What is true wealth?

Published 2:00 pm Thursday, June 20, 2019

“True Wealth is knowing your definition of success and having the freedom to chase it.”

I had the awesome opportunity to lead “The Habit Class” workshop at Barnes Drug Store last week. It was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to help their leadership team determine the habits required for their success and create a plan to build those habits.

I often start workshops by asking the group to define “True Wealth.” I am expecting things like freedom, time, family, health, etc. One of the participants floored me with her definition of True Wealth. She defined wellness as excelling at the Eight Dimensions of Wellness. Her answer was so comprehensive that all the rest of our answers fit somewhere into the eight dimensions.

Before I tell you about the eight dimensions, I want you to know the key takeaway from this exercise is that we are always winning big in some areas of life while other areas could use some help. We will perform better in all areas if we can keep from performing too poorly in any one area.

Think of your life as a wheel. The spokes are your definition of true wealth. The hub of the wheel is a “0” and the outside of the wheel is a “10”. Score yourself on each spoke/success category and draw a line connecting each of your scores around the wheel.

Will your wheel roll? How bumpy of a ride will it be?

Let me give you an overview of the eight dimensions. They are comprehensive and a great starting point to determine what spokes should be on your wheel.

Emotional – The ability to deal with feelings constructively. Developing qualities such as optimism, trust, self-confidence and determination.

Environmental – The ability to spend your life in places you find pleasant and stimulating. I’ve seen people interviewed in the slums of India that believed they had a great environment because they were surrounded by family and friends. We’ve got to be careful about comparing our environment to others. Instead, we should make the most of ours.

Financial – Satisfaction with current and future financial situations. We can always want more, and we can always spend more. Finding satisfaction with where God has us while always seeking to improve is the key.

Intellectual – Recognizing your creative abilities and finding ways to expand your knowledge and skills. I’ve always believed that once we quit learning we start dying. There is always an opportunity to improve – in everything. Being enthusiastic about the opportunity to improve is how we win at the Intellectual dimension.

Occupational – Personal satisfaction and enrichment from one’s work. The more we passionately pursue excellence in the work given to us, the more opportunities we will have to grow and expand in this dimension. Finding purpose in whatever task given to us will help us stay passionate about doing our jobs with excellence.

Physical – Our brains and the outputs of our life are all based on our physical abilities. The better we take care of our bodies, the better our brains perform. A well-trained body lasts longer. That gives more time to become great at what we do and enjoy our lives. If we don’t take great care of our physical bodies, we will lose our health. Without our health, the game is over.

Social – Developing a sense of connection, belonging, and a well-developed support system. Being there for others when they need care and having support when we need it.

I am finding that our deepest connections happen in the margin of our lives. If we spend our lives completely booked, running from activity to activity we cannot develop the deep relationships required for true social wellbeing.

Spiritual – Expanding a sense of purpose and meaning in life.

If you are like me a lot of these 8 categories overlap. My wheel has always consisted of five spokes – Faith, Family, Finances, Fitness and Fun. I am blessed to have work that integrates my Financial, Intellectual, Occupational and Spiritual dimensions.

My family recently joined CrossFit Winnersville and we are having a blast pursuing our physical goals as a family.

If we look for them, there are always opportunities to develop what I call “two-fers” in life. Two-fers are things like working out with your family. Pursuing work that meets your needs on multiple dimensions. Running while listening to audiobooks has historically been a great two-fer for me.

The key is to not let any of your spokes get too out of whack. One underperforming category can bring down all the others.