Ebook: Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom and Wonder

In Thrive, Arianna Huffington makes an impassioned and compelling case for the need to redefine what it means to be successful in today's world.

Arianna Huffington's personal wake-up call came in the form of a broken cheekbone and a nasty gash over her eye -- the result of a fall brought on by exhaustion and lack of sleep. As the cofounder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group -- one of the fastest growing media companies in the world -- celebrated as one of the world's most influential women, and gracing the covers of magazines, she was, by any traditional measure, extraordinarily successful. Yet as she found herself going from brain MRI to CAT scan to echocardiogram, to find out if there was any underlying medical problem beyond exhaustion, she wondered is this really what success feels like?

As more and more people are coming to realize, there is far more to living a truly successful life than just earning a bigger salary and capturing a corner office. Our relentless pursuit of the two traditional metrics of success -- money and power -- has led to an epidemic of burnout and stress-related illnesses, and an erosion in the quality of our relationships, family life, and, ironically, our careers. In being connected to the world 24/7, we're losing our connection to what truly matters. Our current definition of success is, as Thrive shows, literally killing us. We need a new way forward.

In a commencement address Arianna gave at Smith College in the spring of 2013, she likened our drive for money and power to two legs of a three-legged stool. They may hold us up temporarily, but sooner or later we're going to topple over. We need a third leg -- a third metric for defining success -- to truly thrive. That third metric, she writes in Thrive, includes our well-being, our ability to draw on our intuition and inner wisdom, our sense of wonder, and our capacity for compassion and giving. As Arianna points out, our eulogies celebrate our lives very differently from the way society defines success. They don't commemorate our long hours in the office, our promotions, or our sterling PowerPoint presentations as we relentlessly raced to climb up the career ladder. They are not about our resumes -- they are about cherished memories, shared adventures, small kindnesses and acts of generosity, lifelong passions, and the things that made us laugh.

In this deeply personal book, Arianna talks candidly about her own challenges with managing time and prioritizing the demands of a career and raising two daughters -- of juggling business deadlines and family crises, a harried dance that led to her collapse and to her "aha moment." Drawing on the latest groundbreaking research and scientific findings in the fields of psychology, sports, sleep, and physiology that show the profound and transformative effects of meditation, mindfulness, unplugging, and giving, Arianna shows us the way to a revolution in our culture, our thinking, our workplace, and our lives.

From the Hardcover edition.

Amazon.com Review

Author One-on-One: Arianna Huffington and Mark Hyman

Arianna Huffington and Mark Hyman discuss Arianna's new book *Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder.*

Arianna Huffington is the chair, president, and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of fourteen books. Mark Hyman, MD is a seven-time New York Times bestselling authorIncluding the recently released Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet*founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts and Chairman of The Institute for Functional Medicine. *

Mark Hyman: Arianna, in Thrive you talk about our need to redefine success beyond money and power to include what success means to us and that to live a truly successful life we need to integrate well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving into our lives. You open the book describing your collapse in 2007 from exhaustion leading to a broken cheekbone and a round of visits to doctors and hospitals for tests. You were clearly running on empty, as I know so many people aretell us about that experience and how it led to your larger wake-up call in terms of health and well-being.

Arianna Huffington: I had my personal wake-up call on April 6, 2007, when I found myself on the floor in a pool of blood. I had collapsed from exhaustion, breaking my cheekbone and cutting my eye. I was working eighteen-hour days to build The Huffington Post, while being a mom to my two teenage daughters. What this wake-up call taught me was that even though I was considered successful by our society's conventional measures of success, I was not living a successful life by any sane definition of success. Something had to radically change in my life.

As I've learned firsthand, overwork, stress, and sleep deprivation have profound effects on virtually every part of our lives. Our current model of success is not working for anyone. Its not working for women, and really, it's not working for men either.

Mark Hyman: All so true. Stress really does impact your physical well-being, which is why I loved your discussion of the power of meditation in our lives to relieve stress and bring balance. You make the point that even a brief meditative moment can have a restorative effect. Tell us more about that and your daily practice.

Arianna Huffington: There is more and more scientific evidence about the impact of mindfulness and meditation in our lives. The list of all the conditions that these practices impact for the betterdepression, anxiety, heart disease, memory, aging, creativitysounds like a label on snake oil from the 19th century! Except this cure-all is real, and there are no toxic side effects. Indeed, 2013 was the year when meditation and mindfulness finally and overwhelmingly stopped being seen as something vaguely flaky, vaguely New Age-y, definitely California, and fully entered the mainstream.

I personally start every morning with at least 20 to 30 minutes of meditation. If you're just beginning, you can start by introducing 5 minutes of meditation into your day. Even just a few minutes will open the door to creating a new habitand all the many proven benefits it brings.

Mark Hyman: Throughout the book you caution against the dangers of living in a permanently connected state. I agree that it is a growing problem in society today. I know over Christmas you participated in a digital detox yourself. Is it truly possible to disconnect, even when you are running the biggest online news site in the world?

Arianna Huffington: I'm happy to say that yes, it is possible! I spent the week between Christmas and New Years in Hawaii with my daughters, my sister, and my ex-husbandwith no TV and no social media. Almost immediately, I was floored by the realization of just how much my phones had become almost physical extensions of myselfI would instinctively reach for them like phantom limbs! Unplugging meant rediscovering and savoring the moment for its own sake. Which is to say, taking in a view without tweeting it. Eating a meal without Instagramming it. Hearing my daughters say something hilarious and very shareable without sharing it. The unplugged version of myself was better able to give these things my full attention. And when I came back to the office, I was truly refreshed.

Mark Hyman: All important points. What do you want to see readers take away from this book?

