Got fulfillment?

Letter from Kristen: Thank you for subscribing to my blog! We will officially embark on the Napoleon Hill Experiment series in October starting with the first principle, Desire. In the meantime, I wanted to share the following article originally published on Medium.com on August 29. I hope you enjoy and I can't wait to jump right in next month because so many great things have already happened since my September 13th launch. It is truly amazing what you can accomplish when you push past your fears and reach for more. But until then, let's talk about my favorite subject, the importance of fulfillment.

Fulfillment - The most important ingredient to leading a happy life

Money, success, respect, power. They don’t mean anything if they don’t “mean” anything.

Goals that are not attached to your core values are empty goals. Achieving them to only realize you achieved nothing can be a tough pill to swallow.

I have been there.

Let’s talk about what fulfillment really means.

Define fulfillment — a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction because you are happy with your life.

I am not sure when the rest of the world became aware of this “fulfillment” thing, but for me, it was in my mid-40s.

It was a harsh lesson to learn and it took me by storm.

The realization that the thing I had been marching towards for the better part of my life has not, and will not, make me happy. Now what?

I am talking about success. But not the true sense of it, what I thought other people thought it meant. What?!?

I was chasing title, bravado, money, status. I had it all wrong.

Are you feeling me?

Okay, well, no worries because I gotcha on this.

The good news is, that the first step, awareness, is just around the corner and it is super easy to implement.

It is actually quite amazing when you figure it out. It is like there is a whole new world available to you.

Imagine finding a place where you are finally present, where the sunset on a random Tuesday or rain on a Thursday morning brings you great pleasure.

I know it is weird, but it is true. It works.

Being on the other side of understanding how important fulfillment is in your life is like waking up after winning the lottery, life will never be the same.

So how do you get there?

Start with gratitude.

I know, it sounds a little fluffy, doesn’t it?

I preach this a lot in my articles because I am so excited I found it and I want to spread the word to everyone who will listen (or read, ha!)

But it works. When you dedicate just a few minutes every day to discovering what really matters to you and focus on how to bring more of that into your life, you become rich beyond your dreams.

You also become released from all the things that do not matter and man, what a weight off your shoulders!

What other people think, what other people have, what you think other people think you should have, it all becomes white noise.

You learn to tune it out.

Because none of it matters.

Almost nine months ago I was so focused on all the wrong things. I was miserable.

I had a great life but I couldn’t see it because all the wrong things were haunting me. At my job, in my sleep (or lack thereof), scrolling through social media, comparing myself, judging myself.

Becoming aware that it doesn’t matter took work. I didn’t just wake up one morning released from my need to achieve. I am not sure that will ever happen. I have a driven personality.

But I had to take a deeper look at what I wanted to achieve.

I had to connect my drive with something that mattered. I realized what I was missing was understanding that happiness and fulfillment could be achieved through contributing to the lives of others. Helping them find what I found.

I found a new and more meaningful mission in life. One that does not focus on what it brings me, but what it brings other people.

So how do you get there?

Tap into the power of awareness.

Awareness of what truly matters to you is all about what is happening inside. Inside your heart and inside your mind. And when you can figure out how to make the two work in synchronicity, well, that is pure magic.

Keep reading the books. Keep searching for what works for you. Keep circling back as it may not work the first time. As with any great change in your life, you have to be ready for it. You may not be in that place just yet, but when you get there, it can be truly life-changing.

Make it count. Make it remarkable. Engage your drive to make it happen.