Have I told you that I am obsessed with the magazine Success? You should check it out. I highly recommend it. (And no, I don’t get paid for you clicking through- I’m that obsessed!)
It now only ships in print version quarterly, which is kind of a bummer, but gives more time to pour over the content and re-read the good ones.
The Spring 2019 issue arrived a few weeks ago. In it, the editor of Success magazine (Josh Ellis) wrote an article called The Definition of Success. I highly suggest everyone that wants to live the best version of themselves to read this article in full here.
Over the next 4 weeks, I am going to touch base on the 4 areas of framework as a motivational Monday post. These 4 pillars – Josh Ellis describes as:
- Happiness
- Health
- Growth, and
- purpose
With New Years resolutions and January 2019 fast approaching, I think anyone that wants to make some changes would very much benefit from achieving their personal goals in these 4 areas.
#1. Happiness.
It’s no wonder that “Happiness” is number one. Without being happy, are we really successful?
In the article, Josh Ellis writes:
“We don’t truly reside in any neighborhood, city, state or country. In actuality, we live in the space between our ears. The entirety of our experience exists there. Make it a nice place to live.”
Wow. Mind blown in so many ways. I have met some of the happiest people living in the poorest conditions and some of the unhappiest people living a life of wealth. I am sure we all know someone in one of these scenarios, or could think of someone from the media or celebrity world.
As much as we – as humans – like to think so, happiness doesn’t come from outside sources. Money, amount of friends on social media, a promotion, new car, … none of it makes a person truly happy. When was the last time you bought the big ticket item for yourself and your happiness lasted months or years because of it? I can’t think of one thing. The excitement over a new car fades in a few weeks, big TVs only seem exciting as your setting them up and watching for the first time, a new purse or fancy jacket gets abused faster than we realize the happiness has wore off.
Our happiness is based solely on our own expectations of ourselves, our lives and our connections with others. It’s how you feel about yourself along the way to whatever it is you want to achieve. Even if that’s more stuff.
When you’re truly happy, those around you will follow as we become more engaged and connected.
One thing I have learned from following this magazine is that we should reflect on our lives more often. Reflect on our progress and our future.
Try this goal exercise
Think about what you want to achieve in the next 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years. You should be able to come up with 50-100 items. If you got more, go for it!
Then place the number 1 (for 1 year), number 3 (for 3 years) number 5 (for 5 years) or number 10 (for 10 years) next to the item in your list on when you want to accomplish it by.
In order to stay on track, it’s important to reflect weekly (or monthly for the super busy) to see the progress you’re making toward these goals. You’ll be amazed at what you can do in a year, let alone a decade, if you put your mind to it.
Sample items: travel to France, Solo Travel, volunteer, take weekly boxing classes, donate $1000 to a charity, build a 6 month emergency fund, etc…