To me, there are seven (7) steps towards a successful life:

  1. Understand that you are worth all the love and light in the world:  This sounds simple, but it’s a difficult proposition for people.  But difficult or not, people are special and capable of far more than they realize.  Regardless of a person’s status in life, the fact that they exist means that they are worthy of light and love.
  2. Envision what you want your life to be:  It’s tough, but necessary, to define the future in terms that can be met.  For example, if you want to be happy, learn about what happiness means to you and then evaluate whether your current situation meets that meaning.  If it doesn’t…
  3. Map out the plan to get there: It’s critical to list concrete and measurable objectives that you can achieve on the way to attaining the vision for your life you established.
  4. Execute steps, however small, from the map: Once you have the plan and the map, DO THOSE THINGS on the map.  If I want to become a novelist, I’d better first write a novel.  To write a novel, I need to write every day with a clear word count.  So, every day, I must write at least until i meet my daily quota.  A plan that isn’t enacted isn’t worth much.
  5. Reflect on your successes and failures  along the way:  As usual, in order to become successful, in my opinion, reflection is the key to developing understanding of things in your life that either need to be corrected or reinforced.  REFLECT.
  6. Celebrate at each milestone:  If you meet a set of objectives that lead to a goal, reward yourself with something that’s emotionally, spiritually, and physically healthy.  Celebrations don’t have to be huge parties, but they should be something that brings you pure joy.
  7. Remind yourself of your value:  This is a step that we all should do, every day.  Even if we screw something up, we should try to learn and remember that we are worthy of all that Heaven can allow.

So, those are the seven (7) steps, from my perspective, towards a happy and successful life.