“The reason I am on this planet is to leave a legacy of people and places being better than when I arrived.” E. Pritchard
My life changed when I realised that when I pursued meaning beyond myself and recognised and celebrated my accomplishments, I was leaving a valuable legacy and my life will be well spent with whatever time I have on this planet.
We often think that life is about what we do or what we have, but we know through the decades of research by skilled people like Martin Seligman, Sonya Lyubomirsky, and Ed Diener, (and also personal experience of both Christine and myself) that we will only experience true deep seated constant happiness and fulfilment when we pursue meaning beyond ourselves and recognise our accomplishments with satisfaction. The final two vital components of P.E.R.M.A.
M – Meaning
A – Accomplishments
What do we attribute meaning to?
The amount of work we put out? The number of grants we submit? The KPIs we produce? The number of accolades or awards we rack up?
All of these things are externally driven outcomes and will leave us wanting, feeling despondent and disappointed with ourselves if we do not achieve them.
Many of these “successes” are totally out of our control. Reliant on someone else’s decision and response which is beyond our reach to impact.
So how can we experience happiness and wellbeing when these types of things are part of the uncontrollables in our life?
We look inward. We work through what is our ‘WHY’, what is the legacy we want to leave in this world, the people we want to help, the lives we want to be part of changing. This can be on a local, family, community, country or global level. When we look at what is the meaning beyond ourselves that we want to contribute to, we will experience deep satisfaction with our lives regardless of the external outcomes.
How do we celebrate our accomplishments?
Do we play our accomplishments down, pretend that it was just in a day’s work, that “I’m nothing special”?
When we do this, we are dimming our own light. We are giving our personal power away, and allowing others to trample all over us. There is a way of recognising and savouring our accomplishments without ego or arrogance.
It’s about becoming your true Authentic self and savouring those moments of success for YOURSELF.
Yes, share your accomplishments with others who will celebrate with you as well – not those who are quick to judge or cut you down to make THEMSELVES feel better. Share your accomplishments with pride and joy!
When you focus on building and strengthening each component of P.E.R.M.A. you will be stronger within, more confident, ready to bounce forward from any adversity, more focussed on meaning beyond self, and ready to treat yourself with love and respect to achieve the greatest heights.
We sincerely hope you find this remarkable gift of P.E.R.M.A. life-changing.