Right Livelihood = The 8 Ps To Lasting Profit
Someone once said, “Do the right thing and the money will come.”
I’m not against making money. As a matter of fact, I want you to make money with my books and programs, not only selling them for profit in your school and community but also to gain income through grants for bullying programs. In other words, I want you to be successful!
In my “former life” I worked on Wall Street at three different brokerage houses and on the floor the New York Stock Exchange. I also attended the New York Institute of Finance. I learned a great deal about money and what drives it. And it is not what you think. What drives money is not “economics.” It is human emotions like fear and greed, pleasure and pain, happiness and despair. It is really a simple formula: when people are happy they spend; when they are afraid they pull back (unless you offer them something to assuage their fears).
Based on this insight that human emotions drive the economy I would like to offer my formula for success – The 8 Ps to Lasting Profit. The key word here is “lasting,” for human emotions are with us forever (unless we all become replaced by Data-like robots).
The 8Ps are:
- Perspective
- Plan
- Program
- People
- Passion
- Persistence
- Patience
- Profit
Let’s take them one at a time. The first is Perspective. This means “vision.” Without vision there is no clarity of purpose. This is the most important “P” because it sets a course of action. Remembering that it’s human emotions that drive the economy one has to take into consideration what is needed in society, what people want to do to make their lives and the lives of their children, better.
Parents love their children but are anxious about their safety, especially their physical and emotional welfare.
So in order to meet these emotional needs you will have to develop a “Plan,” the second “P.” A proper Plan of action will have to address these emotional needs in a practical and effective way. The Plan needs to include a well thought system of securing and implementing the next “P” – a Program.
It is the Program that is the core of your success. It has to encompass the Perspective, the vision, in a concrete, realistic and indepth manner. It has to be in line with it. You will need something that really works, that really helps address those emotional concerns. For if you try to substitute anything less it will not work in the long run. It may assuage the symptoms but it will not address the causes and therefore it will be seen through sooner or later.
The Program must include People, the right people who, like yourself, have the vision, and the training and resources to carry out that vision. They are covisionaries who will put the program into action. And this leads us into the next 3Ps: Passion, Persistence and Patience.
I think that in today’s “pop” culture, where almost everything is immediately available, where instant gratification is catered to, many people who want to cash in on the trendy stuff will not have these 3Ps. They will want to go straight to the PROFIT “P” and skip over the rest. Well, if you have been in the martial arts as long as I have, you will have seen many so-called “success” programs come and go like mushrooms popping up overnight only to be gone tomorrow. If you really want long lasting success you will need to be in it for the long haul. In order to do this you will need Passion; you will need dedication, commitment and the energy to carry out your Perspective, Plan and Program. And then the rest will fall together. You will develop the Persistence and the Patience to carry out the original Perspective, the vision to meet the emotional needs of your clients because you are growing your business for the long term. And that will Profit yourself and society.
