Positive Intelligence, as defined by Shirzad Chamine, refers to the percentage of time your mind serves you as opposed to sabotaging you. The program centers around the concept that your inner saboteurs – the negative thoughts, self-doubt, and self-criticism – can be retrained to become your allies. This transformation is not only about boosting positivity but also about enhancing your mental fitness and resilience. The Program consists of several components, with the three core principles being:
Saboteur Assessment: The program begins with a self-assessment to identify the nine common saboteurs, such as the Judge, Controller, Avoider, and Victim, that reside within our minds. Understanding these internal adversaries is the first step to taking control of them.
Sage Wisdom: The PQ Program introduces the concept of the “Sage,” the inner superhero of your mind. The Sage represents your higher self and is the source of wisdom, perspective, and positivity. The goal is to develop your Sage to counteract the saboteurs.
Daily PQ Reps: A key part of the program involves daily PQ Reps, which are short exercises designed to boost your Positive Intelligence. These practices help rewire your brain by shifting your focus from negativity to positivity, and from self-doubt to self-confidence.
In Positive Intelligence (PQ), Saboteurs are negative thought patterns and mindsets that sabotage a person’s effectiveness and well-being. There are 10 Saboteurs, each with its own way of interfering with success and happiness:
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Judge: The primary Saboteur, responsible for judging oneself, others, and situations harshly. It creates a negative lens through which everything is seen, causing stress and unhappiness.
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Controller: Creates anxiety by pushing for control over people and situations, often leading to micromanagement. In professional and personal life, the Controller can alienate others and lead to burnout.
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Hyper-Achiever: Focuses on constant achievement and external validation. While this might seem productive, it creates an endless cycle of feeling inadequate or unfulfilled, as success is never enough.
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Restless: Seeks constant activity, novelty, and excitement, making it difficult to focus or find satisfaction. It prevents a person from fully engaging in or completing tasks, often leading to scattered attention and unfulfilled goals.
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Stickler: Obsessive about perfection and order, leading to frustration when things don’t go as planned. In work and personal life, the Stickler Saboteur can create inefficiency and tension through constant criticism and dissatisfaction with imperfections.
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Pleaser: Constantly seeks to please others, often at the expense of personal needs. This can lead to resentment and burnout as personal boundaries are sacrificed, making it difficult to be authentic and assertive.
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Hyper-Vigilant: Causes excessive worry and alertness, focusing on potential threats and dangers. This can drain energy and prevent clear thinking, making it difficult to take risks or relax.
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Avoider: Evades difficult situations and conflicts, choosing comfort over challenge. In professional settings, this Saboteur can lead to procrastination and poor performance, as crucial tasks or conversations are avoided.
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Victim: Creates a mindset of helplessness or self-pity, often resulting in passive behavior. This Saboteur can prevent a person from taking responsibility, making growth and empowerment difficult.
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Hyper-Rational: Over-emphasizes logic and rationality, often ignoring emotional needs. This Saboteur can create distance in relationships, as empathy and connection may be undervalued.
When Overused...
How Saboteurs Interfere with Life
These Saboteurs create self-doubt, stress, and conflict in both personal and professional settings. Here’s how they interfere:
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Personal Life: Saboteurs impact self-worth, relationships, and mental health. For example, the Judge may make one overly self-critical, impacting self-esteem, while the Pleaser might lead to unhealthy relationships due to lack of boundaries.
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Professional Life: Saboteurs interfere with productivity, teamwork, and decision-making. The Hyper-Achiever might drive excessive work hours and eventual burnout, while the Avoider can cause missed deadlines and poor communication. Saboteurs can limit career growth and lead to dissatisfaction and conflict in the workplace.
The Sage Powers are the positive mental muscles that counteract Saboteurs, promoting resilience, well-being, and effectiveness. There are 5 Sage Powers:
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Empathize: Fosters compassion, understanding, and acceptance towards oneself and others. This helps in building trust, connecting genuinely, and alleviating self-criticism. It directly counters Saboteurs like the Judge and Pleaser.
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Explore: Encourages curiosity and openness to experience without judgment. This Sage power helps individuals approach situations with a learner’s mindset, countering Saboteurs like the Controller and Restless, and allowing for flexible problem-solving.
