5 Steps to a Successful Life

Success, what is it for you? Is it riches, wealth, health, or something else? Until you decide what it is, how will you ever consider yourself successful? Are you going to let society determine whether you feel successful today? Will it be the amount of money you made or have? When are you finally going to grade yourself as successful, at the end of your life?

Those are important questions in life. If we don’t ask them, we often exist in a state of chronic dissatisfaction. You want to exist in a state of contentment and peace of mind- this enhances the quality of life you experience. Many clients Nicole I work with have said to us “I’m not a success” so we ask questions such as those above. For many people, success has become narrowly defined to competing and making more money than someone else. Yet, if that is your determining factor success often will remain elusive.

Here are 5 steps you can take to create a successful life:

1. Start focusing on everything great that you have done. Success is not something you get it is something that you experience- and that experience is in your control. Put at least as much focus on your positive achievements as have been putting on what you have considered shortcomings.

2. Re-frame the word failure and remove it from your vocabulary. Every experience you have is now simply a learning opportunity-nothing more or less. But, seize upon these learning opportunities and learn what’s working and what is not working for you. Incorporate these lessons into your life. Do not ignore them or take them for granted. These are tremendously important.

3. Determine what success is going to be for you in the most expansive sense. What is it going to mean in your relationships? What is it going to mean in your health? What is it going to mean in your outlook and vitality?

4. Dream and do! If you’re not excited about something in your life you are cheating yourself out of a wonderful experience and simultaneously decreasing your energy. What dreams did you have as a child? What dreams you have now?

5. ENJOY the journey! Once you have started the shift in your focus to following your dreams and paying attention to these new definition of success you will experience both movement forward and setbacks. There’s no way around this-this is part of the process. But this is now your journey! When you follow your path both the movement forward and the setbacks are both part of the experience and there’s no chance for one to exist without the other. So learn to enjoy the process!

You see for us success is not an narrowly defined to $ and digits. Success for us is a complex interweaving of health, love, work, learning, creativity, kindness, action, reflection, and many more interrelated life-actions. Our concept of success is ever evolving- but we own the journey we are on and that increases the quality of our life far beyond what we conceived of years ago.