BAJAN SUN MAGAZINE
DEC 2014
Don’t Let the “4Ps”
Rule You
T
By Dr. Anita Davis-DeFoe
he road to creating a business, becoming a globally
revered musician or actor, successfully achieving
any dream, just achieving fulfillment and personal joy on a
daily basis takes work; and the only place that success
comes before work is in the dictionary. So while one can
learn all there is to know about business principles, or notes
in a song, accomplishing our goals is linked to our spirits as
expertise, knowledge and talent are never enough.
As we journey to success, challenges will provide us
with a steady dose of life lessons that contribute to our
growth. Learning, growing, exploring and working to
understand self is a life-long process, and if it is not, it
certainly should be. Self-knowledge opens the door to a
better awareness of life dreams and personal goals. Without
this self-knowledge, it becomes more difficult to achieve
our goals or acquire the skills we need to claim the personal
successes that we desire.
If you find that you are not progressing professionally or
personally, as you desire, make sure that you are not being
plagued by what I call one of the “4Ps”. What are the
“4Ps”? The “4Ps” are beliefs, attitudes, and habits that
hinder our personal growth or cause us to sabotage
ourselves.
One common “P” is prejudice. Generally, when we think
of the word prejudice, most often we associate it with racial
issues, or our feelings and values about persons, places and
things. In far too many instances, our deepest prejudices
relate to self. Some of us are our own worst enemies, and
we walk around filled with constant feelings of
inadequacies. We tell ourselves, “I’m Not Good Enough,”
“I’ll Never Achieve My Dreams,” on and on we go,
verbally abusing ourselves nonstop.
Dr. Anita Davis-DeFoe
Author. Thought Leader. Social
Entrepreneur, Organization and
Leadership Development Solutionist
The Chieftaincy Ceremony. Dr. Anita, second from the left, being named the first woman
Chief in Akwa Ibom State Nigeria because of her global human development and humanitarian work with women in the village. She was named Adiaha Unwana Itam 1, (Daughter of
Light In Itam Clan)
accepted. To the onlooker, she had everything, beauty,
fame, finances and that incredible voice. Like many of us,
this superstar held deep prejudices against herself.
You see, after a while, we start to listen intently to the
“inner critic” and we falsely grow to believe the negative
self-talk that self-doubt and self-loathing can create. Sadly,
in the end, far too many of us allow self-prejudices to stop
us from moving forward, or it fuels our total selfdestruction. Ask yourself where did these negative beliefs
about myself come from, and why have I chosen to accept
them as fact. You find the answer to that, without a doubt
you are on the way to releasing your spirit from this
emotional and success choker. Practice learning to love and
accept yourself; recognize that you are unique; realize that
you have been blessed with a unique talent that is your
responsibility to discover and use to complete your divine
assignment.
If that is not bad enough, some of us toss a heap of
pessimism into the mix. No matter what the situation, we
expect and just seem to know that the worse is going to
happen. This constant feeling of doom is so much a part of
some people’s being that when others see you coming, they
just know that the conversation is going to be filled with
nothing but negativity. If this describes you right now,
work to change your attitude to a more positive mindset.
As Kevin Costner, spoke at Whitney Houston’s Going Put the Law of Expectancy to work for you, after all we
Home Celebration, he shared how she never felt good receive what we expect.
enough, always wondered if she was liked, would she be
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