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Innovate: Allows creative thinking and exploration of new ideas. This Sage power helps individuals break out of rigid thinking and encourages solutions beyond the obvious, counteracting the Stickler and Hyper-Rational.
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Navigate: Focuses on values and purpose, guiding decisions with a long-term perspective. This counters Saboteurs like the Victim and Avoider, allowing people to stay aligned with their goals and make purposeful choices.
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Activate: Takes decisive action with a focus on priorities and effectiveness, rather than being paralyzed by fear or judgment. This Sage power counters Saboteurs like Hyper-Vigilant and Hyper-Achiever, helping individuals take balanced, impactful action.
How Sage Powers Enhance Life
By cultivating these Sage Powers, individuals can lead with clarity, purpose, and resilience:
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Personal Life: Sage Powers foster emotional intelligence, self-compassion, and growth. Empathize can improve relationships, while Navigate keeps individuals aligned with their values and purpose.
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Professional Life: Sage Powers promote productivity, innovation, and collaboration. Activate and Explore help with problem-solving and initiative, while Innovate fosters creativity in decision-making. Sage Powers enable a balanced, focused approach, leading to career satisfaction and impactful leadership.
Together, the Sage Powers help individuals build mental fitness, empowering them to minimize the impact of Saboteurs and create a positive, purpose-driven life.
Your Compass Performance, Inc. coach guides you through the six-week program where you experience daily practice, a weekly focus, the PQ gym, and community. You can access the content using the PQ app and measure your progress. The PQ Program also includes a Pod facilitated by your coach. These small groups provide weekly discussion opportunities and consist of as few as two people (client and coach) or five individuals going through the PQ Program with the same coach simultaneously. Build powerful habits for a positive mind. During the PQ Program, you get to build a foundation of mental fitness by strengthening three critical mental muscles to shift the balance of power from your inner Saboteurs to your inner Sage. With lifelong applications to work and life, the opportunity is yours to continue to grow.
What the PQ Program includes:
PQ app – available on Apple and Android, as well as a desktop version
Focus – weekly hour-long videos and daily 15-minute app-guided exercises
Gym – includes guided sessions to practice and log PQ reps, a foundational practice for building your mental fitness
Community – the internal social network for the PQ Program
Modules – lessons essential for completing the program
Pod – support and accountability group, to meet once a week to discuss the week’s training
PQ Operating Model - Supporting Professional Development
The Positive Intelligence (PQ) Operating System focuses on mental fitness and self-awareness. Its components include:
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Saboteurs: Negative thought patterns or internal critics that hinder performance and well-being. Common saboteurs include the Judge, Controller, and Pleaser.
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Sage: Represents your positive, wise self that focuses on empathy, creativity, and growth. The Sage helps you respond constructively to challenges.
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Mental Fitness: The ability to recognize and shift from saboteur modes to Sage modes. This includes practices to enhance self-awareness and resilience.
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PQ Reps: Exercises designed to strengthen your mental muscles. These practices help you cultivate positive emotions and improve your overall mental fitness.
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Self-Command: The skill of managing your thoughts and emotions, allowing you to shift from a negative mindset to a more positive, proactive approach.
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PQ Score: A measure of your mental fitness, derived from assessments that evaluate the balance between your saboteurs and Sage.
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Awareness and Mindfulness: Techniques to stay present and engaged, helping you recognize when you're operating from a saboteur perspective.
These components work together to help our coaching clients develop a more positive mindset and improve their overall well-being. If you're looking for specific strategies or further details, let Compass Performance, Inc. know!
The total cost of the PQ program includes:
- Access to PQ App for 1 year;
- Two team meetings per month facilitated by a Compass Coach/Guide;
- One 30 minute 1 to 1 session with the Compass Coach/Guide - scheduled by participant via calendly tool;
Link to calendly.com/pq-one-to-one
- Membership to a closed PQ Participant Social Network (via App);
- Additional trainings regarding the application of PQ to normal everyday situations (stress management, conflict management, emotional intelligence, change management, leadership, etc);
Cost of 3 month PQ program is:
$500 per month x 3 months
- First payment payable prior to kickoff - Day 1
- Second payment due by day 30
- Third payment due by day 60
Option to continue with the Group Leadership Coaching Process - GROUP LEADERSHIP COACHING PROCESS (GLCP)