The real measure of your wealth is how much you’d be worth if you lost all your money.  Start building real wealth today by doing the following:

• 1. Realize that the small things are really the big things. – We are always looking for something better that we sometimes fail to realize that we already have the best we could hope for.  When you get something small, you want more.  When you get more, you desire even more.  But when you lose everything, you realize the small things were really the big things.  Read The Last Lecture

  2. Cherish your relationships. – Sometimes people are beautiful, not in looks, not in what they say, just in who they are and what they do.  Remember, you will never fully appreciate all of the things someone does for you until you find yourself doing the same things for yourself.  So be grateful for the people who make your life a little brighter.  They are the charming gardeners who help your soul blossom.

  3. Be okay with the fact that you can’t control everything. – When you’re younger, you exhaust yourself trying to take charge of everything in your life, other people, and all situations.  Then one day it dawns on you that you will never gain control until you lose the need to have it – until you can simply let it be okay, to not be perfectly okay.  When you’re wearing yourself ragged trying to juggle the outcome of everything happening around you, it’s time to stop, take a breath, and remind yourself that the only things you can truly control, are what choices you will make, and how much control you will give to the fear that you’re feeling.

  4. Work through your failures. – Success is not a skill; it is a persistent attitude.  The difference in winning and losing is, most often, the simple act of not quitting.  Before you quit, think of the reason why you held on so long, and all the progress you have made.  The reason so many people give up too early is because they tend to look at how far they still have to go, instead of how far they have come.  Read The Success Principles

  5. Don’t let your fears make your decisions anymore. – Have faith that the universe has a plan for you, and it’s all being revealed in the right timeframe.  Something you will eventually learn through all your ups and downs is that there are really no wrong decisions in life, just choices that will take your life down a totally different path.  So take chances, follow your intuition, and allow yourself more moments of awe, wonder, inspiration and grace.

  6. Stand up for yourself. – Don’t let the people who do so little for you, control so much of your feelings and emotions.  Never cry for those who don’t know the value of your tears.  Stand your ground.  It is better to let them walk away from you than all over you.

  7. Make up your mind to be happy. – Nobody can take away your pain, so don’t let anyone take away your happiness.  If you want to be sad, no one in the world can make you happy.  But if you make up your mind to be happy, no one and nothing on earth can take that happiness from you.

  8. Let go of resentment. – You will only begin to heal and grow when you let go of the past, forgive those who have wronged you, and learn for forgive yourself for your mistakes.  So every morning as you make your bed, think positively, and smooth out the wrinkles of negativity left from yesterday’s challenges, tuck the corners of your doubts away, and fluff your belief that every day is a perfect new beginning.  Read Radical Forgiveness

  9. Focus on the positive. – With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift.  Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing.  You get to choose.  No matter how far you have traveled or how many failures you have encountered, hope and positivity can still meet you anywhere.

And I leave you with a simple question:  What do you have that money can’t buy?