For the past several months now I’ve been sharing my Wealth Secrets with you, but haven’t had a real clear definition of what Family Wealth is, exactly.

I do now.

Family Wealth is “The whole wealth that is passed on from one generation to the next, encompassing your financial, human, intellectual and spiritual capital.”

When passed on with intention, a family can maximize it’s Family Wealth across generations, as has been done by the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds, names that have become synonymous with wealth and well-being in America.

When Family Wealth is not intentionally considered, it is typically lost within three generations, giving rise to the proverb that crosses cultural lines - shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.

In your culture it might be:

• Clogs to Clogs in three generations
• Barn Stalls to Barn Stalls in three generations
• Rice Paddies to Rice Paddies in three generations.

The shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves phenomena is the same regardless of culture because the pattern is universal.

The successor generation (your children or maybe even you) that enjoys the benefits of affluence is often not motivated to work as effectively as those who created the Family Wealth.

In my experience working with parents I can see that most parents are not giving these issues much thought until it appears to be too late.

When I meet with parents of young children, they are universally idealistic about their children’s future potential. They are optimistic that they will raise their children with their values and that their children will absorb those values.

Yet, most have no plan, no structure, no system in place for ensuring that happens.

Years go by and their sweet little babies turn into surly, rebellious, lazy, unmotivated teenagers and young adults.

I was one of these myself for quite a long time.

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Last week I promised to share with you a strategy for dealing with self-limiting thoughts, but it’s going to have to wait because I’ve had a bit of a breakthrough and it’s far more important to share that.

I was looking through some files on my computer and came across a document entitled "What Do I Want My Life to Look Like Today."

It’s dated May 18, 2006.

And, it lays out a daily vision that is remarkably similar to my current lifestyle.  I specified what I wanted to do each day in a normal week.

On the last line, I wrote: "I want to spend the majority of my time creating – sharing my ideas with the world."

It is with greatest of all pleasures I report that I now spend a great majority of my time creating and sharing my ideas.

My updated vision is that I will spend all but the smallest amount of my working time creating and sharing my ideas.

I’ll report back next year on how I’m doing.

Why not take a few minutes right now to write out the exact vision of how you’d like to spend each of your days.  Be bold.

If you sit down to do it and your mind gets cloudy, recognize the cloud as a ball of fear and the cloud will dissipate.

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Two friends contacted me this week to let me know they’d lost their jobs and to ask my advice from a legal perspective.

Both were surprised by my answer, I think.

You see, I don’t believe there’s a legal solution for every problem. In fact, just the opposite, I believe that the law offers very few solutions for most people.

Sure, there are some situations in which you should absolutely talk to a lawyer after you’ve lost your job. I’ll share those with you next week.

In most cases, bringing in a lawyer is NOT the right answer.

Here’s what I recommend you do before you contact a lawyer.

1. Be grateful for the new opportunites that are about to come your way. You’ve heard it before …

As one door closes, there’s another one swinging open. If you are standing there pounding on the closed door, you’ll completely miss the open door behind which lays the opportunity you’ve been waiting for.

In my opinion, contacting a lawyer is likely to keep you pounding away on that closed door.

2. Examine why you lost your job without looking for others to blame.

As an employer, I can tell you that I will bend over backwards to keep employees who bring enthusiasm, joy, skill, dedication and effort to their job.

With conscious thought, ask yourself if you really Were bringing all of you to your job? If not, the Universe gave you a huge gift by ending it for you.

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If you are a creative, heart-centered person who has big dreams and you are ready to make them happen, you are in the right place!

It’s All Happening is where I let you watch as I transform myself into the lawyer America turns to for more wealth, health and happiness.

If this was forwarded to you, you can get your own copy by sending an email with the subject line "It’s All Happening" to alexis@familywealthmatters.com.

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The Pursuit of Happyness

I’m travelling to the East Coast and just finished watching The Pursuit of Happyness on the plane ride across.

What struck me the most about Chris Gardner’s story is how much the pursuit of happyness requires immense perseverance, dedication and commitment.

I’m reminded daily that there are NO shortcuts.

