This is the stuff of Greek tragedy, song lyrics and more than a few Woody Allen movies. We pursue the fruits of life but we forget to savor the sweetness, we forget to swallow and be nourished, we're too busy frantically racing to fill our coffers until one day we realize our taste buds have wasted and the fruit has gone sour.

Such cheesy metaphors abound, but the simple truth is eternal: it's not all about the bucks. Work from home business success and happiness is more about the process. It's about who you become during the journey, and what you experience along the way.

Here's a slightly dark acid-test question: if you died tomorrow, who would attend your funeral? What would they feel, and what would be written on your tombstone? "Here lies another work from home business success story, too bad he didn't get to take that cruise he'd always dreamed about."

He who dies with the most toys does not win, nor does she who leaves the best looking corpse. No, the winner is the person who banks the most cherished memories and dampens the most hankies at their wake.

Instead of counting dollars, try counting minutes. Unlike money, they cannot be earned back once lost. But like dollars, there is a return on minutes invested wisely - time spent helping others, time spent enjoying the company of those you love, time spent inhaling the sweet aroma of the roses, or if it suits you, the fumes of your boat on the lake, whatever it is that turns your crank. And yes, time spent working productively.

When you bank enough of these returns, you have hedged your life's bet, nothing can defeat you. Use your work to forge your character and build the foundation for future life experiences, rather than position it as your life's purpose.

Your goal is to achieve work from home business success and wealth, but what does that really mean? If you are sick, wealth is feeling good again. If you are lonely, wealth is someone with whom you can spend quality time. If you are unfulfilled - as many rich folks are - wealth is sharing and spreading the fruits of your efforts.

Sometimes this type of net worth - the emotional, experiential kind - is as much about taking out the trash as it is adding to the emotional bank account. Kindness, forgiveness and proactive love are the vehicles for this journey, not your next sale or your after-tax net.

Consider the last day of your life -- what would you do with it? If you said, "I'd work," go back to the beginning and read this again. Once you know, and once the answer has nothing at all to do with work, then consider the next day of your life and apply the same answer.

Work hard, certainly. Work smart, absolutely. But put your work into its proper, balanced perspective - work is a means to an end, and if one thing in life is certain, it is that the end is coming.

Make a list of emotional and relational issues unresolved in your life. Call an old friend. Commit a random act of kindness. Forgive someone. Pay an unexpected visit. Close your eyes and listen to the lyrics. Take a walk in the morning rain. Savor the taste of each moment. Step into fear, and then take away its power over you going forward. Be present. And be thankful, because today probably isn't the day you'll have to close your account, there's still time to add to the balance.

It isn't about jumping up and down on a couch and professing your love, nor is it running wildly through the aisles at the grocery store passing out dollar bills. No, this journey unfolds within you. Embrace it; create the proper balance between what you value about your work and what you value about your life.

Attaining work from home business success is important, but it is only part of the journey. Care for the other parts with equal diligence, because if you do, and when your day finally arrives, you'll go out a winner.