by R Marie Taylor

Created on: July 25, 2008

Mr. Sense, Mr. Sensibility and Mr. Muse...

There are many and varied aspects to success in regards to both your finances and relationships. For example, you may be in active pursuit of financial success, however, you must first be very clear on your personal definition of financial success.

Let's say your name is Mr. Sense and your idea of financial success is to simply earn enough money to pay your bills and live comfortably now and in the future. Now, the guy next to you is called Mr. Sensibility and he would consider anything below the lifestyles of the rich and famous as financial failure.

Then there is Mr. Muse who sees financial success as a secondary consideration to pursuing a lifestyle that's deeply immersed in things that interest him such as music, writing and art. If these three people achieve their personal ambitions no matter how small or large, then they are successful people. For Mr. Muse, financial success means the ability to keep body and soul together while playing/acting/writing/dancing... full-time.

You need to decide if you are more like Mr. Sense, Mr. Sensibility or Mr. Muse.

Then you need to get a blank piece of paper and write down what you really want in life whether it's loads of money or loads of time doing something you love... if you're really lucky then you'll figure out a way to do both.

Money or the lack of it may not be a major concern for you. You may not particularly recognize yourself in any of the three people introduced so far. You may be Mr & Mrs. Super-Parents and you consider your lifetime efforts a success if your children grow up to be happy, emotionally strong and financially independent adults.

In order to reach this goal you will be required to invest time, energy and effort into their up-bringing, even then there is no guarantee that your heart's desire will be realized because of the little problem with 'Free Will' even God can't control that. So, you invest a good chunk of your life loving, disciplining, talking and listening to your children and praying for the best things in life to come their way.

These types of efforts are visible when one sees elderly parents being lovingly and laughingly attended by their grown children and grandchildren. This type of success has absolutely nothing to do with money. In fact, one of the happiest times in our lives was when we were homeless and living in an RV for several months. We knew it was temporary while we saved up money for a major move, however, we made it into an

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