From time to time I wander along my timeline, wondering how far it goes and whether, having walked that line, will there be time to look back at what I have achieved.  Will it be my way?  And what, I wonder, might have been left undone?   So I think of Achievement and what it means to me.  Many years ago a friend who made many millions told me, ‘Making money is easy – as long as it’s all you want.’  The problem for him was he could never have enough. A colleague said, ‘He’ll be the richest man in the graveyard.’

Mantak Chia told me to make friends with money energy and that was good advice.  Not to fall in love with it, not to obsess over it, but just to make friends.   I was, at that time, going through a happy-hippy phase of saying I hated the stuff.  But then I wanted to travel the world and do courses with enlightened people. Oddly enough, when I changed my attitude my fortunes changed too, and I achieved what had been only a dream.

While some use money as a scoreboard to measure their Achievement, others have other aims, and if fulfilling an aim counts as Achievement then surely there is no limitation.  Would peace of mind count?  What would I need to achieve to have peace of mind?  I used to think it was financial security.  And how secure is that?  I have lived through more than one financial crisis caused by any number factors over which I had no control, and many more resulting from my own actions or lack of action!

What about emotional security?  Is that achievable?  And once achieved does it stay, a permanent state of being, regardless of the elements of love, hate, fear, courage, anger, jealousy, disrespect, or any other of the slings and arrows of ourtageous fortune that punctuate and puncture the fabric of time?

When I was very young I achieved the ability to stand up by myself.  I had, until recently, forgotten the amazing sense of delight, of Achievement, that filled my whole being in that  moment.  I got a wonderful reminder when a friend’s child did just that. And led me to reflect on other mundane achievements such as tying my own shoelaces, riding a bicycle, managing to stay on a horse over a jump, to surf standing up for just a few seconds, passing an exam, getting a qualification, making my living doing what I love with someone I love…Achievements big and small, years apart, adding up to a sum of things that have enriched my life.

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Extract from ‘The Winners’ Alphabet,’ due out later this year.  Watch this space!