Making an impact on the world, achieving big dreams, living an authentic, creative life requires a massive commitment.

Most people talk about it, but very few actually take the action to make it happen.

If you look around you and wonder why you haven’t achieved the success you’ve been longing for, stop wondering and start paying close attention.

Pay very close attention to your priorities, the choices you make and the thought patterns running through your head.

Let’s start with priorities:

Are you spending time every day focused on your vision?  If not, you can stop wondering why you are stuck where you are.

I am distracted frequently from my big vision by the needs of my law practice, which I’ve grown substantially over the past three years and really needs and deserves a hands-on owner who can capitalize on what’s been started there.

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I just returned from a 3-day music festival that was out of this world!

This was no ordinary music festival.

It was a "green" festival, which means I didn’t see a single broken bottle, there were people of all ages (newborns to 70s), everyone was incredibly happy and full of love, and the self-expression was beyond anything I’ve ever seen before.

I’ve been hearing all of this talk about "green" these days, but didn’t really identify with it at all.

Frankly, I thought it was a little silly.

But, it seems to have snuck up on me.  I drive a hybrid, we had a "green your house" party last week (more on that later), and I went to a "green" music festival.  Yes, I am even considering composting.

Now, if you can just get me to turn off the lights!

The best part is that I am meeting amazing people through this green community who are leaving their passionless jobs and following their dreams.

Personally, I think "green" is a misnomer.  It’s not really about environmental consciousness.  It’s about consciousness as a whole.

And, the more conscious you become, the more connected you become to what truly brings you joy and once you find that out, it’s mighty hard to do anything else.

And, hey, why would you want to?

Tom and Max found their joy and in doing so are making our world a better place to live.

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Right now, you have the opportunity to change someone’s life.

Will you say yes?  The answer reflects your own capacity for success.

It was my sister’s 30th birthday and she invited me to share the evening with her and her friends. 

What an amazing woman my sister is - in the past two years she has grown from an uncertain, lost little girl into a confident, happy, beautiful woman.  I am the luckiest girl in the world to have a sister like her.

At her party, I met an inspiring woman who is going for it as a pop/rock, singer/songwriter.  Her name is Arden Kaywin and you can hear her fantastic music on her website http://www.ardenkaywin.com.

If you’ve ever wanted to really make a difference in someone’s life, this is your chance!

Your action RIGHT NOW can give Arden the break she needs. Vote for Arden at www.nextbighit.com and then send this email to everyone you know who can take 1 minute to make a difference.

Here is Arden’s story - be inspired!

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My name is Arden Kaywin and I am a pop/rock songwriter and performer trying to take my music career to the next level.

I recently entered a competition called the Next Big Hit.

Out of several hundred songs, my song made it to the final round of the competition which is going on right now. The Next Big Hit is one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes and the winner of this competition (the artist/band who’s song gets the most votes) will have their song featured on the iTunes homepage for a week.

This kind of exposure is huge for an up-and-coming artist like me - it could open up so many doors. Many music industry executives will see it, film/TV music supervisors will see it, and most of all, every single music lover who logs on to iTunes during that week will see it. That’s millions of eyes and ears belonging to people who otherwise wouldn’t know about me or my music. I am in 4th place (out of 16) right now.

You can help me get one step closer to my dream by voting for me to win this competition. Please go to: http://www.nextbighit.com and vote for me - Arden Kaywin.

Oh, and you can listen to my songs at http://www.ardenkaywin.com

Thanks for sharing my story with everyone you know who can help!

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I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the question of what is it that I REALLY want for my children.

And, I figured rather than trying to come up with the answer in a vacuum, I’d ask you for your thoughts.

In fact, I’m writing a book.

And, your answers will help me tremendously.

So, please take a minute and dig down deep inside and let me know …

… when you think about what you want most for your children what is the answer that comes back?

Every day I meet with families just like yours who come into meet with me concerned about their children’s well-being after they are gone.

And, the funny thing is that this concern doesn’t seem to go away once your children get to be adults.

Your babies are always your babies, aren’t they?

So, whether your children are 3 years old or 30 years old, please share with me your most ardent wish for them. Click here to send me an email.

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