There are lots of interesting and valuable ideas there and if you browse the list you might find a few tips and strategies that you could build into your daily routine.  Two of my personal favourites were ‘state of mind’ switches: #13 becoming still/letting go and #6 finding joy and happiness:

Including the realization that we can create joy from our own state of mind, observations of the many things in our lives to be joyful about, having fun, smiling, laughing, appreciating life/nature, not taking life too seriously, enjoying the little things, doing what you want to do at any given moment, having a cheerful attitude, loving your work or your career, living/working with passion, celebrating your successes, living every day as if it is your last, and acting silly.

Of course the whole project begs another question: what do we mean by success?  Some people are uncomfortable with the idea of ‘success’ not just because it seems distant but because it doesn’t fit with their value system.  But there’s more than one way to tell the success story.  It doesn’t need to mean high achieving, high earning, high impact, high consumption…

Here’s an alternative version from Ralph Waldo Emerson that I love:

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

I guess part of the secret of success is to define it on your own terms.  What’s the definition of success that works for you?

“The journey” is one of the most commonly used metaphors in coaching. And “the path” is one of the simplest, yet most powerful metaphors that we use in life. We find references to the path in the writings of some of our greatest writers, thinkers and spiritual leaders: Emerson, Thoreau, Marianne Williamson, Kahlil Gibran, the Buddha. And it is a metaphor that we can all connect with – be it the path we are on or the path we have lost. The paths we are determined to find or the paths we hope to create.

I was reminded by Robyn McMaster last week of the value of ‘naturalistic intelligence’. (Put simply: go outside and get inspiration from the natural world.) I realised when I was out walking at the weekend that following a physical path often puts me in mind of the ‘other’ path I am on. Times when I have a specific goal in mind and walk, hard and fast, to reach it. Times when the path ahead has seemed impossible, impassable. Times when I am happy to meander and see where the road takes me.

I thought of all the photos I have taken over the years: a winding path up a mountain, a narrow path through the woods, a rocky path strewn with boulders, a muddy path full of potholes that I will have to walk round or squelch through.

And thought of times when I’ve lost my way, but always found a path to follow. Even if it’s just a sheep track cutting across the moor. Or the rocky line of the shore.