Simple but not exactly always easy.  I decided my new mantra was going to be “In Quest of Excellence”.  Easy to say, but what is the definition of excellence.  Is it making piles of money, is it being loved by everybody around you, is it power.

I think I’ve boiled it down to this, excellence is understanding ones values and living everyday in alignment with those values.  If you can get the most value out of your day, isn’t that the whole point? To me that is the true definition of fulfillment.  Well that sounds easy enough, but the hard part is that once values are established, being honest  with yourself and keeping actions in harmony with those values.  The old saying “actions speak louder than words” can be taken one step further, actions are the only thing that count.  Examples, if being kind to people is a stated value, and you cut someone off on the drive to work or if you say you need to control debt and you buy the latest electronic gizmo on credit, or you say you want to live green, but you don’t recycle you recyclables, then how do you think that scores.  Be honest.  If that new boat is what you value,  then acknowledge it and move on.  No judgement, just be honest with yourself.

Defining values is an individual thing.  The only judgment that counts is your own.  True, you can get input, inspiration, or advice, but at the end of the day you have to implement them.  If you don’t believe totally in them you probably will not stick with it and not live it.

Let me share my thoughts.   I have outlined three major categories; Spiritual, health and financial.  I’ll start from the standpoint that you only have a limited amount of life energy to spend in your life.  Once today’s 24 hours of life energy is spent it is gone, never to be reclaimed and the expiration date on them is today.  True by living healthy you may add a few additional hours of life energy, but those hours will not be of the same quality as they are today. Those hours will be experience at an older age.  In addition, that end date is unknown.

Here are my three categories and their definitions:

• Spiritual Intelligence - For me this is my relationship with my creator.  The things that touch my soul.  Hard to tangibly measure, but individually I think each of us knows when it bites us in the butt.   For me this sets the boundary’s for everything else.
• Health Intelligence – This is important because without it we reduce our effectiveness in taking advantage of the life energy we have.  Without good health the daily execution in implementing our values is not done to its fullest.  If we don’t take care of ourselves we shorten the amount of life energy we have available.  Without good health financial intelligence doesn’t really matter and you better work hard on that spiritual angle because your maker may be coming to see you sooner than you would like.
• Financial Intelligence – This is not a pile of money.  This is  managing your life energy and how it’s spent.  I suggest a book “Your Money or Your Life” that explains this much better than me.  To sum it all up, money is an artificial, man-made exchange system that can come and go depending on world and market events, however life energy always remains constant.  If you are 40 years old and and if we assume you will live to 75 years old, you would have approximately 300,000 life energy units left in your life (24 hours a day, times 365 days a year, times 35 years).  That is it.  Unless you die sooner or live longer, that is your balance of life juice.  In addition, life energy can’t be banked until tomorrow.  If you don’t use it today, you loose it.

I’m not trying to preach here or make judgements.  I’m suggesting that you spend time understanding your value structure and make sure your living pattern is in align with it and you will reap the most from your life, Guaranteed.  If you pursue this with passion you are headed toward the “Quest for Excellence”.