Positive Intelligence, or PQ, is a concept developed by Shirzad Chamine in his book "Positive Intelligence: Why Only 20% of Teams and Individuals Achieve Their True Potential and How You Can Achieve Yours". The idea behind PQ is that our mindset and mental habits greatly impact our ability to succeed and be happy in life.
According to Chamine, our mind can be our best friend or our worst enemy. Our mind has two parts - the Saboteur and the Sage. The Saboteur is the negative voice in our head that tells us we're not good enough, we're not smart enough, or we're not capable enough. The Sage, on the other hand, is the positive voice in our head that helps us to see things clearly, make good decisions, and achieve our goals.
To develop our PQ, we need to strengthen our Sage and weaken our Saboteur. This involves identifying and overcoming the ten most common Saboteurs, such as the Judge, the Controller, and the Pleaser, which can hold us back from achieving our true potential.
One way to increase our PQ is through daily mental exercises, such as the PQ Reps exercise, which involves focusing on positive thoughts and emotions for a few minutes each day. Other exercises include identifying and reframing negative thoughts, practicing mindfulness, and developing a growth mindset.
In order to achieve your highest potential you must harness the 5 powers of a sage according to Shirzad Chamine in the book ‘Positive Intelligence’:
1. Empathy: Understand yourself and others and the connection between you two. Empathy is being able to feel the connection between two people and the synthesis of their combined emotions.
2. Exploration: The knowledge and will to explore and to hold onto the information you’ve learned along your journey.
3. Innovation: Take something existing and make it better through increased awareness and perspective. Don’t reinvent the wheel but use it better and faster than the guy before you.
4. Navigation: Better tools to discern what comes at you, not going down negative paths that lead to bad places.
5. Activation: Awake the sleeping giant within you. Use the tools and motivation within you to make the absolute most of what you were given.
By increasing our PQ, we can improve our mental and emotional wellbeing, increase our productivity and success, and develop stronger relationships with those around us. It takes practice and commitment, but the benefits are well worth the effort.
To gain awareness of your triggers, saboteurs, and patterns, I invite you to take the free assessment on the Positive Intelligent website. The results give you a ranking of your default saboteurs from the ones they use the most to least. It has never yet not resonated with the coachees in some way. It's a great awareness tool!
Want to learn more and debrief your saboteurs and patterns -- feel free to schedule a free consultation today. I want to hear your story!
Comments