Navigating Your Life With Guiding Principles
Life comes in phases — each one requiring a more skillful level of navigation than the last.
During a life phase, you’ll have opportunities to improve, correct or reframe what you’re doing in order to get better results.
You both are Michelangelo and David. That’s the beauty of being here.
Opportunities will come in the way of career and business success. The constant drive for professional success is probably why you’re reading this email.
There will also be many chances to level up your relationships, your health, your mind and perhaps even your entire identity over the years.
The easiest way to spot these opportunities in life is to operate within your own set of personally developed guiding principles. These principles are rules you set for yourself as a dedication to your autonomy.
Your principles are custom made for your unique life. They may even sound strange to someone else. That’s good. They’re only for you.
Your principles should not dictate what you should do in any particular situation. They should be guideposts for who you would like to be at any given time.
We often cannot always control future outcomes. We can always control our present state of being.
Last night, I sat down to write my own out. So far, I have 11.
Here’s what I wrote:
To show up fully in the next phase of my life, I must:
Remain clear, focused and dedicated.
Stick to the plan, but not fear flexibility in how the outcome presents itself.
Focus on my energy on things that build me, not drain me.
Prioritize balance over “workaholism.”
Maintain a soft, open heart and loving demeanor.
Do whatever the “hard thing” is.
Set clear boundaries for how I’m willing to be treated and respect them.
Become aware of my own patterns and course-correct to break the loop.
Monitor and improve my media consumption.
Become more proactive than ever before.
Connect my day-to-day with my legacy.
I will keep adding to this list over time.
Ideas come to me in journaling and meditation that I’ll add. Patterns will reveal themselves and I’ll take note.
Two things, though…
I won’t be afraid to change one of these principles if it no longer serves my purpose.
I won’t be afraid to share my principles with others and be challenged for not operating in accordance with them.
What guiding principles would you make for yourself?
My suggestion: take a minimum of 20–30 minutes tonight with your favorite hot beverage, sit down with a pen and pad, turn off and tuck away any electronics, and write them out.
Write them thoughtfully. One at a time. Then begin to live them.
See what it feels like to sculpt the magnificent shape of your life, action-by-action, through your daily intentions, written in ink, carved into eternity.
More gems like this from me every week on the Alpha Mentorship newsletter.
