True success has nothing to do with money

August 25, 2007 · Posted in Uncatagorized · Comment

To most people, success is understood in financial terms.

What does it take to become financially independent or wealthy?
Is it worth the effort or time necessary?
What level of net worth is considered successful?
How long will it take?

I am guilty of writing quite a bit about the financial aspects of success but in reality, success encompasses our whole lives.

Business/Financial
Spiritual
Emotional/Mental
Friends/Family
Physical

Today, my family and I spent a few hours at a museum of natural history. We looked at the exhibits, discussed the size of dinosaurs, attempted to answer quite a few difficult questions and saw a wonderful IMAX movie about our endangered coral reefs.

Two little girls had a great time expanding their minds while mommy and daddy had a great time watching them grow and develop intellectually. I could literally see their eyes sparkle when they realized what the message was trying to convey or when they understood a new concept.

I didn’t even have a business-related thought until my wife and I had them both tucked in. Then it struck me as I came downstairs - what a successful day. I should write an article about it.

Definition of success for today

Today, my definition of success is:

setting aside special and uninterrupted time with my family
watching the growth and development of two young minds
listening to the excitement of each new discovery that my girls made
enjoying the company of my best friend who is also my wife
making time to share quality time with my family

Real and true success transcends all things financial. The financial aspect simply provides the means to enjoy true success in a variety of ways. The important thing is that you have someone to enjoy the wealth with.

Get the soupornuts feed! Get soupornuts by email!

Tags: no tags

Gone in a split second

July 21, 2007 · Posted in Uncatagorized · Comment

(This article/post was originally posted on www.soupornuts.wordpress.com. All of my older postings/articles will follow in the next few days. I will be posting new articles along the way.)

Recently, I was traveling on the interstate to meet my wife. It had been raining pretty hard for about an hour, but had slacked-up in the last few minutes. I was deeply engrossed in a cd entitled ”Cracking the Millionaire Code“ and was traveling with the car on cruise control.

Without warning, I felt the car give a quick jerk that I immediately recognized as hydro planing. Quickly tapping the brake pedal to disengage the cruise control, I began to feel the car go into a more prolonged slide.

All this, and what followed, occurred in a split second. Without slamming the brakes, I began to slow due to relieving the cruise control. At the same time, a Ford Explorer appeared on my left rear quarter in the passing lane of traffic.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the Explorer experience the same little shudder that I had gone through microseconds earlier. Then, the Explorer began to pass me and drift toward me at the same time. As I was already slowing, I began to pull into the emergency lane without braking too much, while at the same time the Ford began to twist and go into a slide right in front of me.

My mind immediately went into hyper-drive. I could see every possible outcome, but the one that scared me was if the Explorer continued off the road and began flipping and then flipped onto me as there was no way that I could stop in time.

They say your life passes before your eyes in those moments before imminent death, but I must not have been destined to die because all I could see was the lives of my wife and my two daughters.

Thanks to God, the Explorer did not flip back onto the road, but it did flip several times. The occupants of the Explorer survived and everything turned out okay.

The moral:

take nothing for granted – everything you do has consequences
be attentive – your life can and does change “in a split second”
don’t drive in the rain with your cruise control on – you give up control in exchange for convenience