Do you like the word, “PROSPERITY?” I do.
Webster defines prosperity as the condition of being successful or thriving.
What I like about that definition and the idea of “prosperity” is that YOU define what being successful or thriving means for you.
For example, for one person prosperity could mean a satisfying career full of meaning. For another, it could mean complete contentment with your situation in life – personal, professional, financial, family. For yet another, it could mean you have all you ever dreamed you could have or maybe more.
Those all sound like situations most people I know would want to be in. It got me thinking, though. If that’s the case, why aren’t more people living a prosperous life?
When I started thinking about retiring early from a six-figure executive position after an amazing 40+ year career in corporate America, I realized something. I could retire earlier than I originally planned because I am already living a prosperous life!
My husband and I were in the ideal situation. Both in good health with no chronic illnesses – thank God. We are financially sound, meaning we have no credit card debt, own our cars and our home, and live quite comfortably within our means – intentionally. We planned well for our retirement. We both had fantastic careers and much on our lists of things we wanted to do and enjoy in our retirement. That smells and feels like prosperity to me.
As I reflected on my career and life when I retired, this saying came to mind: “when life throws you lemons, make lemonade.” I say, make lemonade cocktails!
The lemons: Throughout my career and life, I made plenty of missteps. Plenty of missed opportunities and losses. Plenty of setbacks, challenges, and sleepless nights. More than my fair share of crying bouts. (I’m rather emotional, admittedly; a well-written Hallmark card could set me off at the store.) And countless hours spent figuring things out.
You experience these situations, too. We all do. (Well, maybe not tearing up in the greeting card aisle at the grocery store.)
The lemonade: With all those trying situations also came plenty of learnings, growth, risk-taking, wins, celebrations, and positive outcomes that transformed my life from an average one to a prosperous one.
The lemonade cocktail: Importantly and gratefully, all my life I have been blessed with and still have an amazing tribe of family, friends, and colleagues to help support and encourage me. Some of those people are in my life because of genealogy. Most are in my life because I chose them to work with, be friends with, hang with, and network with. They make the lemonade more like a special cocktail.
Enough of the lemon analogies.
My message is this: I’ve worked hard for and enjoyed a successful career. Today I live a life full of joy, love, peace, and purpose – a life of prosperity.
Yet, many don’t. Hear this. If a too-tall shy Italian girl with a rare, unsightly skin condition (which, still today is undiagnosed and therefore, untreatable) who was bullied and made fun of well into high school can succeed and thrive — indeed live in prosperity — so can you!
Let me repeat the question I posed earlier. If prosperity is something most people would want to have – however they define it for themselves – then why aren’t more people living a prosperous life?
That question continued to trouble me after I retired. As I listened to people talk about the problems they face and how they are starting to feel lost or helpless, I thought, if they only knew what I knew, and did the things I did…maybe things could turnaround for them.
These thoughts kept me up at night. That’s when it came to me. The answer. In the middle of the night, my subconscious brain woke me up and said, “Mary Lou, you always wanted to teach. Now’s your chance! Go teach others how you prospered so you can help them prosper, too!” My new purpose in retirement was clear. I need to help people prosper.
I developed and wrote “The 12 Principles of Prosperity” for one reason: to share what I’ve learned about how to be successful with people who want the same for themselves.
The principles are the muscles that bring my 4Cs Change FrameworkTM to life. This is an approach I developed that has helped me create effective, successful, award-winning transformational change communications programs that drive business results. Knowing that on average 70% of transformational change initiatives companies attempt to implement fail, my 4Cs framework and principles can help you make whatever change you are attempting to make a successful one – at work or in your life.
The 4Cs in the framework are Clarity, Connection, Caring, and Courage. Think of the framework like the skeleton of the human body. Like your bones, they are interconnected and function in synchrony with one another. Yet, they do not function without muscle to make them move. The skeleton needs muscle to bring it to life.
Without muscle, there is no movement, no action. The 12 Principles of Prosperity are behaviors and philosophies that provide the muscle needed or specific actions to take that can help you change the direction of your career and life. Whether leading a change communications program or working to make a change in your life, applying and living by these principles will increase your chances of success.
Maybe you’re looking for more fulfillment in your personal life. Or perhaps more satisfaction, purpose, or advancement in your career. Maybe you could benefit from having more money. If you have more, you can be more, do more, and give more. A “more” mindset is upon you. How you define prosperity is up to you. My goal is to teach you how to attain it for yourself.
Through personal stories and examples, I share new information, concepts, philosophies, insights, and wisdom that have helped me, and other great leaders, prosper personally, professionally, and financially.
