Among those people who influenced my thoughts and actions are Peter Drucker, Stephen R. Covey, Wayne Dyer, Simon Sinek and Eckart Tolle, just to name a view. Studying these brilliant minds, I realized that certain themes are repeating. My aim to cluster those themes resulted in a list of 11 keywords starting with the letter ‘P’. As they helped me on my life journey, I’d like to share those 11 Powerful P’s, hoping they may benefit you as well. This list is surely not exhaustive neither in any specific order.
1. Purpose: To “Start with Why” as Simon Sinek suggests, is not only key in business but also in your private life. Whatever you do, ask yourself why you are doing it and how it fits to your greater plan for a meaningful life.
2. People: Humans are social species, even those considered introverts. The ability to build healthy relationships based on trust and respect sets the basis for networking and positively influencing people. Maintaining healthy relationships is furthermore a key component for longevity. The kinder you are and the more you care for others, the less self-help you need and the better you feel. Once you are in tune with your purpose P 1, focus on the people around you. Putting it with Marshall Goldsmith’s words “Successful people become great leaders when they learn to shift focus from themselves to others”.
3. Peace: Finding inner peace is the source of true happiness from within by just being contented with the person who you are. Being self-aware opens this door to inner peace and happiness. Be aware of what you think, speak and do – and bring all three in harmony. In order to do so, we have to overcome the automatic thoughts, the conditioned beliefs and the constantly wandering mind by which we are governed.
4. Pause: Serenity is the true source of life energy. Especially in our hectic society, make it a point to bring everything to a standstill once a day for just some minutes. Breathe deeply and enjoy the stillness around you and within you, giving your mind a break. Make it also a practice to pause before you (re)act. As our emotional processing works much faster than the logical part of the brain, these crucial seconds of pausing help to avoid a hasty emotional (re)action that we often regret shortly after. Generally speaking, the problem lies not in what people do or don’t do (to us) but how we react to it. The habit to pause will also support the peace finding and relationship building from P’s 2 and 3
5. Positive: Keep your mind and body positive. A positive mindset allows us to see the good in everything and everyone. Try to find the good intentions behind people’s actions and words. It is surprising how often things are better meant than perceived. As Wayne Dyer puts it “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”. For a positively charged body, fire up your chemicals. Have mindful brisk walks, a balanced nutrition and good night rests. The more you practice P’s 1 to 5, the better you will sleep.
6. Passion: Love what you do. If it feels wrong, you are doing it wrong. While we may not always be able to choose the job and activities we do, we have always the choice to do something about it. Change your attitude from a “I have to do” to a “I want to do”.
7. Patience: As Stephen R. Covey suggests, we cannot be “efficient” with people. Efficiency is for things, budgets, schedules, systems and processes. When it comes to people, slow is fast and fast is slow. Patience is virtue, impatience causes high blood pressure.
8. Principle 80/20: This well-known principle states that 80% of the outputs come from 20% of the inputs. In other words, instead of finishing 1 task at 100%, you could accomplish 5 things at 80%. One thing to consider when boosting productivity, since there is no 100% perfection anyway. In line with this principle, studies show that we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time and 80% of our feel-good comes from only 20% of what we do. Maybe time for some decluttering and refocusing.
9. Price: There is no free lunch and always a price to pay. With all the money we make, we can never buy time. Time is most precious, it is priceless. Invest your time wisely, don’t just spend it. Always consider the price you pay to make the extra dollar by having less time for other important matters. While we cannot manage time as time runs us, we can manage ourselves and set priority on what matters most. Invest your money in experiences rather than possessions. Studies show that the feel-good coming from a great trip or a nice gathering with loved ones is longer lasting than that from the new TV set or car.
10. Power: Belief in your powers. You can change and contribute to society more than you think. Practice P’s 1 to 9 and choose wisely by focusing on what you can influence most while accepting what is outside your powers.
11. Provide: Share your knowledge and wisdom. Give more than you take and consume with caution. Life is not so much about how much we achieve but rather how much we give. Always remember that we will leave this planet eventually empty handed – but you we leave a richness behind in the hearts of those people we truly cared for.
Thus, start practicing the Powerful 11 P’s and enjoy a pleasant and peaceful life journey with purpose.
Choose ATvisor™ – Live wiser.
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