How Does The Four-Leaf Clover Work for You?

In my family, we have a lot of sayings. One of them is “Do something”.

This means that you need to take charge and move in a certain direction – not just wait and see what happens. Another is “both-and”. This means that very often it is not a question of doing either-or, but rather choosing to do both. It’s an attitude where you don’t need to limit yourself – rather, you prioritize what you want to do. Sir Winston Churchill used to say: “History will be kind to me. I intend to write it”.

In my Four-Leaf Clover model, happiness is in the center. I truly believe that you can live a happy life by constantly pursuing your Life Ambition, by repeatedly Reinventing Yourself, by nurturing your Learning Agility and by having the Courage to Commit. You can do more than you think. Your greatest enemy is your own self-limitation.

The Four-Leaf Clover has become my signature – my guiding principle.

Your happiness is determined by your own expectations, not by the expectations of others. You need to find your own pivotal focus point. In my case it is Leadership. It is all about leadership. And leadership is about “All In, All the Time”. I don’t care if other people can see the logic behind my activities. My Four-Leaf Clover consists of four roles: Executive Coach, Keynote Speaker, Author, and Entrepreneur. As long as my specific activity is positioned on one of these leaves, I feel solidly anchored and therefore in control.

The reasoning behind the Four-Leaf Clover is based on the notion that Perception Is Reality. As long as you experience moving purposefully in the direction of your dream, you will act with more confidence and therefore be able to convince others more easily. Your business logic becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Your Life Ambition is the reason why you are on this planet at any given moment. Your Life Ambition develops and varies over time. What do you want to achieve? How do you want to be remembered? What gives you energy? Please remember that life is not a rehearsal. Or as Eminem says: “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo.”

Why do you need to repeatedly Reinvent Yourself? Well, during a lifetime you evolve so significantly that keeping the same descriptors simply doesn’t make sense. You go through many different life phases and your self-perception is often lagging compared to the new position you have achieved. You have to kill your darlings in order to proactively profit from new opportunities.

Being Learning Agile means knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do. Recognizing situations where you feel insecure will help you foresee these situations and act in the most relevant way. We all encounter situations that make us feel insecure. The secret is to learn how to deal with them and implement adequate behavior when faced with adversity. New patterns will form and these situations will no longer seem threatening.

Courage to Commit is what you show when you make a choice – and stick to it! There are choices, and then there are consequences. Often a certain level of risk is involved and therefore it is even more important to maintain your course. Young people don’t have to wait until the right education, the right apartment or the right partner turns up. Sometimes you need to choose and consciously make your choice the right choice.

The Four-Leaf Clover has become my signature – my guiding principle. The model represents two infinity loops and multiple directions. It’s a symbol of your life. You choose your own path, your own goal, and your own means. Sometimes you cross your own trail, sometimes you pivot, sometimes you persevere and sometimes life simply happens. When you know where you are in life and where you are going, you will never be insecure.

By Stephen Bruyant-Langer