When I turned 40, a remarkable thing happened... my world turned upside down and side-ways, and I quickly realized that I was nowhere near the place I thought I would be at that age.

I had to reconcile what had got me to where I was and that was a really hard thing to do.

What makes me #happy? The sun shining. My dog giving me a cuddle. Spending time with my family. Children. Winning. Getting sales. Building my company. Walking in the park. Reading a book. Being in love. 

The United Nations was onto something when they declared March 20, as the first International Day of Happiness. Aimed at encouraging countries to "better capture the importance of the pursuit of happiness and well-being in development with a view to guiding their public policies", #happyday has certainly struck a chord.

Our in-house social media expert tweeted feverishly in both Australia and US on consecutive days about #happyday with great results. People from around the globe retweeted, shared and commented. People simply want to be happy.

I asked a few people in our office what makes them happy. 

Are you the Xmas Scrooge or do you bring joy to everyone around you?
Does going to work mean that you change hats and become a negative, overly opinionated, in-your-face style manager who nags your employees into being so afraid to communicate?
Do you conjure up ways to make others miserable without even knowing it?
Are you too pedantic about detail that you lose sight of the big picture?