhi and beyond converged for a Saturday morning positivity party.

#3 Australia – a month of volunteering with Happiness Co in Perth & Sydney. The gents who inspired me to take action were now those I was rubbing shoulders with. Huge gratitude for Julian Pace and Robbie Figg for hosting me and allowing me to experience their incredibly powerful work in a variety of corporate, school and individual environments.

#4 India (round 2!) – the opportunity to present a relationships workshop with Team Youniverse was a golden one. This was facilitated with Tanya Bakshi again and our first paid event together. Audience ranged from teenager to senior citizen.

I had now got a feel for what was being offered on an international scale. I was hardened and ready to use all of my experience to secure opportunities back in the UK.

Whilst in transit from Perth to Delhi, I had secured my next dream opportunity to speak at Accenture UK as part of their Mental Health Awareness Week initiative. Boom! Huge moment and one that would be my first series of events.

I had burst onto the scene.

Operation #2 (ongoing) - Revolutionise the Happiness World

As a massive sports fan (cricket and football mostly), I understood the power of bursting onto the scene – I wanted to make sure that the first impact of my work was WOW. If not, I would get lost in the sea of mediocrity.

Thankfully, this aligned strongly with my mission when rediscovering myself. My best self.

70+ workshops later across the UK, Switzerland, UAE and India and being trusted by some of the best in the world including Johnson & Johnson, Accenture, Deloitte, ONS, Kings College London, Loughborough University, Institut Montana Zugerberg and beyond, I’m just getting started.

In April 2020 I started the journey as a PhD student (part-time) at Swansea University focusing exclusively on Wellbeing Science. This is an incredible opportunity to make a novel contribution to literature on optimising happiness and health in our society. There are many controversies, conundrums, contradictions, complexities that are contributing to a lack of clarity and coherence in determining a wellbeing strategy and initiatives that support it. A huge thank you to Professor Andrew Kemp for the belief in me.

In July 2020 ‘How to Be a WELL BEING – Unofficial Rules to LIVE Everyday’ was published. Written pre-pandemic but more relevant due to it, the book has been enjoyed globally and has helped those in need of a wellbeing boost! Eternal gratitude to publish a book with my role model Dr Andy Cope and brother Pouli in the USA. A very proud feeling to publish a book that breaks down the science of human flourishing into simple doable things readers can implement.

Dr Andy Cope and the entire Art of Brilliance team have been truly wonderful to give me opportunities to deliver life-changing workshops and also to design and implement our Wellbeing Workout online programme. Thank you Andy, Lou, Mandy, Jen, Chewy, Amy, Jonathan and the training team.

My Commitment

It is clear that the pandemic has brought the wellbeing agenda to the forefront of individuals, schools and businesses across the world.

What remains unclear is the approach that individuals, schools and businesses will take towards creating and sustaining a culture of wellbeing.

Over the next 80 + years of my life, I feel excited and honoured to impact millions of lives across the world through the science of wellbeing as a #1 priority. Well before then, we will start defining success as happiness.

If you feel curious to learn more about how I can add immense value to you, your school or business, please feel welcome to contact me right now (through the Connect & Contact page) and let’s have a conversation.

Lots of love.

Sanjeevan Singh Sandhu