The Power of PAO

If you have the PAO Mindset …

You are a problem solver.

You are a goal reacher/teacher.

You focus on goals, not the inevitable distractions, disappointments.

You see the past successes and triumphs of others and yourself and believe what you see. You don’t dismiss, you observe, learn, and keep moving towards your goals.

You say to yourself “Why not?” rather than the negative rationalizing of, “They were lucky” or “They had a lot of help” or “They were blessed, gifted”.

You understand that life is made up of what you perceive. If you see problems as punishment, you will feel bad. If you see problems as opportunities, you will feel motivated.

You realize that when you pray, you empower yourself by admitting that ultimately you have no power. You admit that all you can do is reach for your goals, treat others like you want to be treated, and try to enjoy life. Beyond that, it’s out of your control.

You realize that the enemy of happiness is accepting incompetence, meanness, evil and pain.

You expect joy, laughter, happiness in your daily life. If they are not present, you create them.

You realize that since Misery loves Company, Joy loves Opportunity.

You have an attitude of always looking for opportunities to grow and prosper and learn.

You have an analytical mind set, choosing to consider rather than to complain.

You choose first to be thankful for what you have, rather than focusing on what you think you should have or deserve.

You have a mindset of embracement and exploration rather than entitlement.

You have a mindset of purpose rather than panic.

You have a mindset of deliberation rather than desperation.

You have a mindset of recognizing the ultimate joy is in the journey, not in the destination.

You have a mindset of hope rather than hopelessness.

TECHNIQUES FOR LIVING A GOAL FOCUSED LIFE

• Know that your dreams and goals are in you on purpose. They are not an accident. Don’t ever minimize or dismiss them. If you do, you are minimizing and dismissing yourself.
• Set aside time each day to focus on and work on your goals. Make this time (preferably an hour at minimum) Sacred. If you have been given a gift of your dreams and goals (which Inspire, and bring alive the Spirit in you), when you neglect this gift you will lose it.
• Take with you EVERYWHERE reminders of your goal. If it’s something you create or a picture in a magazine, a book, a figurine, a song, anything, but carry it with you throughout the day.
• Take one goal step at a time.

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PAO stands for Problems Are Opportunities and is a mindset, a philosophy, an attitude, a way of looking at and approaching life. The PAO mindset realizes that if you are alive, you’re going to have problems, little ones, medium-size ones, and big ones. It doesn’t matter who you are, how rich, or powerful, or famous, or beautiful, or physically strong, or gifted, or smart, or kind, or popular you are, you will be faced with problems. And a lot of times your problems will seem undeserved, unfair, or unjust, and your natural reaction to these problems will be to ask “Why me?”, and to feel a bit of self-pity, maybe even anger.

But, when you have the PAO mindset, which takes time and practice to develop, you don’t see problems as punishments, inconveniences or obstacles. You see them as opportunities. Opportunities to learn, to grow, prosper spiritually and financially. When you have the PAO mindset you don’t ask “Why me?”, instead you ask,”How can I prosper and grow from this opportunity?” Because EVERYTHING that has been created by people from the beginning of time has come from someone asking that question.

It’s not easy to develop the PAO mindset, because it’s in our nature to try to avoid discomfort, hard work, and pain. But successful people are the ones who have trained themselves to embrace those things because they know that discovery comes from discomfort, happiness comes from hard work, and progress and prosperity come from pain.

We will take a look at some different types of problems and a few of the myriad of opportunities they present us to prosper. But first, let’s examine the difference between the PAO mindset and what I call the PIE mindset.

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A man had a big problem. Actually, he had quite a few big problems that made attaining his goals seem very far-fetched, most likely impossible. The man’s goal was to help others, to empower them to have better lives and he knew that to do this he needed to be in a position of leadership, authority, and respect. But he knew that most people who had attained such a position had come from families that had wealth and influence, and his family had neither. His mother, although she had graduated college, had struggled financially until she had passed away a few years ago, trying to raise the man and his sister as a single parent. The man’s father had left when he was two and he had not helped out financially as he grew up. But the two things that both his parents did emphasize were the importance of education and hard work.

Another problem that stood in the way of the man attaining his dream was that he was born into a group that had always struggled in his country more than any other group, and because of those struggles there had always been limitations on how successful and powerful people from his group could become. He had seen others like him attain great wealth and success, but those people were the exceptional ones, because most of the people of his group were still struggling daily to just survive. He knew that the majority of people in his country didn’t trust people of his group to be in a position of power and authority, just like the position he dreamed of attaining.

But, the biggest problem the man faced in attaining his goal was his name. His father had been born in another country, a country that had a far different culture than the one his son was raised in. They spoke a different language, dressed differently, had different customs, and practiced a different religion. On top of this, the man’s parents had given him a name that sounded normal in his father’s country but sounded strange in his mother’s. Some people in the man’s country even found the man’s name frightening. This was not only because of the tendency among some people to find anything exotic, unfamiliar or different scary but mainly it was that his name reminded them of a group of criminals who had committed a crime so heinous and shocking that it had permanently scarred the entire nation.

So this man had a dream, but because he came from a family with no wealth or influence, he was a member of a group that wasn’t highly regarded or respected, and his name reminded a lot of people of criminals, the chances of attaining his dream appeared pretty impossible. So, did the man give up on his dream because of all the problems he faced?

As easy as it would have been to abandon his dream, the man did not quit. If he had, no one would have blamed him, given the seemingly insurmountable odds he faced. But the man kept the faith, he kept hoping. And that was the key. Despite his problems and the obstacles he faced, he kept telling himself that if he didn’t quit, if he kept looking for opportunities rather than excuses, he would find a way. And true enough, after much thought, much soul-searching, much consultation, much brainstorming, and much prayer, it came to him.

He was different. He was an oddity. He was an unknown. Yes, he was also brilliant, charismatic, and kind of handsome, but so were lots of other people with the same dream. He needed an angle, a strategy, a way to make people look beyond the surface and hear what he was saying. What would make people look deeper, beyond the surface and their prejudices and preconceptions?

Hope.

He would talk to them about hope. He had faith in people, because through the years he has seen so many of them who despite bad circumstances and tragedy still were good, caring people. He saw that despite all the negativity and pain and disappointment, people kept getting up, going to work, raising families, helping each other, striving to be their best because they believed in the future. They had hope. And if he focused his message on nurturing that hope, that part of people that wants to believe in goodness, then he might achieve his dream of leading people and help them achieve their dreams and live happier lives.

That man’s name is Barack Hussein Obama and he was elected the 44th president of the United States. Despite impossible odds, being born of a black father in America, being raised by a single mom and her working-class parents, having a Muslim sounding name in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Obama achieved his goal. Despite the problems he faced, he saw opportunities. His story should be indisputable proof that Any Problem can be overcome if you only look for the opportunities, because they are always there. That’s what THE POWER of PAO is about.

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