In today’s real world of instant gratification and instant access to information, do you seem to have lost your way?  Did we lose our way or have we never identified the path we wish to live our lives on?

Each week I teach a class to victims of domestic violence and we go over the lessons and chapters in the workbook.  They follow along the path on the dollar sign on the books’ cover, ‘Success or Failure – The Choice is Yours’.

When you first look at the graphic on the front cover you see what I like to call ‘the journey of significance’ with a line or barrier between defining success and living a balanced life.  That is because most people only think about how having money would allow them to live.  If I only hit the lottery I would…  But that is as far as it goes – no plan on how they would use money, let alone earn the money to have the life they want, not the life they have.

In our class, we think about exactly how we would live and everything that we truly desire to have in our lives.  What home would we live in, what car would we drive, what clothes would we wear, what school would we send our kids to, who would out life mate be.  Then we think about how much money we will need to earn in order to sustain this lifestyle.

Once we figure out the amount of money, we can start to develop a plan to acquire it.  How much more education do we need; what kind of job do I need, or do I have to start my own business.  Once we get to this mental place of actually writing down some things we have defined that we want in our lives, then we have passed our first barrier to achieving a balanced life, where we are a productive person instead of an entitled person.  At this point, we are ready to move from our ‘comfort zone’ to seize the opportunities that are available as we travel the Journey of Significance.  Lastly, we expand our comfort zone to achieve all that we can conceive.

The question to ask yourself is are you really comfortable and fulfilled inside your comfort zone?  You may think you are comfortable, but may merely being putting up with everything in your life to avoid stepping outside of your comfort zone – addressing your challenges head on.  This is where writing down your plans and aspirations can get you started on the path to your definition of balance and success.  You can’t find it if you don’t first define it!  Nothing is achieved without some effort and challenges.  Just tell yourself you can do it!

Here are 11 two letter words to help.  The first one is NO!  No to all that you control that holds you back and the next ten are:  If it is to be, it’s up to me!

All the best to you – Tom Loegering