Arianna Huffington: In the book, I pull together three threads: my personal journey and my hard-earned lessons; scientific studies about the importance of slowing down, sleep, meditation, and disconnecting from our devices; and many daily practices, tools, and techniques that can begin to transform our lives.

I very much hope that the book will chart another way forwarda way available to all of us right now, wherever we find ourselves. A way based on the timeless truth that life is shaped from the inside outa truth that has been celebrated by spiritual teachers, poets, and philosophers throughout the ages, and has now been validated by modern science.

So I very much hope that the book will help make room in our definition of success for well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving, and help us move from knowing what we need to do to actually doing it.

Review

InThrive, Arianna urges all of us to get in touch with who we really are so that we can live life on our own terms. From the importance of sleep to the imperative to listen to our own inner voice for ways to deal with the daily time crunches we all feel, this book lays out a path for each of us to look within and make our lives more authentic and fulfilling. -Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO and author of Lean In

"At once intimate and formidable, this book is Arianna Huffington at her persuasive best. Thrive is a clarion call, a meditation, and a practical response to the question of how to live.-Susan Cain, author of New York Times bestseller *Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Cant Stop Talking

"Socrates, Plato, AristotleArianna. Beyond politics, there is her wisdom, applicable to everyone. This book probably added ten years to my life, some of which I'll spend re-reading it."-Bill Maher, host of Real Time with Bill Maher, bestselling author of *The New Rules

"Arianna Huffington has been disrupting media as we know it for her entire career. Now, in remarkably vulnerable and moving prose, she explains that money and power are a small piece of success, the most important piece is the Third Metricwhich incorporates not only well being, but also wisdom, wonder and giving.Reading this book is the best thing you can do for yourself and your loved ones.A monumental work that will change your life, and your health." -David B.Agus, M.D.,Professor of Medicine and Engineering,University of Southern California and author NY Timesbestsellers, The End of Illness and *A Short Guide to a Long Life*

Thrive is an urgently needed compendium of wisdom and practical guide enabling us to create peace of mind and well-being in our ever more chaotic lives. Filled with cutting edge scientific research, captivating stories, and straightforward everyday practices, this book is a call-to-action that informs, invigorates, and inspires all at once. Arianna Huffingtons ingenious gift is to bring herself fully into these pages as she invites us to join her on this rewarding journey to become more connected and compassionate with ourselves and others as we change our cultural conversation about how to best live our lives. -Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., author of Brainstorm and Mindsight, professor, UCLA School of Medicine

"Ariannas honest, raw and compelling call for us to Thrive, in the midst of jumbled, chaotic world by redefining what matters well-being, wisdom, wonder, service and each other is the right book, at the right time to heal us from our disconnection to ourselves and each other." -Mark Hyman, MD, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Blood Sugar Solution

Once in a generation, a book comes along that can truly transform your life. This is it. The most unhappy people are those who have achieved unfathomable money, power, and fame and found that it didnt bring them the happiness they were seeking. Now what?Thrivedoesnt show just how to become more successful; it shows how to realize and experience what matters most. -Dean Ornish, founder of thePreventive Medicine Research Institute, bestselling author ofThe Spectrum

Thrive is a captivating look at what it takes to live a more meaningful, satisfying life. Brimming with passion, supported by science, and crowned with practical insights, Ariannas exceptional book will transform our workplaces, schools, and families. -Adam Grant, Wharton professor and author of Give and Take

"Arianna Huffington has written a passionate and much needed prescription for reshaping life from the inside out. Turn off your cell phone, your email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and every other tool of the stressed-out, distracted world to spend some time thinking about grace, joy and wonder. You'll be glad you did."*Ellen Goodman, Pulitzer prize winning columnist and bestselling author of I Know Just What You Mean

"This is a generous, urgent, vital book, a chance to redefine how we keep score before it's too late. Arianna has given us a gift, and delivered it with style. Read it!" -Seth Godin, bestselling author of The Icarus Deception

You can feel Arianna's passion for her subject on every page of this book. Arianna has reflected on and struggled with how best to define success ever since I met her more than 30 years ago. InThriveshe's created a new paradigm for redefining how to systematically build a life of purpose and balance and accomplishment the whole life we're all ultimately after.*-Tony Schwartz, CEO, The Energy Project, author of The Way We're Working Isn't Working

"Beautiful, bold and brilliant. I must confess I did not just read this book, I entered into long conversations with it. Rarely comes a title that makes you stop whatever you are doing and look at yourself in a new light, look within. Arianna Huffington is a compassionate rebel; she not only changes the world but also understands it. Her latest book Thrive profoundly transforms our understanding of success and wakes us up from the broken dreams we chase." -Elif Shafak, bestselling author of Honor and The Forty Rules of Love

"Warning: The content of this book is highly contagious. Even slight exposure may set you on a path to far clearer seeing, a radical resetting of your priorities, deep contentment, and, of course, thriving. Chances are, it will also melt your heart."-Jon Kabat-Zinn, professor,UMass Medical School, author ofFull Catastrophe Living**

One of the most important books of this century. Weaving a tapestry of home-spun wisdom, science and compelling life stories, this is a profoundly uplifting and practical book that has something for everyone. A must read for anyone wishing to live life more fully. -Richard J. Davidson, founder and chair, Center for Investigating Healthy Minds,University of Wisconsin-Madison

"Not only is Thrive rich in worldly wisdom and brimming with motivation, it gives us the practical tools to help us reconnect to what is deepest and best inside of us. With evidence and inspiration, Arianna gently shows us how to face the craziness of life today with awareness, grace and a sense of humor. I have a feeling I'll be referencing this book for a long time. -Congressman Tim Ryan, Ohio, author of *A Mindful Nation*

From the Hardcover edition.