Mind your "Ps and Qs"

Being told to mind my "ps and qs" has always been a puzzle to me. Contrary to most people's thinking the phrase doesn't mean which side to put the stem on the "o"! That never made sense to me anyway, as the meaning of being polite, in minding your manners, was implied in the phrase.

I am, as many of you know, pedantic, so I have even researched the meaning... (isn't google wonderful? ) and it would appear that no-one really knows the meaning behind the phrase. Therefore I have decided to make up my own!

The Ps are for process, progress and prosperity. We take our mind and think about the process, the how things get done. Then we notice what happens when we go through the process, we progress. By watching and learning from these two "ps" we reach prosperity, the natural outcome of work being progressively done...

The Qs now are a different matter altogether! They are for Quality Questions. Many moons ago, when I attended the Tony Robbins seminars, Tony was always reminding us to ask Quality Questions. Not for interrogating others but for reflecting on our own lives. January is one of the best month's for reflecting. Like Janus, we can look back and see what has happened and also look forward... in every sense of the words... to the future. I implement a process called Momentum Planning every November, but it can be done at any time and anywhere.

Here are a list of Questions to ponder. They can be associated with one year, five years or even a lifetime. Once you go through the process of reading them, write down your answers and enjoy "minding your ps and qs" ...

• What did I accomplish?
• What were my biggest Disappointments?
• What did I learn?
• How do I limit myself?
• What are my personal values?
• Where do I go from here...

 Six powerful thought provoking questions and the seventh one is -
 "Did you read and apply the process?"
My advice to you is to remember the Ps and Qs not just the Qs!