Life's 7 Vital P's

Life’s 7 Vital P’s

Tim Connor

This article is not intended to simplify what it takes to achieve success, but to give you a simple and straightforward approach that when consistently implemented can go a very long way to helping you accomplish your dreams, find happiness and inner peace and use your skills and experience for the benefit of others.

What are the seven?  And yes there are many more traits, attitudes and mindsets that are required but after careful consideration I’ll bet you could list all of them under one of the seven.

Purpose, Passion, Preparation, Practice, Persistence, Performance and Patience.

Let’s take a brief look at each.

Purpose – Without a defining purpose whether personal, business or career it is unlikely that anyone will consistently pursue a dream, desire or goal if they have a haphazard or wily nily approach to their activities, decisions and actions. Purpose should be the underlying philosophy or strategy if you want to have any hope of ultimate success or achievement.  Purpose helps us overcome obstacles, failure and disappointment as we pursue our objectives or mission. Clear and focused purpose needs to be well defined and integrated into each belief, mindset, action and decision.   

Purpose must be grounded in belief and commitment if any goal is to be accomplished or achieved regardless of its timeframe.

Passion – Passion can make up for a lack of education, experience and knowledge.  Yes, these can be helpful but how many people do you think embarked on a mission with all of the skills and knowledge they needed to achieve success?  My research over the years tells me that most people who have achieved greatness whether inventors, entrepreneurs or anyone who has accomplished great things didn’t have all they needed when they began, but they all had a driving passion.

Preparation – It doesn’t matter whether you are an Olympic athlete or are preparing for a vacation - preparation when done in a timely and effective way will go a long way in ensuring a successful outcome. Yes, there will always be surprises and uncertain things that can cause challenges as you make your journey but in the end preparation can serve as an excellent way to make sure that these will be minor or they won’t disrupt the major objective of your goal. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t live without a sense of adventure or spontaneity but proper planning will often contribute to a better outcome.  Planning consists of thinking through the journey in advance with all of its goals, potential problems and uncertainties and how you will handle them should they arrive or in other words having a Plan B or even a Plan C.

Practice – Without practice whether you are an actor, salesperson, athlete or business leader you are guaranteed to fail to achieve your desired results.  Over the years I have observed numerous salespeople “winging it” hoping that their casual style would end in success.  I have watched many athletes depend on “natural ability” hoping that they would achieve greatness.  Doesn’t happen.  The best of the best always practice whether on their own or with a mentor, coach or anyone interested in helping them achieve success.  Perfection is impossible but practice can ensure that you always do your best.

Persistence – I’ll keep this one short – without persistence you will never achieve your goals, dreams or plans.  Yes, sometimes our plans or goals need to be refined or abandoned but in the end if it is worthy of your talent, skill, and effort don’t expect things to always turn out according to your schedule or time table. Stick with it if it has meaning in your life and accept wherever the path leads.

Performance – Performance is simply the result of many factors – attitudes, effort, knowledge, skill, wisdom, desire and discipline.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s preparing a fancy meal, building a house or working on a project or hobby - when complete or how it looks along the way and when it is finished will be a direct result of the performance you brought to each step of the way.  This article for example is not just 800 words but my attempt to share in a coherent way some facts, truths or opinions about this topic.  Do I rewrite?  Yes.  Do I evaluate the outcome and then process each step of the way?  Yes.  Do I add stuff or delete stuff or change stuff on second and third readings?  Yes.  Is it perfect? No. Could it always be better?  Yes. Will it ever be perfect?  No. Will everyone like it?  No. Performance is a measure of the relationship to your goals, plans or objectives and their outcomes.

Patience – The number one contributor to stress is a lack of patience. When we feel we should be in control of everything in life; it’s outcomes, timing, responses etc we are just setting ourselves up for disappointment, frustration, anxiety and even anger.  Not a pretty picture when you consider that a lack of patience is directly related to our lack of trust, acceptance and the need to be in charge of life.  Not going to happen – sorry.   

Life happens every day to each of us – things we didn’t expect, things we don’t want, and people that for whatever reason disappoint us in some way. Patience is simply the ability to flow with life as it appears one minute at a time. Someone didn’t respond to your email or text as quickly as you wanted?  Someone is late for an appointment?  Traffic jam?  I could go on for pages with all of this stuff but in the end we have a choice – accept what is (and I don’t mean to imply that we should be passive bystanders but that we should learn when to act and when to wait) or do what we can do while we wait.  Too many people die early simply because they let the power of impatience destroy their health, happiness and inner peace.

“Self-trust is the first secret of success.”

Emerson