Beyond Money: Why True Success Requires a Balanced Life
Money matters, but it’s only one spoke in the wheel of a fulfilling life!
We live in a world where finances often dominate the conversation.
But here’s the danger: when money becomes the only measure of success, life gets unbalanced.
The Trap of Financial-Only Success
Think, a 40-year-old with millions saved, set for early retirement. By most standards, they’d be considered successful.
But here’s the question:
What about their relationships?
Their health?
Their peace of mind?
If all that wealth is achieved at the cost of joy, love, or health, was it really worth it?
As Stefan James from Project Life Mastery puts it: “What’s the point of success if you have no one to share it with?”
The Life Wheel: A Better Measure of Success
A helpful way to visualize balance is through the life wheel.
A wheel needs to be round to roll.
If one side is flat—say, money is high but health is low—the wheel won’t turn smoothly.
Over time, neglecting parts of the wheel (for 5–10 years at a time) leads to imbalance, stress, and regret.
Short-term imbalance is fine—like focusing on finances during a career push. But long-term neglect in other areas creates cracks you can’t easily fix later.
The Core Triad: Health, Wealth, and Relationships
At its simplest, life can be boiled down to 3 most important areas:
Health – Physical fitness, mental well-being, physiological peak and inner peace.
Wealth – Financial stability and independence, ideally decoupled from your time.
Relationships – Loving marriage, family, friendships, and community.
They form the foundation for joy and fulfillment.
Life Quality Score!
The Core Triad can be measured to create what I like to call a Life Quality Score. For now we will keep things simple and you can be your own judge. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being the bad and 10 being “Fantastic!” rate yourself on the following:
Physical fitness:
Mental well-being:
Physiological Peak:
Financial Stability:
Control over your time:
Meaningful work:
Loving Marriage:
Family:
Friendships/ Community:
If you were to put these categories around spokes of a wheel, and go out the units away from the center equivalent to your answers above. Then, trace a line through the tops of the bars! You would, hopefully, form a circle! The rounder, the better! This means you are rolling through life!
90 in this example would be a Fantastic! life and the largest wheel you could make! Those are the types of people we all admire!
(Darren Hardy has an excellent life wheel assessor if you really want one with more in depth questions!)
Even this simple one can give you a snapshot on areas you excel in, and it’s always an eye opener for me to see what areas I need to work on! Feel free to make your own!
Call to Action
Success is more than numbers in a bank account. Take a moment today to score yourself in the core areas of health, wealth, and relationships. Notice where the wheel feels flat, and commit to one small step to round it out.
“Don’t mistake movement for progress, or wealth for success. A well-rounded life is the true measure.” — Adapted from timeless wisdom
