5 Pillars of Maximizing Potential And Why I Treat Them As a Way of Living
Jul 20, 2024
I see my life as a pentagon.
I like simplicity, so I broke down my "maximizing potential" philosophy into 5 pillars that can be put on vertices of it:
1. Life
2. Mind
3. Body
4. Spirit
5. Money
These are the core of a human being.
Every skill you acquire, everything you focus on, and every action you take can be put under one of these categories. If something you do doesn't take its place on a pentagon, it's likely a distraction from your ideal future. And vice versa if your actions are focused on the movement according to the vertices of the pentagon, you get closer to your desired life.
Let's let's take a closer look.
Life
The most important one, that's why it's on the top vertex of the pentagon.
It's your ideal future. What you want in your life and most importantly don't want in it.
Every single human is struggling with their life vision, so it's easier to start by asking questions of anti-vision.
In 20 years...
Where don't I want to end up?
What job I don't want to wake up daily?
What activities I don't want to do anymore?
Give your mind several minutes to answer, and when the negative energy flow transforms to "shit, I don't want to live such a life, I want to..." allow the mind to answer.
In 20 years...
Where do you want to be?
What does your work look like?
What are your relationships with people?
How and how much money do you want to make?
The list goes on, give yourself some time to write down anything you want from life. It's your vision. It's the core of your life. From now on, every action you'll take will somehow contribute negatively or positively to this top pillar of the pentagon.
Break vision down into big goals, so your mind starts to drive towards them one step at a time.
Mind
Every single goal you write for yourself requires certain skills.
I work 9 to 5 every day. I hate it with every fiber of my soul. That's why I pursue passive, self-generated income. And it's not an easy task to do. It requires a lot of effort and learning.
Mind pillar is all about learning and knowledge to achieve your desired life.
Pick one goal from your vision, the first one on the path to an ideal future, and decide what skill should you acquire and what should you learn.
For leaving 9 to 5 for me it's:
Writing
Marketing
Copywriting
Building newsletter
Building digital products
I just grab a book and get every piece of knowledge I can from it. I listen to podcasts while hitting the gym. I plan to buy courses. Everything can improve my mind.
Body
Me and you, we can't function properly if our bodies are out of shape.
We all know the proverb "Movement is life". Movement is not directly life. It contributes to it. Our first pillar wouldn't be achievable without a proper state of body.
The ability of the mind to learn is directly related to the activities we perform daily.
Hit the gym
Start running
Go for long walks
As soon as you move, your mind will function well, with time you'll build an aesthetic body, be proud of yourself, and build confidence and trust in your own body and ability to change.
Spirit
The ability to control emotions.
It's the most tough for me. I have a stressful job that provides me with money, and I usually worry a lot about it. So, throughout the day I have hundreds of negative emotions. I would say this is the weakest pillar of mine.
But I fight with it by:
Writing
Journalling daily
Following stoic principles
Gratitude and presence in the world
Spirit is an important part of our lives. There are no universal solutions for everyone. You just need to try a bunch of stuff to keep your emotions in check for yourself. Grab some inspiration from my ways of improving it. You'll find a way. I believe in you.
Money
Money doesn't bring us happiness.
But they unlock opportunities that do. I 100% there is something in your vision you can't complete right now because of the lack of money. See? In some sense, it prevents us from our desired life.
We need money, and we need a lot of them:
To travel
To help your loved ones
To have new experiences
To explore new opportunities
Additionally, this pillar includes the way you get money. Is it active income from your job? Or is it your business? Or maybe you have a passive income, and it's great.
In my vision active job is inappropriate, it takes me a lot of time every day to do it. I want to do the work I love for 4 hours, and then spend time with my family, and myself, read, acquire new skills, get ideas, and enjoy my vision.
