Success Quote

"Many of life's failures are people who do not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
-- Thomas Edison, Inventor

Sometimes we feel success is just around the corner and other times we feel it's far out of reach. Have you stopped to define your success? Make sure you have a clear picture and know exactly what "it" is for you. Once you've done this you can take a step back and measure how close or far you truly are. When you come to the conclusion you're close, it's time to push harder! Should you see the finish line is to far away, stop what you're doing and change your plan. It's certainly harder to stop or say you gave up than it is to keep going. It's not a failure if you recognize that you gave it everything you had and consciously decided to put your efforts elsewhere.

Either way keep your energy and enthusiasm going until you reach your success goals... old ones or new ones!

Career Questions

Answer the following questions and be honest with yourself or this won’t work. Promise to keep asking yourself these questions throughout your career. They’ll help keep focused and develop your skill of livelihood:

· Am I working to the best of my ability everyday I’m at work?
· Do the tasks I do every day add meaning to my career?
· When I leave the house in the morning, how do I feel about going to work?
· Do I enjoy the people I work with and my boss?
· Do the people I work with and my boss add value to my career?

How did you answer the 5 questions? More importantly, how did you feel about your answers? If you were unsure about any of your responses, then you aren’t getting the personal fulfillment from your career you need for the happiest life possible. Adjust your job description until you can answer each question with confidence and clarity to say “I love my job.” Practice this skill of happiness and your career will move in the direction you want it to. You’ll find more success and greater enjoyment.

Skill of Career

When you think about your career, ask yourself three questions. Do you go to work everyday just to make money and pay your bills? Do you look forward to going to work? Why did you choose this profession? Your answers should be: no, yes, and passion. Not enough people are able to answer all three that way, so you’re certainly not alone. Your work needs to give you more than dollars to get satisfaction from it.

Choose the quality you want from a career, such as, charity, opportunity, challenge, or physical activity. Which attribute you choose depends on your personality and strengths. When you get more feeling of success from your job, you’ll look forward to doing it everyday. I’m sure you agree that in order to have a happy life, you should enjoy what you spend a third of every day doing. When you show up for work enthusiastic and ready to go you’ll find more opportunities for advancement and money presenting themselves. Start by choosing a career you’re passionate about and the money (and enjoyment) will be there.

Any career will have some aspects that you don’t enjoy. Donald Trump is passionate about his career, but I guarantee there are some areas he doesn’t enjoy as much as others (granted he can pay someone else to do them). Practice finding passion in your current career or starting a job you’re truly passionate about. You’ll have a happy life when your job adds pleasure to each day.

Do you love your career?

Change Your Scenery

Sometimes we all just need a break! Every one of us can get wrapped up in our busy lives, this is why need to take a step back from the daily routine. Make a conscious effort to have regular (and spontaneous) date nights with you other half. Same goes for your children too! Although they may not "really know what work is" yet, it's not east being a kid sometimes. If your kids are doing well is school, take a random day for fun. Plan a last minute getaway where it's all about your kids.

Take the time to enjoy life and everything it offers. This will not only refresh you, but also remind you why you work so hard at everything else.

Recession In The News Again?

Gas prices, job losses, home foreclosures, credit woes and even the price of beer are in the news every 30 seconds. News outlets from CNN to your local PBS station are all shoving it in your face. You can’t get through the checkout line at the supermarket without someone talking about the economy.

Like 99% of the rest of the population of the US, I have been affected by the slowdown in the economy. I have had to adjust my lifestyle to accommodate less disposable income; however, my family is and always will be happy. We may not have the money to go out to dinner or even to fix our broken dishwasher, but we have more quality time to be together.

Food and shelter are basic needs of survival, so I understand when people get stressed should these needs be in jeopardy. We all need to keep in mind this is just temporary. Our lives will go on and we will be prosperous. When you’re in the middle of a rough moment it’s difficult to see the smoother time ahead, especially when you don’t know when the calmer waters will arrive. When the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929, I guarantee no one knew exactly what they were in for. It took about 10 years to get out of that depression, but eventually it was history. Just as the recession we are feeling now will be history one day.

How will you treat your life until that day? Will you look back on your actions and feelings and tell yourself that you did the best that you could? Hold yourself to the highest standard. Keep positive and try to help the people around you. I guarantee that when you practice your skill of happiness during this though time, you’ll come out even farther ahead than you were before. There’s no better time than now to stay positive!