There is no guarantee that I will ever achieve my life's dreams and go on to live a hugely successful existence. In fact, unless I know precisely what "success" means to me, I will never be a winner during this lifetime. Knowing is the key. Success is not only reached by those who keep their fires of desire burning strong and who keep trying and trying again until they succeed, but it is reached by those who know what they desire. Those who attain greatness display the winning character trait of perceptiveness. This is the shrewd ability to know what "success" means to them.
Success can be defined as the progressive realization of specific objectives. As success relates to my life, this is the continual attainment of my own clearly defined desires. Like many people though, I may not yet have determined exactly what success means to me, therefore I have little chance of attaining it until my goals are clearly set. Success, it can be said, is to decide exactly what I do want, establish specific plans of action, and then take enthusiastic action to achieve what I most desire. However, to attain a lifetime of success, some form of measuring system needs to be in place to gauge how successful I am presently compared to how successful I want to be. For the Empowered Millionaire, this measuring system is the PEP Rating.
Success is not necessarily being the best or having the most or being number one or finishing first. Real success is a journey of continuous improvement and is found in doing the best that I possibly can in all endeavors with which I am involved. Fortune definitely favors the person who assesses where he or she is now and uses this information to make well-versed decisions to successfully guide their future. Therefore, in my quest for success, I must learn to employ this same technique of analyzing my present position to make better judgments for the future course of my life. The lesson here in this PEP Rating exercise is to give all ten areas of my life a score and then combine all scores into a final total that accurately reflects my current status. This will certainly increase my chances for success and lessen those of an unfavorable outcome.
To be hugely successful on an ongoing basis, I need to measure where I am in the ten areas of my life at this precise moment in time with where I desire to be at a specific point in the future. By knowing where I am presently compared with where I say I want to be, this will enable me to more accurately assess my efforts. The way that I measure where I am now is by way of calculating my PEP Rating. PEP (which stands for "Personal Empowerment Percentage") is the evaluation system that I shall use to determine if I am on course to design my ultimate lifestyle. By way of my PEP Rating, I shall give each of the ten areas of my life an individual score from one to ten based on how that area presently parallels with my ideal scenario.
To calculate my own PEP Rating, I must analyze the ten areas of my life and follow these two steps:
1. Give each area a mark from 1 to 10 for how my life is today compared with my ultimate ideal. It is vital that it is my ideal, not that of someone else. I should not judge myself against the world's best in that area.
2. Add these marks together. This number out of a maximum total of one hundred represents my PEP Rating.
There is no right or wrong rating. I will find that as my life's circumstances change, so my PEP Rating will also change. The lower the number, obviously the more room for improvement I have. Correspondingly, the higher the number, the more successful my life presently.
Physical
I shall give myself a score from 1 to 10 for the state of my health and general physical condition today relative to my ideal. If I am supremely fit, with an excellent body, and always feel invigorated and full of energy, I should give myself a high score of 9 or the maximum 10 points. However, if I am overweight, out of shape and in constant ill-health, my rating here may only be 1 or 2 or 3. It is up to me to decide upon what score I warrant based on how my health really is today.
Financial
I shall give myself a score from 1 to 10 based on my current financial status relative to the income and net worth I desire to generate. If I am a multi-millionaire and have already attained financial freedom, I shall award myself the maximum score of 10. However, if I am on skid row, with zero savings, high indebtedness and low earnings, perhaps I warrant a score of only 1 or 2 at most.
Business
How is the success of my business; or do I even have a business as such? I shall give myself a score from 1 to 10 for this area based on how I rate today compared to my ideal business scenario.
Career
I shall give myself a score from 1 to 10 for the career area of my life. This score must accurately reflect my occupational status today relative to how I see myself in an ideal future. Do I have the job of my dreams or am I unemployed? Depending upon where I am right now professionally, this will dictate my rating. The higher the score, the more successful I am career-wise. And, likewise, the lower the score, the more dissatisfied I am vocationally.
Mental
If I am mentally very alert with an excellent memory and sharp intellectual skills, I shall rank myself very highly here with perhaps a score of 8 or 9 or 10. However, if I am mentally dull and have psychological fatigue with a poor memory, I should give myself a low score.
Social
If all my social objectives have been met and I consider myself presently to be hugely successful within this arena, I shall give myself a high score here. Whereas, if my social life is a huge disappointment relative to my ideal, my score of perhaps 1 or 2 or 3 should accurately reflect this fact.
spiritual
I must give myself a score dependent on whether I am spiritually satisfied right now and consider myself to be highly enlightened or whether I am divinely disillusioned and nowhere near enlightenment.
Family
Have all my family aspirations been met and am I living a joyful life of blissful contentment with my kin? If so, my score here will be very high. If not, a low score will accurately reflect this status.
Material
This material area is an extremely personal one in that the goals I establish here will vary enormously depending upon how materially voracious my appetite is and how successfully I have fed my materialistic hunger? However, the higher my level of contentment today with the material possessions I have accumulated, the higher my score. And, likewise, the lower my present level of satisfaction, the lower the rate I will give myself here.
Adventure
If I am living an exciting, adventurous lifestyle in keeping with my ideal, I should rank myself very highly here with perhaps a score of 8 or 9 or 10. However, if my recreational time holds no exhilaration and is dull, I should give myself a low score of perhaps 1 or 2 or 3. If I feel middle-of-the-road and my life ranks only average adventurously, my score would be around the middle mark of 5 only.
To live a balanced life, should I make it a new winning discipline of mine to check my PEP Rating on a regular basis? Yes, as this will help me to compare just how well-balanced my entire life truly is, and in which areas I require most improvement. As one of my ultimate objectives, I shall strive to attain harmony and fulfillment in all ten areas of my life. I must not be too narrow-minded, focusing on improving just two or three areas. Instead I shall expand my horizons and seek continual progress within all ten areas.
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James Lee Valentine is an "Empowering Author Extraordinaire" having written more than sixty books on personal empowerment and financial mastery now published in twelve countries worldwide.
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James Lee Valentine is founder of the Empowered Millionaire Institute "The Most Value-Packed Financial Empowerment Resource Center" which will help you be financially empowered for life.
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