23 February 2009
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
Get happy!
Or is there more to life than happiness?
Happiness, of course, is just a transitory state of mind related to joy or pleasure. According to Aristotle, the aim of life is eudaimonia, which consists of the word "eu" ("good" or "well being") and "daimōn" ("spirit" or "minor deity"), literally "having a good guardian spirit"! The best translation is "human flourishing". Aristotle understood this to be the highest human good and worth striving for.
OK, so how do you get it? By becoming less frenetic and more phronetic!
Phronesis is "practical wisdom" - the virtuous ability to recognize what is the "best thing to do" in a given situation and to take action in a way that helps the individuals concerned to pursue what is "good". Phronesis is not only knowing the right thing to do but wanting to do it. To Aristotle, phronesis is actually essential to enduring happiness.
You develop phronesis by confronting difficult and ambiguous situations in life, using your judgement to decide what to do, doing it, and getting feedback. This takes time. But the process can be accelerated.
, here are some tips for shifting from frenetic to phronetic:
- Read biographies of famous or interesting people to learn from their failures and successes.
- Regularly review your own life and reflect on how you might have managed better given what you know now.
- Before any major decision in your life, make a list of who will be affected by the decision and carefully consider the consequences for each person, including you!
- Take the time to explore all possible responses available to you before making a significant decision.
- Ask yourself, "what's the wisest thing to do?"
- When faced with a dilemma in business or in life try to see it from as many different points of view as you can.
- Ask yourself, "what are the short, medium, and long-term implications for this decision?"
- Imagine yourself months or years after having made this decision. What will it feel like? Which of your core values will you be living from?
You can get more information on how to develop phronesis in leadership for you or your organization here: http://www.intentional.com.au/PhL_program.html
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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