How do you define success? That is one of those open-ended questions that many people are asked in an interview. To be honest, we should be thinking about it outside of the normal boundaries of interview prep. Again, I ask, how do YOU define success? I am starting to believe that knowing the answer to that will help make decisions about money, career, and lifestyle clearer. Warren Buffet measures success by whether the people close to you are happy and love you. Deepak Chopra says, “Success in life could be defined as the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of worthy goals”. For President Obama, “success isn’t about how much money you make. It’s about the difference you make in people’s lives”. I believe success is being happy with the life you create, which ultimately is a culmination of daily choices.  The thing is, identifying what success means to you should help guide the path to reaching success, accomplishing your goals, and living the life you always wanted.

To dominate your goals, you must first write them down and second choose a date to strive for. One of my very first money goals was to be debt free. I later realized that being debt free is not a goal, but being debt free by age 35 is. Do you see the difference? It goes back to the whole “day one or one-day” paradigm. To be successful at this aspiration, I have to make sure that my daily actions reflect my purpose. I will be honest, it is hard and sometimes I get off track, especially when the goal date seems so far away. My trick to conquering the hard times is to break my larger goal into micro goals. I take that larger target and break it into small manageable bites that are easier to digest. You can do this with money goals, career goals, relationship goals, and lifestyle goals.

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We have all heard that it take 21 days to make or break a habit. Recent studies have found that it actually takes about 66 days to cultivate a new habit. The key to staying motivated is understanding how long it takes to become prosperous in a new habit. It is important to be intentional with your everyday thoughts and actions. That is because success is found in your daily routine.