I agree with SUCCESS magazine’s perspective that one-dimensional success really isn’t success at all. Often we focus on career advancement or business deals as SUCCESS. But a well-rounded life focuses on body, mind, spirit, AND your career. It creates a bouquet of successes that blossom as you acknowledge them.

A lot of my writing relates to self-empowerment and learning to love yourself. I believe that you need use the same amount of energy that’s put into making money to nurture your health, your relationships with people close to you, maintain a comfortable living space, and build your spiritual well-being. A good relationship, both in business and your personal life, is SUCCESS. For me, striving for it all is the greatest self-love, which leads to most satisfying happiness. On Monday I listed some of my SUCCESSES in my post, introducing my Embracing SUCCESS series. Thinking about it after, I realized that:

My biggest SUCCESS is my strong spiritual faith!

After being an atheist for many years, I was able to look past my former beliefs to embrace an incredibly strong conviction that I get support in ALL I do. It gives me the courage to take risks and have the stress relief of knowing that everything always works out for my highest good. The fuel for my life—from being the first white female rapper to one of the first chicks to start a record label to burning my teaching license in pursuit of a passion driven life to being a best selling author and speaker—has been faith. Without it, I’d never have tried all the things I’ve done. And I’d still be unhappy, even with lots of money. Some of my endeavors work better than others but it all works out in the end—because I expect it to!

To me, making lots of money is NOT success! It’s what you do with the money that brings SUCCESS full circle.

Working your butt off in pursuit of even more money, at the expense of your personal life, keeps you unbalanced, and unhappy. Chasing material possessions often leaves you wanting more and more. I know loads of wealthy people who are never satisfied and rarely seem happy. If that’s success, I can do without it! I have less money but wake up smiling every day and earn a living following my passions.

I consider myself more SUCCESSFUL than people who make a lot more money than me. I CHOOSE to take on work or pass on projects I’m not passionate about so my income is MY choice too. My primary goal is being happy. Extra money buys me massages and other treatment for improving my health. Going to a fabulous acupuncturist every week makes me rich. So does being able to give back to others for all of my blessings.

Helping others, both through my writing and reaching out where I see a need, is abundance beyond compare. Plus, the Law of Attractions brings it back to me! ?

SUCCESS magazine says there’s no better time to design the person you want to become and the life you want to live in 2008. Publisher and Editorial Director of SUCCESS magazine, Darren Hardy, offers the following advice on how to make 2008 your best year ever! These tips represent the spirit of the magazine. They’re things I live by that keep me in a constant state of happiness. Absorb the principles and stay tuned to my blog for more suggestions in upcoming posts. I want you to learn how to embrace SUCCESS by appreciating all that you have and understanding what it truly means.

SUCCESS MAGAZINE NAMES
TOP TEN DRIVERS FOR SUCCESS IN 2008

1. Decide to be Successful – Success is not a dream, hope or fantasy; it is a decision. Make the decision to change, improve and act on your ambitions.

2. Design your Best Year Yet – As an architect would design a skyscraper, write out the goals, plans and actions it will take to achieve the life you want to live.

3. Identify Your Passion – What are your unique interests, talents and gifts? Passion attracts success. Find what you love to do – you will never “work” again.

4. Program Yourself for Success – You will see, perceive, expect and create what you think about. To program your mind for success – read watch and listen to materials that will support your success.

5. Surround Yourself with Success – You are the combined average of the five people you hang around the most. Surround yourself with healthy, success-minded achievers.

6. Model Success – The best way to learn to be successful at anything is to find someone who is where you want to be and model their success habits.

7. Master the Fundamentals – Don’t complicate it. About a half a dozen things make up 90%+ of what it takes to be successful at anything. Keep it simple.

8. Get Fit – The mind cannot achieve what the body cannot perform. Your family, friends and career and future depend on your good health. Make it priority No. 1.

9. Remember What’s Important – At the end of the journey what will have mattered most will be your relationships – the people you love and those that love you. Make sure they are on your goal list for 2008.

10. Make a Difference – What do you want your life’s legacy to be? You have the power to make a positive difference – to a single person, a neighborhood, a community, a nation, the world. Realize that power in 2008.

SUCCESS magazine has chosen 25 books that take a comprehensive approach to money, life and personal development. The top five reads are listed below while the rest of the list, as well as full reviews of each book, can be found on the SUCCESS website.

THE Must-Read Books for Achievers

1. Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill (Aventine Press, 2004): This is the book most often cited as the source for life change.

2. How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie (Pocket Books, 1998): Carnegie’s methods are the foundation for many of today’s personal-development and business-management books.

3. The Richest Man in Babylon, George S. Clason (BNP Books, 2007): The book jacket says it all—The most inspiring book on wealth ever written. Don’t miss it!

4. The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom, Suze Orman (Crown, 1997): This book focuses on the total approach to financial success. Your beliefs about money, yourself and the world around you have as much to do with wealth as do the riches you acquire.

5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey (Free Press, 1989): This book takes a total approach to success and encourages growth and maturity beginning with self, which leads to stronger relationships and greater success at home and at work.

Thanks to Darren Hardy and SUCCESS magazine for motivating me to do this series and for sharing some of their helpful suggestions for creating and embracing SUCCESS.

If you enjoyed my post, please leave a comment and/or click on the bookmark and write a short review at some of the sites, especially Stumbleupon and Digg. Thanks!

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