Photo credit: Nick Youngson  (CC BY-SA 3.0)

What is success? Think about your life exactly as it is, and do an honest evaluation.

• Are you happy with the way your life is going right now?
  
  
• Do you like the way you live?
  
  
• Do you get up feeling excited about the day and grateful to be in your experience?
  
  
• Are you happy with the way you look and the way you feel physically?
  
  
• Are you confident? Do you like who you are?
  
  
• Are you financially and professionally satisfied?

What about your daily experiences -- do you like the places you go, the way you spend your time, and the people with whom you spend time? How do you feel about yourself and your life before you go to sleep at night? And finally, have you ever sincerely asked yourself these questions, or is it a brand new experience to be examining your life to this degree?

Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it is too late. Today, this hour, this minute is the day, the hour, the minute for each of us to sense the fact that life is good, with all of its trials and troubles, and perhaps more interesting because of them. -- Robert Updegraft

Think about people in your life or people you have met whom you really admire, possibly even envy. What about them impresses you? Is it their lifestyle or their spiritual convictions? Is it their ability to make and keep good friends? Are you envious of their career, the things they have, or the money they spend? Possibly someone you know and admire seems content and happy most of the time, and you wonder why you can't feel this way.

You may know someone who seems to have a good marriage and to truly love and enjoy his or her spouse, a form of personal success you may not have been able to achieve. Maybe you know someone who really enjoys his or her family, but you find yours to be a source of disappointment and irritation. Do you watch in amazement as a friend enjoys her job, while you toil away feeling professionally frustrated and unhappy?

Do you know someone who keeps himself healthy, eating well, exercising, and taking care of his body, while you struggle to wake up with your morning coffee and desperately anticipate that evening drink to relax? Does someone you know seem easy going, able to handle crisis and stress, while you secretly struggle with the guilt of your consistent irritability and your feelings of being overwhelmed?

Success Is A Relative Concept

As you can see, there are various types of successful living, and they are different for everyone. Success is a relative concept. For many of us, being successful means living a healthy, long life, contented with friends and family. For others, it means doing what we love and looking forward to the daily experience of doing it. Still others define success as achieving lifelong dreams and ambitions, working toward something they are passionate about.

The acquisition of material possessions would be success for some people. And I am certain success for many would be defined as having lots of money and total financial security. Even that is relative, depending on the lifestyle you desire.

Success Is Not About Limousines and Expensive Jewelry

I read a magazine article a few years ago about Stephen King, the fabulously creative writer of so many horror novels and movies with which we're all familiar. He is a very wealthy man, yet he chooses to live in a simple Victorian house in his hometown. His kids go to the local school, and attend the local church. His office is a small little room in the back of an old factory. He used his money to build a new baseball field for the community schools. Obviously his success isn't about being wealthy, about riding in limousines and flashing expensive jewelry.

In fact, the article made clear that all King wanted to do was write and live a “simple” life. Finding success was a long, hard journey for Stephen King. He worked in a Laundromat for years and wrote in his spare time. He was tempted at times to throw his work away, frustrated that it wasn't getting recognition from publishers. After years of determination and stick-to-itiveness, he achieved his dream of becoming a best-selling author.

Wealth was never his motivation. Being able to write and to make a living at it, and having his work acknowledged, was success for King.

Reprinted with permission of Cliff Street Books,
an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. ©2001.

Article Source

Life Without Limits: Clarify What You Want, Redefine Your Dreams, Become the Person You Want to Be
by Lucinda Bassett.

Life Without Limits is the complete guide to attaining abundance in every area of your life. It will help you to achieve satisfaction and fulfillment personally, professionally, and financially. Begin to live the life you were meant to live: a life without limits. "Begin now to change the person you are into the person you know you have the potential to become." -- Lucinda Bassett

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About the Author

At one time Lucinda Bassett was living a fearful, worrisome life filled with panic, anxiety and depression. Lucinda, author, lecturer, and President of the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety, now fully recovered, has helped tens of thousands of people help themselves. She is a member of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, the Mental Health Association, and the National Speaker's Association. She is the author of Life Without Limits, as well as From Panic To Power. Visit her website at www.stresscenter.com

Watch a video with Lucinda Bassett: 5 Quick Tips to Alleviate Stress