We Can Set A Calendar Invite To Stop And Smell The Roses, But Why Is It Important Anyway?

For Shirzad Chamine , the founder and CEO of Positive Intelligence, his childhood was anything but positive. 

In a childhood haunted by an abusive father, against a backdrop of poverty, he found solace in the quiet corners of his world. Drawing strength from tales of heroes like Martin Luther King and Gandhi, a young Shirzad kindled and nurtured his hope.

After Stanford's business school, Shirzad set forth on a quest to democratize Positive Intelligence, also known as PQ – the tool he had developed, ultimately, during his childhood.

PQ roots itself in how we interact with the mundane. When I spoke with Shirzad for episode 323 of the Disrupt Yourself podcast, he said the mundane looks like an innocent examination of his palm, or a fallen leaf, during a walk with his dog. 

PQ encourages us to stay present in these unassuming, modest moments that life offers us, and then turn them into opportunities for awe and introspection.

While speaking with Shirzad, I was struck by his philosophy of distilling something as complex and seemingly grandiose as love, purpose, or leadership – into these ordinary, everyday moments. Looking at your palm becomes a conversation about the capability of your hand, lifelines, and the potential for change, the range between a firm grip and a soft embrace. Young Shirzad couldn’t wait for awe to find him; he didn’t have the means to search far and wide for it; he learned how to find it wherever he was.

Shirzad's journey in developing PQ and bringing it to the world reminds me of a powerful, often forgotten strength of the Launch Point: everything is remarkable. 

The Launch Point is the first phase along the S Curve, a model depicting the predictable growth journey of individuals. It is a point where growth may seem slow, but each day provides the individual with new information, new challenges, and new experiences.

It's often described as drinking from a firehose – new information is coming at you far faster than you could ever take it all in. It’s like that first day at a new job, going into the office, shaking a hundred hands, and learning a hundred names. 

Just as Shirzad finds his center by feeling his palm and tracing the lifelines he had forgotten about, individuals in the Launch Point phase of growth can leverage their unique insights, their fresh perspectives, to foster innovation within their teams. 

And if you listen to that newcomer, you can overhaul your pre-existing norms, instigating growth at both the personal and organizational levels.

We have a tendency to take the mundane for granted, our eyes glazing over the common miracles and curses of everyday life. But Positive Intelligence, Shirzad said, is built through repetition – small appreciations, accumulating over time. It’s not a big, expensive seminar, but a quiet daily practice where we train our eyes and our hands and our minds – to pause.  

Shirzad’s work with PQ teaches us that we can leverage the extraordinary power of the ordinary, if we’re willing to pull the car over for a picnic, the interstate buzzing by while we eat and talk.

What’s one small thing – as tiny as you can get – that generates joy in your day-to-day? 

How can you give these 'mundane moments' the respect they deserve?