Most people want to be successful. I sure do! That’s why I’m delight to have Patrick Daniel as my guest today. He became independently wealthy by the young age of 30 and today is a successful chartered accountant and owner of his own accounting company, a featured radio guest, life coach, speaker, an avid volunteer for numerous organizations and charities that benefit children and poor families and the author of Finding Your Road to Success: How to get there without getting lost. Below are some of his tips for creating your own success

5 Quick & Simple Lessons on Success
By Patrick Daniel, CA

In a society highly motivated by money, success is becoming a word that is very commonly misunderstood by many people. It is for that reason that I offer to you these 5 simple lessons as a guide in hopes of bringing you back to the true meaning of success. As we live our lives each day, thriving for success, we must never forget that there is much more to success than money and fame.

Lesson 1 – Success is like DNA, unique for each person.
Everyone has different desires in life, so no one can define success for you—you have to do it yourself. What is important to realize is that if you don’t sit down to think about what success means to you, and if you don’t define your own success, then it will be defined by your family, friends, society, or other influential forces in your life. When this happens, you may not be truly motivated to achieve success because it’s not really your own and has no true meaning to you. Don’t get trapped in someone else’s definition of success—once you’re trapped, you’ll most likely feel like a failure. So take the necessary time needed to understand exactly what success means to you.

“If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.” – Anna Quindlen

Lesson 2 – Success is a personal feeling.
When thinking or talking about your success, be careful with the words you choose. If you said “I am successful,” others could disagree. They might not understand that success means more to you than earning money and having prestige. They could compare you to someone like Bill Gates, and argue that you’re not particularly successful. But if you say “I feel successful,” that changes everything. Nobody else can tell you how you feel, challenge your statement, or prove you wrong. Many will try to rob you of this great feeling because they’re envious, but as long as you don’t let them get to you, your feelings are untouchable. This is why it’s important that you and only you define your success. You’re the only person with control of your feelings, and you’re the one who knows what it takes to feel successful.

“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.” Dr. Joyce Brothers

LESSON 3 – Having money is not the key to success.
Happiness is the biggest key to feeling successful. It’s not money as most people believe and, regardless of what people tell you, money can’t buy you true happiness. Money has many limitations. For example, money can buy you a visit to the doctor but it can’t buy you good health. It can buy you a nice big bed but it can’t buy you sleep. Money can buy you momentary satisfaction and a short-term thrill, but the happiness you derive from money is short lived and easily lost.

The biggest happiness comes from the quality of our relationships with others. Many people who have realized this have made career changes by moving from stressful, high-paying jobs to lower-key, home-based jobs. By doing this, they created some extra time that they can spend doing things that make them happy. So make sure to focus your time and energy on things that make you happy rather than things that pay you more and you will feel successful overnight.

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”– Herman Cain

LESSON 4 – Success is a journey that requires a map with destinations.
The road to success is a journey, and you need a map for that journey that shows clear final destinations. Without destinations, how do you know where you need to go? You don’t. You’ll just be going around in circles not really knowing what direction your life needs to take. But drawing up your life’s map and pinpointing all your destinations doesn’t mean that everything in life will come easily. You’ll encounter obstacles—potholes, closed roads, construction, accidents, detours, and one-way streets. As you encounter each obstacle, keep in mind that there’s always an alternative route that you can take to put you back on the road that leads to your success. If you have not taken the time to draw up your map for your lifetime journey, it is never too late to do it now.

“A good plan is like a roadmap: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.” – H. Stanley Judd

LESSON 5 – Success involves fun.
There’s more to life than achieving Success. Life is a journey that is meant to be enjoyed. If you aren’t having fun along the way you probably won’t reach your final destination because, somewhere along the road, you’ll get bored and turn back. To avoid this happening, you have to make your game of life, your quest for Success, fun. Think of yourself on an around-the-world trip. Won’t it be a shame if you don’t stop at all the interesting sites to see what the world has to offer? The same holds true for your journey to success. Every day of your life is like a small section of your travel route. You should make many enjoyable stops along the way, even though these stops may not appear to bring you closer to your Success. In fact, they will help you reach your Success, because they will bring you much happiness. With happiness comes better health, which generally leads to longer life expectancy. Living longer gives you more time to fulfill all your successes, and the more success you achieve the happier you will be with the outcome of your life.

“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” – Dale Carnegie
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Check out Patrick Daniel‘s book, Finding Your Road to Success: How to get there without getting lost.

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Take the 31 Days of Self-Love Challenge and get my book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways for free at http://howdoiloveme.com. And you can post your loving acts HERE to reinforce your intention to love yourself. Read my 31 Days of Self-Love Posts HERE.

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