How Personal Philosophies Can Give You Guidance and Clarity in Your Life and Career

Back in 2009 while I was at USC, I attended a talk by then-USC football coach, Pete Carroll (currently the coach of the Seattle Seahawks).  Prior to coaching the Trojans, Coach Carroll had a pretty average track record as a head coach of the New York Jets and New England Patriots.  A lot of fans were really skeptical when he was hired as the USC football coach in 2003 — but then he led the Trojans back to the top of the college football world with back-to-back national championships.  He explained that the reason for his success was the philosophy – a concept that he learned from legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden – that he created for himself and his team.

I took this concept of creating a philosophy for yourself very seriously, and I actually built out my own personal philosophy based upon advice that Coach Carroll gave from his book, Win Forever.  This philosophy is made up of beliefs, attitudes, rules, values, etc. and is like an inner compass that helps guide me in my thinking, decision-making, and behavior.   I talk about the importance of having a personal philosophy here.

I have found that having an overall personal philosophy can have a tremendous positive impact on my life – but I’ve also discovered that I can create additional philosophies that can guide me in my decision-making and actions in specific areas of my life as well.

Let me give you an example.  Leadership is something that I honestly didn’t care too much about until I had my own company and realized how important good leadership is to an organization.  In the last few years, I’ve really tried to grow as a leader.  I’ve read a bunch of different books, listened to podcasts, etc. about leadership – which was great because my knowledge of leadership increased dramatically.

While I learned a bunch of leadership concepts and ideas, I found out that I just wasn’t always sure of what to do in different, challenging situations that could be greatly impacted – in a positive or negative way – by leadership.  I realized that I really needed some guidelines or rules to guide me as a leader.  So I created a personal Leadership Philosophy for myself.  I built out this Leadership Philosophy in a similar fashion as my Personal Philosophy – I incorporated things such as my beliefs, style, and rules as a leader.  And it’s helped.  By reviewing my Leadership Philosophy constantly, I am reminded of the things that I need to do in order be a good leader.

You can create philosophies for yourself in many different areas of your life.  Any area where you feel like you need a “compass” of guidelines to help you make decisions and how you should act could benefit from a philosophy.  You could create a philosophy about your physical health, a philosophy about education, a philosophy about your personal brand, etc.  With an overall personal philosophy and other “mini” philosophies in place, you’ll have more clarity and guidance in your life.

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