Everyone wants success. People talk about setting goals and positive thinking and getting to the top. However, most of these same people never really define what success means to them.

Instead they think only in terms of the next big promotion or the next raise or climbing the corporate ladder, but few ever stop to really look at where these goals are taking them. World-renown motivational speaker Zig Ziglar says that to define success, you should stand on the goal line of life and look into the end zone. What you want to see there sets the parameters for your definition of success.

In other words, ask most people what they want from life, and they will say, I want to be happy. Thats great, except for two things: they seldom know with any certainty what happiness actually means to them, and secondly, they never actually plan to benor take the time to behappy.

Instead of taking the time to be happy now, most people fall into the when-I-get-over-there-then-Ill-be-happy syndrome. If you look, you see these kinds of people every daymaybe even when you look in the mirror. When I get that promotion, then Ill be happy. When the kids are back in school and I can do this, then Ill be happy. When we get out of debt, then Ill be happy.

Problem is, it doesnt work that way. If happiness is your goal; if having been happy is something you really want to see in the end zone of your life, then you have to start being happy today. Not tomorrow, not in a week, not when X happensTODAY.

So, how do you do this?

First, you must seriously ask yourself, what makes you happy? What makes you feel alive and completely in touch with the essence of yourself?

Maybe its hiking or skateboarding or baseball or running. Maybe its painting or music or writing or dance. Maybe its something as simple as taking a cup of tea out to the porch to watch a sunset.

Immediately you say, I dont have time to do that stuff. Im busy making a living. I dont have enough time as it is. And then you wonder why you arent happy.

If happiness is a goal you have, then you must schedule time every day to do something that makes you happy. As Annie Dillard, the author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, said, How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

The question to you then, is how are you spending your days? The reality is that what you have right now is exactly what will be in that end zone on your last day here. Is this what you want?

If so, congratulations! If not, you can start right here, right now to make a new ending. Decide today what will be in your end zone, and then make the changes to get that in your life today. You deserve it, but dont put it off. You dont have a second to waste.

Staci Stallings

Life continues on to the next level for Staci Stallings who now has two titles in print: "The Long Way Home" and "Eternity." Staci's entry level in life began in a small West Texas town of Nazareth where three things were paramount: God, family, and education. Finally, before she left Nazareth, Staci learned a solid appreciation for the gift of a good education. True to her word, she attended Texas Tech University and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Journalism along with minors in Secretarial Business and Education.

Then came another turning point in Staci?s life?the arrival of her first child. Staci traded in Shakespeare and Dickens for Winnie the Pooh and Dr. Seuss. As a stay-at-home mom of first one then two daughters and now a son, Staci?s path led her back to one of her first loves?writing. With dreams coming true all around her, Staci invites you to share in her journey with ?The Long Way Home" and "Eternity."

After achieving her first goal of completing a novel, Staci Stallings now has two books called ?The Long Way Home? and ?Eternity?. Then came another turning point in Staci?s life?the arrival of her first daughter, followed by another and then a son. Her path now leads back to her first love?writing.