What does being successful mean to you? It really depends who you are, where you come from, what your life experiences have been so far, what you want to achieve, and where you want to go in life. For me, success means taking my responsibilities seriously, and working hard at each one until I reach my set goals. It means being happy with what I have achieved and where I am going. It means knowing myself inside and out, being a good friend and lover, staying fit and healthy, having fun, and enjoying life with a peaceful mind-set and no regrets. The definition of success will be different for everyone, but the ways to become personally effective and professionally successful have some common elements that should be taken into consideration.

The first thing to do is to know yourself. Knowing who you are means that you can evaluate your own thoughts and actions, as well as those of others, and make adjustments to yourself when necessary. Sometimes you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed in the morning and the rest of your day is filled with negative thoughts about everything and everyone you come into contact with. If you know yourself, you will know if this is a sign that you are unhappy with your current job, or marriage, or that your kids did something that you wish you handled better, or your boss ticks you off - or if you just didn't get enough Z's for the night and you need more sleep. If you know you didn't get enough sleep, then you can adjust your moods and negative thoughts, or if it's more than lack of rest, maybe you need to change something about your life that isn't making you happy. Taking responsibility for your own negativity means knowing you have a choice about and control over how you react to the people, events, and world around you.

Next, you want to make sure your life is purpose-driven. Have you figured out the meaning of your life yet? I know that many people, myself included, have struggled with what their real purpose in life is. For some, it will take a lifetime to discover, and others will never really figure it out, but the more you think about what really matters to you the most, the clearer your life purpose will become. Once you know what is truly important to you, you can start working towards that destination, being and doing on a daily basis what you envision for yourself and for your future. The problem is that many people are following the wrong paths. They work hard to achieve what their friends, family, or society considers successful - the dream job, the dream car, professional status, and what have you - when really what they want is love, or a family, or a different career path all together.

Once you know who you are, what you want, what is important to you, and where you are going, it's time to keep tabs on yourself to make sure you are doing, acting, thinking, and behaving in the ways that will get you to where you're going. This takes self-discipline, focus, and commitment to your action plan. It means keeping yourself and your time organized, and doing whatever steps it takes to get to where you want to be. If you don't know how to organize yourself, or build an effective business or life plan that you will stick to, then read a good book on the subject, or get advice from someone who knows. Usually when you are living a purpose-driven life, this isn't so much a problem because you are doing what you love to do and what has the most meaning for you. When you do what you love, tasks that once seemed difficult suddenly become easy and enjoyable.