I will open your mind to some new ways of thinking that can ignite that spark in your life that’s missing.
I also remind you of simple, tried, and true techniques and behaviors that when applied in your life with intent, consistency, and persistence can accelerate your journey to change your life for the better. You may recognize some of them. But you may not know how to apply them in your life to become your best you. You soon will.
My hope is you use the “12 Principles of Prosperity” as I have, in your journey to the lifestyle of freedom, peace, and prosperity you desire and deserve.
The 12 Principles of Prosperity
- Desire Drives You to Your Destination. The first step to getting all you want out of life is first knowing what that is. What do you desire? Who do you want to be and identify as? What do you want out of life? What’s your legacy going to be? Without clarity of what you want and where you’re going, your journey to can’t begin.
- Becoming the Better You Starts with Changing What You Think. Nothing happens in life without first having an idea or a thought. What are you thinking about? Who do you think you ought to be? What do you think your life should be like? Get clear about what you’re thinking and how you speak to yourself because you are and become what you think about.
- Write. Recite. Repeat. When you’re clear about what you desire, write it down. Clearly state what you what, what you will give to attain it, by when, and your plan of action. This statement becomes your guiding light. Recite it aloud first thing in the morning and before you go to bed at night. Repeat this daily, with emotion and in faith, and as if you already possess what you desire. This embeds it in your subconscious mind and enables the people, things and opportunities to help you get want you want to come to you.
- New Teacher. New Paradigm. You can’t keep doing the same thing you always did and expect different results. One way to get out of that cycle is to open your mind to a new way, new information, new teachers, new paradigms. Study success formulas of the wealthy with the people who have used those formulas and you will uncover new approaches that when applied can change your life.
- Invest in YOU First. People spend money on things every day. Whether it’s food, shelter, your phone service or a bigger investment like a car, money is exchanged daily for things that help you live your life. Consider what investing in making your life better can bring. Invest in learning, invest in surrounding yourself with successful people, invest your time in creating the future you always wanted. The best investment you’ll make is the one you make in yourself.
- Listen Like You Want to Be Listened To. Hearing is a capability. Listening is a skill. If you want to be heard, valued, and respected, a skill you need to hone is that of active listening. This involves putting all of your attention on the other person. That means, full, undivided, undistracted attention — phones down, TVs/screens off, lean-in attention. When you actively listen with intent to another person, the gift of knowledge, understanding and human connection will enrich you as a person and professional.
- What You Do For Others Gets Done For You. One way to make yourself stand out and be more valuable to those around you is to help them get what they want. Ask what they need help with and then help them get it. That act of service will not only elevate your value to and the relationship you have with that person, but the law of reciprocity will deliver back to you in kind.
- Giving More Gets You More. Give and ye shall receive is a well-established principle, a universal truth. It stands to reason, then, when you give more, you receive more. Going the extra mile and doing just a little more than the next person will set you apart. Most will do what’s required; few go out of their way to do more. Go one step beyond, give a little more, and you’ll get more out of life.
- How You Make Them Feel Makes YOU. Paraphrasing Maya Angelou, people will forget what you said, they’ll forget what you did, but they’ll never forget how you make them feel. How did you feel the last time someone said something nice to you or did something nice for you? For no reason, just to make you feel better. How you make others feel is a direct reflection of how you feel about yourself. Take the time and make the effort to feed positivity into others; that very act boomerangs positivity back to you.
- Say “YES” When It Matters Most. Being a “yes” person opens you up to opportunities. Saying “yes” to everything is a sure-fire way to stay underwater and accomplish nothing. If everything is important, nothing is. What you say “yes” to, should help you achieve a goal, or move you in the direction you want to go. Make sure what you say “yes” to is not only strategic, but also legal, ethical, and moral.
- Act As If And Go As Though. As kids, many of us pretended to be something other than who we were. A superhero, a doctor, a football player, a dancer. We imagined ourselves as that because we wanted to be that. As adults, we often lose that imagination. When we pretend to be the millionaire, or the successful business owner, we imagine ourselves to be, we feed our mind and body the fuel it needs to bring that person to reality. Act as if and go as though you already are who you want to be, and that person will appear.
- Bury the Words, “I Can’t.” “I can’t” are two of the most debilitating and limiting words you can say to yourself. If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right! You are what you think about, so the words, “I can’t” need to be removed from your vocabulary. Bury them. Bury the notion that you’re not good enough. Bury it, date stamp it and give yourself permission to be and do what you desire. Today.
To your prosperity!
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