Are you living the life that you wanted to happen, five years later? Or are you still in the same situation five years later?

In the olden days, the people who had the most resources controlled the wealth and to some degree, the power to influence a nation as well. You would have to be born into royalty or a wealthy family just to get the kind of life that many desire. Only few were able to get that far.

However, as the ages went on, so did the opportunities. With the opportunities also came more skepticism. Living in a post 9-11 world, people are living in fear more than any other time in our history.

Still, as long as there is a world, there is also possibility. As long as we are living, we will all have dreams. There are only some exceptions, such as people in other countries where they are happy as they are. That is totally fine, because the measure of wealth is not by how much you have, but by how little you need. But it is still important to have enough going!

Tuition costs are rising every year for students, to the point that many of them have to resort to tougher sources of funding. The lucky ones have parents who can pay their way through. The majority however do not come from wealthy families and have to resort to tougher means of obtaining from other sources of income. If you are a student reading this, you know that you have a hard stretch of road ahead of you.

The wealthy in this day of age are healthier, look great, take longer vacations (sometimes up to 3 months worth!) and are able to purchase luxury cars and other sorts of things that many can only dream of.

However, the wealthy are also human beings as well. Getting wealthy is the simple part; Staying wealthy takes work. It does not mean long hard hours; only working smarter.

Now many of us don't want to work and would rather get that kind of life for free. Such a case would be possible if you're either:

1.) looking to rob a bank

2.) a resident in Fiji or some remote island

or

3.) already making the money through your businesses.

Number 3 gives you more control. It doesn't mean that you have to lie around lazily, because that normally doesn't give you results. But doing things smart and knowing when to get help is key to designing your destiny.

It doesn't matter if you have a small or large business. If you want to achieve the life that you want, you have to make your business(es) work in the short term. You have to set it up and figure things out, make some mistakes as well as learn from the mistakes of others. It can take days, weeks, months, maybe a few years. But you should never give up on making things work.

The only time, however, when you should close shop, is when you know deep in your heart that it wasn't yours to begin with. What do I mean by that? Here's a good example.

A person who is creative and loves to sing decides to take on studies in dentistry. Now, the money in Dentistry can be very good. However, this same person, although might be able to do a good job, may be longing to be the piano he or she has wanted to be. If that person were to change focus and go with that dream of becoming a musician, would they be able to produce results far more inspiring than the job that they are in? In most cases, yes.

It's also a challenge to make a living as a musician. You are the person working as a self-employed musician altogether. But if the musician were to have a side business, one that they work hard on setting up in the short term (until they get it working properly and stable,) then they would be able to free up time to establish themselves as great musicians.

A good example of this is the Philippines. There are some famous singer-songwriters there who are known for their music. But what they are not known for is their side businesses. One famous songwriter, who lives in Manila, also owns a couple of hotels in which he checks in here and there. He has employees that take care of running the business while he works with someone of the likes of Lea Salonga, for example.

Many wealthy people live longer as well. Why is that? Well, for one thing, they are taking higher quality vitamins and are also committed to living a healthier lifestyle. This also includes making their homes a safe place on earth.

The vacations they take are sometimes gifts from their businesses as well. Some trips are also taken to see a loved one, many times due to illness or funeral.

I remember my mother crying hard when she learned about the death of one of my aunts. My aunt was always helping my mother when she was younger. When my mother came to North America, she was able to build a life with her husband and children, while sending money back to my aunt who lived in poverty.

When money problems came around, my mother weeped even more, because she had acquired debt in helping people and she could not attend the funeral of my aunt in the Philippines. If you check out the prices for plane trips to the philippines during peak seasons, you know that it can rage in the thousands for a return fare.

The truth is, money is as important as breathing air in this life. It is from actually loving it - which is not the way to go. Robbing a bank or doing drug dealing are activities as a result from the love of money. But helping people, donating to charities are from having money as a tool to help, as well as sustain life and living.

How important is it for you to be able to help send your children off to college? To be able to attend a loved one in their illness or their final days of life? To be able to watch a show at front stage or to drive that car that you've been dreaming of? To have a larger house so you wouldn't have to experience so much clutter?

How much longer before your creditors come after you in terrifying ways?

How much longer would you want "being broke" to be your story? More importantly, will you change that this very instant?

What's important to you, what's in your heart and your dreams?

Rodney is an active holistic health practioner, a musician, an artist and an
entrepreneur. Visit his website at: http://www.potentialzone.com