My Guiding Principles

Today, I want to share with you how I evaluate my life and ensure I move forward positively. As a result of my life experiences, I've determined that the following principles or beliefs will guide my life:
• Life is too short to be bitter and negative
• I achieve success by believing in myself and by being focused, disciplined and tenacious
• I make a positive difference to people's lives
• I am a special person
• I achieve anything I set my mind to.

I then follow the following steps to ensure that I spend the majority of my time being guided by these principles and beliefs.
Step 1: I set very important goals (VIGs)
Step 2: I review the VIGs
Step 3: I update the VIGs

Let me take you through each Step in turn.

Step 1 In setting my VIGs I ensure each one is linked to the principles and beliefs above. For example, one of my VIGs is to establish a soccer academy for disadvantaged kids in Sierra Leone. This links in to my belief of making a positive difference to people's lives. My contribution to their future would be to provide a free academy for a selected number who possess talent with a view of providing them with the discipline and know-how required to succeed as professional football players. Under each VIG, I set tasks which will lead me to accomplishing the goal.

Step 2 On a periodic basis, I review progress against VIGs, with a view of:
• determining how well I am progressing
• questioning whether the VIG is still relevant to my life
• assessing to which extent actual completion of the VIG has fitted with the relevant guiding principle and belief
• identifying further tasks that I may have omitted for each VIG

During this process, I evaluate my life on a general level. This is the point where I:
• identify my mistakes and forgive myself
• identify how much time I've spent outside achieving my VIGs
• congratulate myself for VIGs achieved or tasks well done. Here, I might decide, for example, to celebrate by taking my family on a weekend break.

Step 3 As a result of the review in Step 2, I then do either one or a combination of tweaking my VIGs, leaving them as they are, adding new VIGs or dropping existing ones. Some of my principles and beliefs relate to how I react generally to my achievements or peoples behavior towards me and others are linked to specific goals. 'Life is too short to be bitter or negative’ could generally relate to:

- Anger at myself for not achieving a goal; or
- Another person doing something to me that I do not like

Whereas 'I can make a positive difference to people's lives' could specifically relate to achieving a specific goal of establishing a soccer academy. The key to moving in a positive direction is to learn from one's mistakes, forgive and be at peace with oneself, congratulate oneself and setting goals that are achievable.

I've published an article on Empowering Beliefs - Life is too short to be bitter and negative. Over the coming weeks, I will publish articles on my other Empowering beliefs. Until then....live your life.