The 4 Ps of Success in Business and in Life

In this blog post I want to share with you the 4 Ps of success in business and in life, as imparted to me by my mentor and success coach, JT Debolt. No matter where you are in your life or business, whether you are at the start, in the middle or at the end of a project, these 4 Ps are critical to your success and the people around you.

The 4 Ps are: Perspective, Preparation, Perseverance and Purpose.

1. Perspective

Perspective is the one thing that is unique to you. It is your window to the world. There is not a single person in the world who can duplicate your perspective on life. I express the same sentiment in the first paragraph of the About Page of this blog. Not one person has had the experiences you’ve had in life. They have not walked the same walk and had the same interface with the environment and with the world as you have.

All that goes together to create perspective. It is the unique viewpoint that you and only you bring to the world. It’s how you interface with the world. Your experience, your views, your vision, your contribution. That’s perspective.

You have something that is unique. The question is what is it? What is your perspective on the world? What is the unique view of the world that you have to offer others?  What is your vision of how you are building your life?

Now, your perspective is what draws people to you.  The people that resonate with your perspective are the ones that will be with you and stick by you through thick and thin. The more you share your perspective on the world and the more you put your perspective into your marketing, the more authentic those people will be with you because you are being authentic with them.

So perspective is the one unique thing that you have, so make sure it is a major part of your massage and a major part of how you conduct yourself in life and in business.

2. Preparation

Preparation is important but it is not about making sure everything is perfect. It is only a matter of getting to a place where you can move forward and execute whatever you are doing with confidence. For example, if you are writing a blog post you do not need to go through multiple drafts to make sure everything is perfect. To be sure, you have to strive to get the basics right, like making sure the gramma is correct and there are no spelling mistakes, but it does not have to be perfect before you hit that publish button. However, because we do not want to appear unprepared or come off as not knowing what we are talking about, we always want to have all the I’s dotted and t’s crossed.

The more time you spend getting ready, the less time you are out there helping people. Yes, be as prepared as you can, but just get your stuff out there. It’s not the end of the world if you find later that there was a word missing here or a spelling mistake there. Nothing you do will ever be one hundred percent right or one hundred percent complete because as an Entrepreneur you are on a never ending mission.

3. Perseverance

Perseverance is a must in the game of success because to achieve success you will have to work harder that you even imagined and it will likely take longer than you thought it would, but it is worth staying in the game.

Do you want to know what perseverance is? It’s simple. All you have to do is show up…every single day. It doesn’t matter if you do not feel good. It doesn’t matter if you don’t feel prepared, because you will never feel ready. Just show up.  And here is the key…if the timing doesn’t feel right, if you think you don’t have the money, if you feel that you don’t have all the resources or support, that’s probably the most perfect time to do it. Just show up. Stop telling yourself that you cannot do it and just do it anyway. As unprepared and as unready as you feel, just show up and that’s all it takes!

Perseverance does not mean finishing or winning. When you persevere it does not mean that you overcame something and cross the finish line with your arms held aloft. That’s the end result of perseverance. Perseverance comes way before accomplishing the mission. It comes way before crossing the finish line. The end result is the by-product of perseverance, which is why it is so important.

Perseverance is what keeps you in the game. You cannot fail unless you quit. There are only two ways to fail in life and in business. You either quit or you never get started in the first place. That’s the only way to fail. That is not to say there will be no falls or setbacks along the way. Sometimes it will seem like everything is falling apart. But that is not failure. That’s a request for you to persevere. That’s an opportunity for you to grow. Like an athlete who lifts weights to make his muscles stronger, that’s an opportunity for you to grow in character and make yourself mentally stronger. Failure only happens when you quit. When you say I cannot do this anymore and you give up. Or you say this is way too scary, so I will say no now, but I may do it sometime in the future. That’s failure.

4. Purpose

Your unique view of life, your perspective, is what defines your purpose. It is your calling and should be your reason for getting up in the morning. It defines your mission in life and should give you peace because you will be doing what you want as opposed to chasing around and doing what other people say you should be doing. You define your own mission and knowing that you are doing it on your terms is what gives you peace. That gives you more energy and becomes the fuel that drives you to success.

Your purpose is everything. A business that is built with purpose is the richest business on earth, because, although it may not be the richest financially, it will make you so happy that every day will feel like heaven on earth. That’s what purpose does.