It's important to always be building.
This is something I'm learning more and more as I get older. I feel that it's important to always be building something or building towards something. I've found I've been at my happiest when I'm building towards something. I think I've been at my worst and my lowest when I haven't been building anything but rather stagnating. Or, even worse, I've been diminishing myself, my abilities, and my potential.
So, it's very important to build stuff.
What this "stuff" is varies greatly and depends on your stage of life. It can look like a number of different things. Building "stuff" can mean you're building a habit, such as a healthy exercise habit, a healthy eating habit, or a healthy sleeping habit. Building can also mean building friendships or other relationships. When you're younger, building could mean building up your grades in school and building a good reputation for yourself. Building can also be physical, like building a birdhouse, doing landscaping in your yard, or working on some other do-it-yourself project.
All I know is that I feel really good when I'm building towards something, when I'm working on something. I think it keeps you sharp and helps you grow as a person.
Right now in life, even though I haven't "made it" yet, financially speaking, I feel really good about myself and the path I'm on because I'm doing a lot of building in a number of areas.
I'm building my family. I'm working on our family; I have my wife, we have our son, and we have a second kid on the way. We're building our family, and I'm continuing to build and improve my relationship with my wife. We're raising our son and building our family, and that makes me feel great.
I'm also building my body. I'm working out consistently, trying to work out at least a couple of times a week and keep myself in good shape. This is very important to me to feel good and be able to accomplish what I want. So, I'm building my exercise regimen and my body. I'm also building upon healthy habits, eating healthy, and working on my sleep hygiene.
At my full-time job, I'm building a career. I'm on a track I've been on for several years, working towards a specific career. I'm building my reputation and a specific skill set in an area that I feel is and can be lucrative in the future.
On top of that, I'm also building some personal projects. I'm building internet side projects and working on specific ventures. Right now, it's Citizens of the Internet, the personal website gallery I've been working on and building, and I'm having a lot of fun with that. It's something that isn't making money right now, but I think in the future, it could make money, possibly good money. I have other ideas and am definitely going to be building other products and things that I can potentially reap rewards from in the future.
I think as long as you're checking some of these boxes and building towards something positive in your life, you're going to feel good and be on a good path towards success.
One other area I'll mention is building your emotional muscle and your spiritual muscle, working on your personal growth, and building towards greater self-actualization. I think this is kind of the "endgame," so to speak—or at least the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It's something that is great to work on at any stage of life, even if you haven't accomplished all your financial or business goals. As you're building and working on all these things, building these very important emotional and spiritual muscles is going to be very beneficial and rewarding, and it's important.