I remember a while ago I saw a news broadcast about defining what your success looks like. I really don’t remember at this point which one. But there was a lady being interviewed because she was living her definition of the good life. She’d wake up in the morning, get dressed in her business attire, and go to her local coffee shop to work. While she worked for corporate America she would see the man and women in business suits and dresses, and she would think to herself “Now that is what success looks like”. The broadcast told her story about how she positioned herself toward her definition of success. As long as she was able to do that, you could not tell her that she was not living the good life. Since then I was obsessed with creating my own version of “the good life.” We tend to look at the people around us and just our own success based on their accomplishment. If we continue to do that then we will constantly fail. You can’t judge your beginning by someone else’s ending. The truth of the matter is you don’t know what it took for them to get where they are. So just Stay focused on your goals!
For me, as long as I can spend time with my family, Enjoy my hobbies, travel, see and experience great things, and be able to provide for my loved ones, then I have succeeded in creating “the good life” for myself.
Jim Rohn, in an article on success magazine, said that there are 5 essential things needed to achieve the good life.
1. Productivity. You won’t be happy if you don’t produce. The game of life is not rest. Yes, we must rest, but only long enough to gather strength to get back to productivity. What’s the reason for the seasons and the seeds, the soil and the sunshine, the rain and the miracle of life? It’s to see what you can do with it—to try your hand to see what you can do.
2. Good friends. Friendship is probably the greatest support system in the world, so don’t deny yourself the time to develop it. Nothing can match it. It’s extraordinary in its benefit. Friends are those wonderful people who know all about you and still like you. I lost one of my dearest friends when he was 53—heart attack. As one of my very special friends, I used to say that if I was stuck in a foreign jail somewhere accused unduly, and, if they would allow me one phone call, I would call David. Why? He would come and get me. That’s a real friend—somebody who would come and get you. And we’ve all got casual friends, friends who, if you called them, they would say, “Hey, if you get back, call me and we’ll have a party.” You’ve got to have both real friends and casual friends.
3. Your culture. Language, music, ceremonies, traditions, dress. All of that is so vitally important that you must keep it alive. The uniqueness of all of us, when blended together, brings vitality, energy, power, influence, uniqueness of all of us, when blended together, brings vitality, energy, power, influence, uniqueness and rightness to the world.
4. Spirituality. It helps to form the foundation of the family that builds the nation. And make sure you study, practice and teach—don’t be careless about the spiritual part of your nature because it’s what makes us who we are, different from dogs, cats, birds, and mice.
5. Don’t miss anything. My parents taught me not to miss anything, not the game, the performance, the movie, the dance. Just before my father died at 93 if you were to call him at 10:30 or 11 at night, he wouldn’t be home. He was at the rodeo, he was watching the kids play softball, he was listening to the concert, he was at church—he was somewhere every night.
What I ‘ve learned over the years is, Everyone has a different definition of what a success or joyful life entails. Once you define it for yourself, You have more of a chance of finding your own happiness.
Resources
– See more at http://success.com/article/rohn-a-good-life-contains-these-6-essentials#sthash.4b8Itx1R.dpuf
Corey Stokes 