We often wonder what the purpose of life is. Heck, I’ve been there several times over the years. This feeling can be attributed to several factors, but that’s for another post. Today, I want to discuss the fundamental building blocks to a life filled with success.
These are called the four pillars of success, and are as follows:
1. Health
2. Wealth
3. Love
4. happiness
Now I place these in no particular order, as each one’s order should differ. Some will find that love and happiness prioritise wealth and health, some are health-conscious, and others are purely money-driven.
There is no right or wrong answer.
You simply need to have all four values present in your life to achieve the ultimate feeling of success.
Let’s look at each of these pillars in more detail.
1. Health
I remember reading an article in which someone asked The Dalai Lama what surprises him most, to which he responded:
Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money, then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present, the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die and then dies having never really lived.
And this is true for all the pillars of success. If you don’t have money, you chase money. If you don’t have love, you are constantly chasing love.
The same can be said for happiness, and as The Dalai Lama says, “man sacrifices money to recuperate his health.”
You need a healthy balance across all four pillars to be truly successful. Take celebrities, for example. Many celebs struggle with their lifestyle; their weight jumps up and down, they party hard, then work hard, then hit the gym hard.
They struggle to have balance through all the pillars and spend much of their life being really unhappy. Now I’m not saying all celebs are unhappy, some have brilliant balance, but generally, it takes time for them to find it.
With technology nowadays, you have the entire fitness industry sitting in the palm of your hands. If you need a personal trainer, you can do it online. Need a dietitian; you can do it online.
I use a brilliant App called “Seven”, and as the name suggests, it’s seven minutes of high-intensity training that can be done pretty much anywhere.
It’s not as brutal as insanity, although it can be if desired.
Finding seven minutes once or twice a day is easily achievable and helps you stay on the right track to a healthy life. You will be astounded by how much better you feel for taking that time out to train and equally as astounded by the extra energy it creates.
2. Wealth
Money can be a very uncomfortable subject for many people, but this is the first challenge you need to overcome. While ever you fear money, you’re letting it master you. You can never let this happen.
YOU NEED TO BE THE MASTER. Don’t feel bad for wanting to make money; revel in it! Picture yourself with plenty, and get used to that feeling money brings. As the brilliant book/film “The Secret” suggests, you need to really FEEL the FEELING.
I ran a seminar recently which was based around Financial Freedom, and what I discussed was you don’t have to just survive, we can all thrive. You just need to change the way you think about money.
In the seminar, we looked at Multiple Streams of income; this can be through MLM (multi-level marketing), it can be through investments, property, other business opportunities and joint ventures.
But be sure you have multiple streams of income lined up.
I will say, make sure it’s doing something you love. I see so many good people, fail at MLM/Network marketing because they were sold on the idea of multiple residual incomes. Still, they never really had any passion for the product.
The result is they throw away a large proportion of their time and energy on something that will never work because they lack the passion for making it work.
Personally, I love property, so I choose to invest a small proportion of my time in building a property portfolio. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Robert Kiyosaki (if you haven’t heard of him, check out his books here).
But it does produce a modest monthly income.
I adore design and web/code, so I have a small web design business and an online poster business. Everything I do, I do because I love it. The money is a bonus, and to get paid for doing what you love is the best feeling in the world.
3. Love
We all strive to be loved; some people spend their entire lives chasing love, trying desperately to find their soul mate. Again through technology, this has become so much more accessible, with dating sites and social media (I actually met my Fiancee on Twitter).
You need to have love in your life, love from your friends, love from your partner & love from your pets. Love is an amazingly powerful way to lead a successful life. You see people from all walks of life that have no money, but they have amazing love, you see people with a terminal illness, and they have amazing love. Think back to that time when you fell in love, and the world stood still. Nothing else mattered.
Love gives you the feeling of completeness!
You need to constantly work on love, work and life can get in the way, so be extra careful to ensure you spend time working on love, spending time with the ones you love, and telling the people you love, THAT YOU LOVE THEM!
Many great and successful people have achieved their success, be that in fortune or status, through the desire for love.
Surround yourself with as much love as possible, and your life will shine.
4. Happiness
You need to feel happiness in your life every day, do NOT let a day pass where you have not thoroughly enjoyed yourself. Many people tell themselves they will be really happy when they achieve that Job promotion, earn that income level, attract that person into their lives or drive the car they dreamed about.
You wish away your life, don’t wait for happiness. It will very rarely appear. You must make yourself happy and do the things you love, with the people you love, as much as possible.
If you want that holiday to Barbados, book it! You will find a way to pay.
Most people sit around thinking about what they haven’t got, getting depressed. Let me tell you, the only time you feel depressed, bored, or fed up is when you have nothing to do, your mind wanders, and you find all the things missing in your life rather than enjoying the things you currently have.
Ensure that each day you do soothing that makes you happy.
If you want ultimate success in your life, dedicate your time to be evenly split across all four of these pillars, and you will find that you feel much more healthy, earn more money, attract more love and live each day filled with happiness.
To your success!
This post was last updated on 28 March 2023