Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills That Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed

. LOVING RELATIONSHIPS T he third ingredient of success is loving relationships. These are relationships with the people you love and care about, and the people who love and care about you. They are the real measure of how well you are doing as a human being. Most of your happiness and unhappiness in life comes from your relationships with others, and it is your relationships with others that make you truly human. A key quality of the fully functioning person is that he or she has the ability to enter into and maintain long-term friendships and intimate relationships with other people. The very essence of your personality is demonstrated in the way you get along with others, and the way they get along with you. At almost any time, you can measure how well you are doing in your relationships by one simple test: laughter. How much two people, or a family, laugh together is the surest single measure of how well things are going. When a relationship is truly happy, people laugh a lot when they’re together. And when a relationship turns sour, the very first thing that goes is the laughter.

. FINANCIAL FREEDOM T he fourth ingredient of success is financial freedom. To be financially free means that you have enough money so that you don’t worry about it continually, as most people do. It is not money that lies at the root of all evil; it is lack of money. Achieving your own financial freedom is one of the most important goals and responsibilities of your life. It is far too important to be left to chance.

. PEACE OF MIND T he first of these seven ingredients of success, and easily the most important, is peace of mind. It is the highest human good. Without it, nothing else has much value. Because of this, you strive for it all your life. You usually evaluate how well you are doing at any given time by how much inner peace you enjoy. Peace of mind is your internal gyroscope. When you are living in harmony with your highest values and your innermost convictions — when you are perfectly balanced in life — then you enjoy peace of mind. If, for any reason, you compromise your values, or go against your inner guidance, your peace of mind is the first thing to suffer. Peace of mind, or harmony, is essential for the optimal performance of all human groupings, from your relationships with your friends and family members to the businesses and organizations in which you work. All interactions among people thrive on harmonious relationships. All manners, morals, etiquette and diplomacy are organized around the desire each person has to assure his or her peace of mind by not disrupting the peace of mind of others. In corporations, peace of mind can be measured in terms of the amount of harmony that exists among coworkers. Productive, profitable companies are those in which people feel good about themselves. T hey feel safe and happy at work. They may be busy, even frantic with activity, but they are at peace inside. T he wonderful truth about peace of mind is that it is your normal, natural condition. Happiness is your birthright. It belongs to you. It is not something you experience occasionally if you’re lucky. Peace of mind is central to your very existence. It is the basic precondition for enjoying everything else.

. PEACE OF MIND T he first of these seven ingredients of success, and easily the most important, is peace of mind. It is the highest human good. Without it, nothing else has much value. Because of this, you strive for it all your life. You usually evaluate how well you are doing at any given time by how much inner peace you enjoy. Peace of mind is your internal gyroscope. When you are living in harmony with your highest values and your innermost convictions — when you are perfectly balanced in life — then you enjoy peace of mind. If, for any reason, you compromise your values, or go against your inner guidance, your peace of mind is the first thing to suffer. Peace of mind, or harmony, is essential for the optimal performance of all human groupings, from your relationships with your friends and family members to the businesses and organizations in which you work. All interactions among people thrive on harmonious relationships. All manners, morals, etiquette and diplomacy are organized around the desire each person has to assure his or her peace of mind by not disrupting the peace of mind of others.

. People generally have one of two ways of looking at the world. T he first is what is called a benevolent world view. If you have a benevolent world view, you generally believe that the world is a pretty good place in which to live. You have a tendency to see the good in people and situations and to believe that there is plenty of opportunity around you and that you can take advantage of it. You believe that although you may not be perfect, you are a pretty good person overall. You believe in the future, for yourself and others. You are primarily optimistic.