I hope you are doing well and living your dream. If not, I hope you’re on the road to living the awesome life you’re dreaming of.
I’d like to share with you 3 principles that I’m learning that are really helping me grow and succeed in every area of my life. I don’t know about you but I tend to be a bit driven especially when I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I get jazzed and energized … that’s when the creative juices start flowing. What I’m learning to do is take that enthusiasm and channel it in a way that will benefit me the most. Enter …the 3 Ps.
The 3 Ps are a set of principles that I have discovered that help me live a well rounded life … A life that is rewarding right now… a life that spurs me to reach my goals for the future while living my best life now. Sounds amazing, huh? It is.
And it’s so simple. You focus your time and efforts in three main buckets or categories. It keeps you from being scattered and overwhelmed by life. It gives direction so that you can center yourself with laser beam accuracy on what really matters to you.
The three Ps are: Physical, personal, and professional. You determine your goals and set benchmarks or ways to measure your success. Let me explain.
The physical pertains to what you want to accomplish in your physical body and your mind. It’s about building, maintaining, and optimizing your body and your mind. You determine how you want to feel, how you want to look and how you will evaluate your progress. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you will have a 6 pack, slender legs, tiny waist, or enormous pecs … it could …but that’s up to you 😊. For me, those goals were a bit too lofty… as a person who isn’t as physically active as I should be, I decided to set my sights on what was reasonably attainable but still a stretch goal for me. Now don’t laugh… here are my first set of goals…
- How will I feel- vibrant and healthy with no joint aches, no brain fog, no chronic fatigue, able to walk upstairs without being short of breath, able to vigorously dance all the way through my favorite up beat praise songs, and decreased stress level.
- How will I look: 5-10 pounds lighter, no dark circles around my eyes, tighter skin, flatter abdomen, less arm flab (less giggling) – no judging please 😊.
- How to measure progress: walk upstairs upon arrival to work rather than taking the elevator, exercise 3 times per week, 6-7 hours of sleep, drink 32 oz of water daily, take vitamins daily, swim 2 days per week, and dance like no one is watching as least once a week.
You might be thinking … dang this chick was in bad shape… well you have to start where you are.
Anyway, moving forward…
The personal category focuses on relationships that involve a direct connection and impact/influence. The foundational relationships that are near and dear to your heart. Here’s my example…
- Primary relationships to strengthen: hubby and family, especially grandchildren. Also, two specific friends that I have known for a long time but wasn’t spending as much time together as I would like.
- Relationships to weaken or let go: my job (not the people but stop devoting so many hours to the company objective instead of my own)
- How to measure progress: relationships that don’t feel strained but have frequent biphasic communication beyond the superficial small talk
This might not be the case with you but sometimes I lose sight of what’s important because I’m attending to the immediate demand not the things that really matter.
The final “P” is professional. Once your body, mind, and personal aspects have been addressed you can turn your attention to the professional component of success. This refers to the relationships that involve indirect connection and impact, also known as “value exchange”. In other words, it pertains to how I exchange what I have to offer the business world for what the business world has to offer me and vice versa. How to devise and develop a mutually beneficial relationship with customers and business associates.
- What’s my magic #: how much money do I need to replace my job, what more do I need to fulfill my dreams? I now know what that number is. Before I started this journey I had a nebulous idea not a concrete goal to work towards. This is the major goal. There are incremental steps along the way and I am determined to hit each one of them.
- How will the physical and personal areas be impacted: more time to devote to these areas without stress … truly enjoy the journey. I am also making great connections with like-minded entrepreneurs. These relationships are invaluable as we support each other in our journey to financial freedom.
- Measure professional progress: retire from my current place of employment making more money, establish my nonprofit charitable venture as a monthly conduit for my philanthropic endeavors.
So how am I doing? Quite well actually. I hit my physical and personal goals … it’s just the beginning but it really feels good and gives me confidence to keep going and set more stretch goals. Regarding my professional goals I am happy to say that I am on my way. I am an entrepreneur making money from home and am well on my way to accomplish my dreams. My nonprofit is underway as well. Ain’t it great!!?
I encourage you to consider your 3P’s. Write them down. Plan your strategies. It’s way easier to hit a target if you know what it is, right? Once you have your goals established… be relentless.
You can do it!