The Most Practical Success Tool - Patrick Gentempo (Entrepreneur, Innovator)
Patrick Gentempo is the proverbial “man of many hats.” The biography on his website details many of those hats – from National Karate Champion to soap opera actor to chiropractor to devoted husband and father – but, from a business standpoint, Patrick describes himself as being in “Act 3” of his career, which includes heading his holding company, Action Potential Holdings, Inc. It is important to Patrick that the various roles he takes on in life are in alignment with his core values and his Paper Napkin Wisdom gives insight as to how he maintains that alignment: “Philosophy is the most practical tool for achievement!” Patrick understands that people generally associate “philosophy” with robed men of antiquity waxing on about the ethereal but he aims to challenge that perception. We all have philosophies we live by, whether we realize it or not, Patrick says. In some cases, we have adopted those philosophies intentionally but, in many cases, they may simply be premises passed down to us by mothers, father, teachers, and preachers. Whatever the case, the philosophies we live by drive our behaviors and, ultimately, dictate our outcomes, so it is important to identify what they are. It is easy to understand why Patrick has no reservations about describing philosophy as “practical.” He believes our philosophies affect all the important parts of our lives: our love lives, our families, our health, and our businesses. Patrick emphasizes refining our philosophies, so as to remove contradictions, because, “When you have contradictions in your basic philosophical premises, the only possible result is destruction and the amount of destruction will be relative to the level of those contradictions.” In business, Patrick often sees people try to start with prosperity then back into a philosophy. He sees this as backwards – a reversal of cause and effect. Philosophy is the cause of which prosperity is the ultimate effect. As a serial entrepreneur who has started several businesses, this is a brief overview of Patrick’s approach to prosperity:
Start with a foundation of philosophy. What are our views of reality and the rules of evidence as to why we might believe these particular premises?
Emerging from our philosophy will come our ethics. This is the code of values that will guide our actions.
From this code, we can begin to develop our purpose. There is a lot of talk about being purpose-driven but it is important to understand what gives us purpose. The psychological experiences derived from our philosophy will dictate our purpose.
With purpose in mind, we can then develop procedure. Patrick notes that procedure will not grow a business; it will merely help us to manage the effects of what our purpose and philosophy drive. However, it is important that our procedure is congruent with our philosophy lest there be destruction.
Prosperity only comes, as the ultimate effect, when our philosophy, ethics, purpose, and procedure are aligned. According to Patrick, we need not wait for prosperity to find us to begin refining our philosophies because, whether we intend for it or not, we are already being guided by philosophies. Given that, it is best that we take ownership of our philosophies and make sure they are aligned throughout our lives. As we have often spoken about on Paper Napkin Wisdom, the proper order of things is “Be, do, have,” not, “Have, do, be.” Patrick echoes that sentiment when he says, “Your philsosophy is who you’re being.” Listen to the conversation with Patrick here:
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