Measuring Success

Adults were children who were subject to messages about money along with being taught certain beliefs about money. As one ages, they become subject to more messages from a host of influences insisting on a singular way to measure personal success or viewing self-worth from a measure of financial net worth. Most travel through life unaware of what those messages were or how they have played out in their own lives. Understandings regarding money and financial wealth can lead to fear, comparison, anxiety, and even guilt for having plenty. Far too many adults have brought these messages into their marriages and held on to them unaware. Those messages, unchecked, can  control us, by being the factor that all  decisions and choices have to filter through. Funny thing, money can control you whether you have plenty or little. That is not living in freedom. Self-worth does not equal net worth.  Financial success, or even business success is not an accurate measure of personal success. They are different. Personal success has more to do with character and values than about achievements or boasting. Many a person can achieve milestones as a result of their occupational career track or other skill-related pursuits, accumulating much in the form of earnings and worldly stuff along the way; yet be a discontent and unhappy, having forfeited their relationships with their parents, children or marriage along the way.   While true worth and identity comes from a higher source, where we allocate our time or channel our efforts towards, what we are nurturing or tearing down, reflects what we value (or not). Our core values embrace what gives personal meaning to our lives. Examples could be:  the people we care for, our health, the experiences we have, all that we look to for safety, security, and peaceful rest. The feeling of success is personal to each of us. Personal success is about contentment and satisfaction with day to day experiences. It is about steadily moving forward towards becoming the person you desire to be, leaving a positive legacy behind. Financial success is is important to people as well and determined individually.   Having a lifestyle you desire requires the means to do so; for most, the means is directly tied to job earnings. One’s investment account or retirement portfolio can move savers towards financial stability, a desired experience, a determined goal five, ten or twenty-five years out and even future retirement security. A goal without a plan is just a wish. A plan is driven by a vision, and visions come from day dreaming. For many, their investment or retirement accounts are nothing more than statements with a changing balance they look at every so often, having no real emotional attachment to. It is only when one is able to attach passionate  dreams and visions to those labored savings, that those very accounts take on important meaning. Life is about choices. Making good choices, and knowing how to balance those choices, leads to good outcomes.   

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