-Increase your personal power with these intentions.

Purpose. Passionate commitment. Picture. Persistence. Peace. Present moment. Positive spirit.

No one gets through this life without the stress and frustration of mistakes, setbacks and obstacles. However, living your life guided by these seven principles will strengthen your personal power to get you through any predicament.

Good relationships are the foundation of all success, whether professional or personal. We need other people to make our dreams come true, our goals come to fruition and live a fulfilling life. However, when we come to these relationships accountable to our authentic best, we and others benefit more.

Take a broad look at your life through these seven principles. See where you are strong and where you might be lacking. Then imagine what would change if you integrated these principles into your thoughts, behaviors and choices.

Purpose: What drives you to get up every morning? It can be something significant like inventing a new product to make millions of people’s lives easier. Or it could be more intimate such as being a loving parent. Either way, having a purpose helps you prioritize your choices less stressfully.

Passionate commitment: A purpose isn’t powerful unless attached to an underlying passion that stems from a good reason. Passion emerges when you know why your purpose matters so deeply. Whatever your “why” is, it’s profoundly personal and needs no validation from anyone else.

Picture: A songwriter told me the secret to writing great lyrics is to create images for the listener. A picture in the mind is worth more than the thousand words you tell yourself. Visualize what successfully living your purpose looks like.

Persistence: When your best efforts are thwarted, don’t give up. Take this as a sign of the challenges and tests you must pass to reach the next level. Be adaptable and flexible to help you move through these issues. Let them strengthen, not weaken your purpose and passion.

Peace: Sometimes you can’t change, control or navigate around what’s getting in the way of your purpose. This is the time to be at peace with what is. Accept the reality of today. It’s the fastest way to relax your mind to see new options and opportunities tomorrow. Acceptance is not defeat. It’s a stress reliever that allows you to be more open-minded and creative.

Present moment: Your purpose is executed now, not in the past or the future. Focus on what you can do to live your purpose today no matter how insignificant. How you handle the present moment, good or bad, impacts what the next moment will bring.

Positive spirit: The word spirit evokes the idea of the whole person. Our greatest asset is being fully integrated, body, mind and emotions. Make positive choices in what you think, feel and do. Don’t deny what is difficult but don’t wallow in it either.

There’s plenty of chaos in the world and likely in your life too. Today, take a break from looking outward. Instead, empower yourself from the inside out by putting these 7 principles into practice.

Decide to live at your authentic best instead of reacting to the worst that may be around you.

Til next week,
Jo-Aynne von Born, Executive Coach

Work Your Authentic Genius.

1. How much of the day do you spend reacting to what’s happening versus making choices based on what’s important to you?
2. How do these 7 principles help you emerge your authentic best?
3. If you could implement one principle today, which would it be?