Jesse Meijers

As I explained in my previous post, I have a definition of wealth that may not be the same as yours. Many people think of wealth as an equivalent to being rich. In a certain extent they are right, because riches are a part of wealth. However, people who merely define being wealthy as being rich, miss the big picture. The true definition of wealth is much more subtle. I like to use the term Success instead of Wealth.

Three axis of success

Success for me is made up of 3 things. These three things combined make a person wealthy; happiness, health and riches, in that order. If any of these three is missing, you are not wealthy.

Consider a person who has all the riches in the world. Now consider that next to being the richest man on the planet, this person is also healthy as a fish. Sounds like this person is really successful, right? But now picture this person being as depressed as you’ve ever seen someone. How can health and riches ever make up for that? You cannot trade your health for happiness, nor would it be wise to trade your riches for happiness.

But wait, why wouldn’t I trade my riches for happiness?

Happiness is indeed the number one priority in life. Being happy but living shortly is better than living long and unhappy. Being happy and poor beats being unhappy and rich. Therefore happiness is the number 1 criteria for being successful.

The number 2 priority is being healthy. It is better to be healthy and poor than it is being unhealthy and rich. Combine this with the number 1 priority to deduce that riches is the number three priority: happy, healthy and poor beats happy, unhealthy and rich any day.

There are no other axis that I define. For me, these axis are mutually exclusive. Most other things which are important to me fall under the happiness axis (e.g. girlfriend, family, vacations, entrepreneurship) or the health axis (e.g. eating well, working out). Some activities share axis (e.g. playing sports, which falls in both health and happiness for me).

Success formula

Please note that an updated version of this formula is discussed in the article ‘Success Formula‘.

These three axis can be represented in a simple formula. But first we need to define wealth. Wealth is such a ambiguous term… I define wealth as cashflow, which is the difference between income and expenses. That means that if I earn more, but spend less, I increase my wealth in a very efficient way. The value that is left is money that you are free to spend on whatever you like. I would always suggest to invest this money, instead of buying luxuries for example. So this gives us the formula for cashflow (C) as a value of income (i) and expenses (e):

C = i – e

We can now insert this formula into a more general formula, which will define Success. Since we identified that happiness is most important, then health and then riches, we apply multipliers to these values. We now get a formula for success:

S = (3H * 2h * C)

This formula is built up of the following:

• S means success, ranging from zero to infinity
• H means happiness, ranging from zero (very depressed) to 1 (as happy as you’ve ever been)
• h means health, ranging from zero (dead) to 1 (there is nothing wrong with you)
• C means cashflow, ranging from negative (expenses are higher than income) to infinity (remember C = i – e)

With this formula we can now easily calculate our current success. For me this calculation would be roughly like this, based on monthly income and expenses:

W = 3(0.6) * 2(0.9) * (5000 – 3000) = 1.8 * 1.8 * 2000 = 6480

This value in itself will not mean much, but it allows you to objectively assess your level of success. For example I can now see that in order to increase my success the easiest and most effective way would be to invest in my happiness. Next would be cutting expenses and increasing income.

Please note that an updated version of this formula is discussed in the article ‘Success Formula‘.

Related posts

1. Everyone can be wealthy
2. The one definitive way to get rich
3. Success Formula – Happiness, Health and Cashflow
4. The road less traveled
5. Why traditional freelancing doesn’t make you rich