You’ve probably heard the phrase “there’s more to life than money” hundreds of times, but that’s because there’s some truth to it. The same holds true with success – success isn’t all about money. Through the years I’ve had the pleasure of knowing several people who I considered to be successful on a professional basis. One of the things that many of them taught me was that success isn’t about money. But before I get to them, let me share a story that you may have already heard.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the movie “Cannonball Run 2″ because it was the first time I fell in love. The movie opens with a white Lamborghini Countach having some fun with the police on a desert road. Yes, I fell in love with the car (especially after the car pulled a costume change and turned red) although the passenger in it – Catherine Bach, “Daisy Duke” from the Dukes of Hazzard – certainly caught my attention as well. From that day on, my goal in life was to own a red Lamborghini Countach.

There’s a short story I read in the first grade called “William’s Wish” that has somehow stuck in my head throughout the years. The story is about young boy who has a wish (a rather simple one) and tries all the various methods of getting his wish to come true. Since I only read this story once (and that was in 1981), I don’t remember the exact details of the story, but he did things such as wish on a star and followed a few other superstitions until his wish finally came true. Now the reason this story stuck in my head is that had he just told his parents his wish, it would have come true a lot sooner.

In Part 1 of this series, we took a high-level look at Extreme Goals. We looked at how to decide if our situation and our goals are appropriate for this aggressive approach to goal setting. We made the comparison to walking a tightrope without a safety net and how that net can sometimes hinder our efforts to do our best. In this article, we’ll look a bit deeper into that.

What’s Your Safety Net?

I had lunch with a friend on Friday and the topic of goal setting came up. He asked me what I would do if I didn’t reach a particular personal goal that I have. I told him that my plan was to reach it – failure was not an option in this case. I essentially don’t have a Plan B for this one because it’s so important for me to reach it.

Strengths and weaknesses - why do we obsess so much about them? It seems like you can’t go on a job interview without someone asking you what you’re strengths and weaknesses are. If your employer reviews you, chances are they help you identify your strengths and weaknesses. If you own a small business, prospective clients will compare your strengths and weaknesses with that of your competitors. So chances are you are at least somewhat aware of some of your strengths and weaknesses. Now what?

The other day I was talking with some friends about our health goals. We discovered we all had the same obstacle standing in our ways: a busy schedule. Someone mentioned a story of a busy single mom that was able to lose 75 pounds by making tiny changes every day and it got me thinking…

Let’s face it, full-time jobs and families barely leave you with enough time to sleep. If you’re involved in any hobbies, clubs, activities or are taking a class or own a business, time is extremely scarce. If you expect to jump into a full-blown workout routine or go on a crash diet, you will fail. This is where tiny changes come in.