We live in a capitalist world where success, a widely holistic term, is simply defined by the extent of an individual's financial wealth. It's social programming to only consider people as successful when they've hacked entrepreneurial or career challenges, built massive empires, and have net-worths with over seven zeros.

In reality, this definition doesn't account for what happens after a person earns the "successful" title. Most successful people would continue to work and hustle, but with bigger goals and running in an endless cycle of wealth accumulation. What happens when they finally realize that money alone will never be enough? While financial buoyancy and affluence are desirable goals for a comfortable life, true fulfilment comes from within and cannot simply be fostered by external influences.

According to quantum psychologist and business mentor, Stefanie Bruns, successful people often deal with a sense of dissatisfaction caused by the poor definition of success.

"No matter the wealth and possessions you acquire or the status you achieve, happiness is not generated from the external world," says Bruns, who has built a 20-year career coaching professionals on post-success fulfilment. "Highly successful people struggle to reach ultimate satisfaction and fulfilment not because they do not attempt to cultivate it, but due to their understanding of what it actually requires."

A real sense of fulfilment is essential for a truly wealthy lifestyle – wealth in the holistic sense. While there are many ways to achieve this frame of mind, below are three energy-based, science-backed secrets to expanding one's happiness from within.

Discover and accept your cosmic mission

To anyone new to the concept of energies and extrasensory perception, this may seem like a far stretch. However, understanding your cosmic mission is the first step to getting started on your journey for fulfilment. Your cosmic mission defines your purpose on earth beyond the physical, such as building a career or nurturing a family. It connotes any purpose or specific mission you came here to fulfil, beyond what society may have expectations.

"If they know why they came to this planet, they can take every single step and then they know it's not about them," says Bruns, owner of the Business Flow Academy where she coaches elites and professionals on fulfilled living. "It's not about but their fear to show habits, not about their fear to show themselves, or the fear of not being good enough. It's about the big mission. We came to this planet, not to be scared, but to show up and to create the change. So we were trained to be here and we actually have the skillset to create this change – to make this difference."

Starve your distractions and feed your focus

The world is full of noise. Distractions in all forms and the one thing that stonewalls a person's cosmic discovery is environmental interference.

A major step for living a more fulfilled life is to understand that coincidences are less likely to be unrelated than you can imagine. Synchronicities were a concept introduced by Carl Jung in 1952, in an attempt to explain simple events that appear related yet lack a causal link. This school of thought has been argued, debunked, and rekindled several times over the decades, but recent studies show that there might be many confounding variables unaccounted for. In 2015, quantum physicists were able to isolate certain loopholes to establish a connection between particle vibrations, even from a distance, causing things to happen synchronously.

Essentially, tapping into synchronicities makes a person more aware of their surroundings and more in tune with simple occurrences. This allows you to see life from a different, more special, and entirely unique angle – a mental clarification that sets you up to truly appreciate the little things.

"When you open up your extrasensory perceptions, you will be aware of all the signs that the universe is giving you every day," says Bruns. "If you would stand in front of two pathways, for example, you might see a bird flying in a direction. It's an important and beautiful bird and you decide, 'oh, that was a sign. I have to go in this direction.' And then synchronicities will continue to pop up in your life. Possibilities will show up and you eventually understand that these things are not coincidences. Living in line with one's synchronicities makes life more meaningful."

Extend your energy frequency

Your energy frequency can be described as your positive vibrations. It's an innate concept and can only be worked on from within. Following the phase where you isolate your distractions from your goals, your consciousness should begin to increase. Heightened consciousness fosters increased energy levels, and you have to work smarter to exclusively absorb the positive vibes.

Filling your mind and body with positive energy breeds a sense of existence that's more than just a relaxed state. Everything feels better, lighter, and your satisfaction would ring out as complete. When this state is attained, charity and benevolence become the benchmarks for sustenance.

"Those who have gone through this process to master a higher energetic frequency will devote themselves to giving back consistently due to the fulfilment it generates," says Bruns. "I can pay for the woman in front of me at the supermarket. That is the magic. We must earn more than we need to be able to share and create new ways to contribute. We must also learn how to handle the resources in nature to ensure our longevity on this planet – and this is a responsibility for the wealthy."

In conclusion, monetary wealth and financial success alone are not enough to keep an individual happy in the long term. Regardless of how successful they are, most people would never quit the hustle until they are compelled to. At some point, the accruing wealth becomes nothing special, and life begins to lose its significance. Seeking out and embracing a truly fulfilled state of being is one trustworthy way out of this rut. Fulfilment is the missing connection between success and overall happiness.