Flourish, verb: to grow or to develop in a healthy way. To thrive. To prosper. On some level—whether or not we are aware— everyone wants to flourish. We want to do well at work and do well in life. We feel a need to succeed, to do better, to achieve more. But does doing “well” mean we are “flourishing”? Not necessarily.You flourish when you pay attention to and prioritize all quadrants of your life, when your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Flourishing is a commitment and investment in you and to becoming your best self.
Let’s break it down. There are four phases of flourishing: Reflect, Connect, Achieve, Flourish.
Reflect
What is your core purpose? Who is your authentic self? What steps can you take to help become your ideal self? What are your values? And how can you incorporate these values into your everyday life? Maybe achievement is important to you—a sense of accomplishment gives you purpose. Along with that comes ambition—you are motivated and driven. You willingly take on new responsibilities at work and challenge yourself to reach your next level of greatness. At home, your family’s security is important to you, along with their happiness and well-being. Loyalty, religion, order, love, inner harmony and integrity. These are all examples of what you may value. Once you identify your core values, your home and work life need to be assessed and aligned so that they support these ideals.
Once you’ve nailed down your core values, you need a support system in place to help you incorporate these values into your life and strengthen them every day. You need toform relationships—with friends, with family, with co-workers and establish them as mentors. These mentors will help hold you accountable to staying mindful towards becoming your ideal self. Mindfulness is an active state of being and thinking. It is an attention paid to your thoughts and actions that deem them either helpful or detrimental in helping you to lead the life you want.
Achieve & Flourish
With your values identified and your support system in place, you are ready to set goals, execute with excellence and achieve. Achieving these goals will enable you to flourish and transform into the person you’ve always wanted to be. With a clear vision and a pathway set in place to get there, everything you do—whether at work or at home—will ultimately allow you to become your ideal self.
The Bottom Line
In order to flourish in both life and business, you must adhere to these four phases. It’s important that all are followed in order to achieve optimal results. These phases allow you to discover your true passions and when you follow your passions, in both your personal life and professional career, you will flourish. After meaningful reflection, you will be able to wake up each day with a purpose, and utilize support systems to help you recognize and maintain your passions, thus enabling you to continue to flourish in life and at work.
