• Wealth
• Freedom
• Happy
• Clean

There are two interesting things to realize about the meanings you just came up with. One is that they are your meanings, a unique amalgamation of every experience you had with that word. You continually change your meanings, develop them, abandon them. And secondly, because each meaning is uniquely yours, your meaning for every word is different from everyone else's experience of that word.

This is important to remember when you are trying to communicate with others. For example, I am positive my mom and I had different understandings of the word "clean" when I was growing up. In our business and personal relationships these different meanings can cause miscues and even conflict. And how about our internal conversations with ourselves? The meanings we attach to words can prove to be a help or a hindrance. Is your definition of the word "successful" so constrictive, for example, that you can never achieve it. That might motivate you - or it might make you miserable.

So what words are causing confusion in your life and in your relationships? Are your meanings for words like "commitment", "integrity", or "punctuality" not quite clicking with someone else's? Is a definition you hold not serving your long-term goals? And are you willing to do something about it today?