Individual Excellence: Part II Process 6

6 July 2024

Today’s blog is one of a chain from an in-process book entitled, Individual Excellence: The 4Ps of a Well-Spirited Life.  What follows is the sixth passage of Process, the second of four sections of that book.  The final paragraph of the last blog is directly below.

If you want to indulge your red line, you need read no further.  If you want to increase the virtues necessary to stay on your blue line, you need some good processes.

PART II: Process

A Tentative Framework

Below are five sets of inputs we’re going to look at.  These contain the parts needed to build the tentative framework with which we’ll begin creating processes.  The list is tentative because, though I bring some discipline to my life, and the pursuit of my goals, conscious processes are as much a test for me as for you, dear reader.  Those inputs will be introduced from the oldest to the newest.

a. The Ten Commandments

I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage:

1. Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
3. Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor they son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, not thy stranger that is within thy gates; that they manservant and they maidservant may rest as well as thou. 
4. Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
5. Thou shalt not kill.
6. Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
7. Neither shalt thou steal.
8. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
9. Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife.
10. Neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is they neighbour’s.  (Holy Bible, 1957, pp. 193-194, Deuteronomy, 5.) 

b. Aristotle’s Virtues & Vices

1. A=A
2. The means, and criterion, of life is voluntary movement; the end is self-actualization.
3. Virtue ethics is situation specific, that is, there is an optimum good in every situation but that optimum good is not necessarily transferable to apparently parallel situations i.e., particulars matter.
4.  The virtues toward which one ought aim are those in the moderate middle:

VICE [Too much]                   VIRTUE                                 VICE [Too little]

1. Recklessness                             Courage                                   Cowardice
2. Licentiousness                          Moderation                              Insensibility
3. Prodigality                               Liberality                                 Stinginess
4. Vulgarity and Crassness           Magnificence                            Parsimony
5. Vanity                                      Greatness of Soul                    Smallness of Soul
6. Ambition                                 Ambition                                 Lack of Ambition
7. Irascibility                                Gentleness                               Unirascibility
8. Boastfulness                             Truthfulness                            Irony
9. Buffoonery & Crudity              Wittiness & Tact                      Boorishness & Dourness
10. Obsequiousness or Flattery      Friendliness                             Surliness & Quarrelsomeness
11. Unspecified: [Insipidity?]          Justice                                      Unspecified: [Draconian?]

(Bartlett & Collins, 2011, p. 303-304)

c. Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits

1. Be proactive: Focus on what you can control and influence instead of what you can’t.
2. Begin with the end in mind: Define clear measures of success and a plan to achieve them.
3. Put first things first: Prioritize and achieve your most important goals instead of constantly reacting to urgencies.
4. Think win-win: Collaborate more effectively by building high-trust relationships.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood: Influence others by developing a deep understanding of their needs and perspectives.
6. Synergize: Develop innovative solutions that leverage differences and satisfy all key stakeholders.
7. Sharpen the saw: Increase motivation, energy, and work/life balance by making time for renewing activities.  (FranklinCovey, 2024).

d. Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life

1. Stand up straight with your shoulders back.
2. Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.
3. Make friends with people who want the best for you.
4. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.
5. Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.
6. Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.
7. Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient).
8. Tell the truth—or, at least, don’t lie.
9. Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t.
10. Be precise in your speech.
11. Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.
12. Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.  (Peterson, 2018)

e. Martin Seligman’s Building Blocks of a Good Life (PERMA):

1. Positive Emotions (P) are life-enhancing creating an upward spiral of positivity.
2. Engagement (E): true engagement fosters flow and full presence.
3. Positive Relationships (R): As social beings good relationships are integral to eudaimonia.
4. Meaning (M): Serving something larger than self fosters purpose and perspective.
5. Accomplishment/Achievement (A): Mastery, goal-pursuit, and integrity are vital.  (Madeson, 2017).

To be continued next week.

Dan Chalykoff is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying).  He works at CMHA-Hamilton and Healing Pathways Counselling, Oakville, where his focus is clients with addiction, trauma, burnout, and major life changes.  He writes to increase (and share) his own evolving understanding of ideas.  Since 2017, he has facilitated two voluntary weekly group meetings of SMART Recovery.  Please email him (danchalykoff@hotmail.com) to be added to or removed from the bcc’d emailing list.

References:

Bartlett, R. C., & Collins, S. D. (2011). Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.  The University of Chicago Press.

FranklinCovey (6 July 2024). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. https://www.franklincovey.com/the-7-habits/

Holy Bible, King James Version. (1957). Collins’ Clear-Type Press.

Madeson, M. (24 Feb 2017). Seligman’s PERMA+ Model Explained: A Theory of Wellbeing.  https://positivepsychology.com/perma-model/

Peterson, J. B. (2018). 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.  Random House Canada.