The 4 Ps: A No-Fluff Blueprint For Clarity, Momentum, and Results
What if you could boil personal growth down to four timeless principles? Principles that work no matter your starting point. Today’s guest has done exactly that.
Dr. Trunnis Goggins took a lifetime of wins, losses, resets, and hard-earned lessons and built a framework he calls The 4 Ps: Purpose. Planning. Passion. Persistence. In his newly expanded edition of The 4 Ps of You, he shows how to turn raw potential into consistent performance. This is the operating system behind his life and work as a transformational speaker, author, educator, and host of The 4 Ps Podcast.
Here’s the deal. Most people are drifting. They want outcomes without architecture. The 4 Ps give you the architecture.
From Pinnacle To “What Am I Doing?”
Goggins had the résumé most people chase. Military service. A strong career in higher education. A six-figure role on a chancellor’s cabinet. On paper: success. In reality: misery.
Driving home one day, he asked a simple question. What am I doing? The honest answer hurt. He was living by other people’s expectations. Not by intention. That moment flipped the switch.
He went back to first principles.
- Purpose: Why am I here?
- Planning: How do I get there?
- Passion: Do I genuinely want this, or am I playing a role for others?
- Persistence: Am I willing to reset and keep going when it gets ugly?
He chose intention over autopilot. That choice cost him comfort. It gave him back his life.
The 4 Ps. Built For Reality.
Let’s be real. You do not need another motivational poster. You need a framework that survives contact with the real world. Here’s how the 4 Ps work when the stakes are high.
1) Purpose: Decide Before Life Decides For You
Purpose is not poetry. It is a filter. If a path does not align, it is a no. Goggins learned this the hard way, watching students and professionals pick lanes for the wrong reasons. Family tradition. Social pressure. Habit.
Quick drill:
- What are you good at?
- What still makes you smile on bad days?
- What work would you do so well that you feel guilty taking the money?
- Look in the mirror and ask out loud. What do you want? Keep asking until the answer is yours.
2) Planning: Build The Path. Do Not Marry It.
A plan is a map, not a marriage certificate. Conditions change. Markets shift. You grow. Adjust.
Goggins scrapped his first edition when it no longer did the job. That is the point. Blockbuster clung to a plan and died. Netflix adapted. Winners plan, then re-plan.
Rule: set direction with clear milestones. Expect to modify tactics. Protect the mission, not the method.
3) Passion: Fuel That Survives The Grind
Passion is not hype. It is the energy that gets you out of bed when the scoreboard is ugly. It fades when you drift from purpose. It reignites when you change your environment, your inputs, or your challenge.
Athletes do it with new coaches and systems. Bands do it by changing scenes and sounds. Leaders do it with retreats, sabbaticals, and fresh constraints. If the fire is low, change something on purpose.
4) Persistence: The Cost Of Admission
The truth is, persistence is not romantic. It is reps. It is the discipline to start again when most people tap out. Goggins calls out a hidden fifth P you will meet early: Pain. If you are course-correcting from a high-earning, misaligned career, expect discomfort for a season. Hold your line. Ninety days from now, you want momentum. Not perfection. Momentum.
Success And Failure. What They Actually Teach.
Failure lesson: Drifting without intent multiplies bad decisions. Careers. Marriages. Money. If you are doing what you are “supposed” to do, failure compounds quietly.
Success lesson: mission focus wins. The military taught Goggins to define the end state, plan backward, and execute forward. That translates to business, family, and personal goals. Clear mission. Tight routines. Constant after-action reviews.
Watch the trap: success can knock you off purpose faster than failure. Read your own headlines and you drift. The antidote is the mirror test every night. Did I do what moves the mission today? Answer to your eyes, not your audience.
Purpose In The Wild: A Classroom Story
First-day icebreaker. “What is your major and why?” Student says nursing. Why. Because her mom. Why. Because of her grandmother. One more why, and the truth shows up: I want to be a teacher. She would have been a competent nurse. She would have carried regret. This is what happens when you run other people’s playbooks.
Your turn. Who wrote your current script? If the answer is not you, rewrite it.
Plan Without Overcomplicating It
People stall because they obsess over perfect plans. Do this instead:
- Write a one-page plan. Mission. Three outcomes. Next ten actions.
- Timebox it. Ninety-day cycles beat endless strategy sessions.
- Review weekly. Keep what moves the needle. Kill what does not.
- Maintain optionality. Add, edit, or scrap as reality changes.
Your plan is a living document. Treat it that way.
Reigniting Passion When Life Gets Heavy
- Change the room. New environment, new energy.
- Change the reps. Different challenge, same mission.
- Change the inputs. New mentors, books, training, and peers.
- Change the pace. Sprint weeks or deep-work blocks to break inertia.
The goal is not constant excitement. The goal is a sustainable drive aligned to purpose.
Track Progress Without Becoming A Slave To Metrics
Keep a notebook. Paper beats pings.
- Each morning: top three moves that advance the mission.
- Each evening: mirror test. Did I execute? Where did I hide? What changes tomorrow?
- Weekly: review actions against outcomes. Adjust the plan.
- Metrics support decisions. They do not replace judgment.
Attention is scarce. Spend it where it compounds.
Business vs. Personal: Same Rules. Different Contexts.
You are one person. Stop pretending you can silo a misaligned career from your home life. Choose a professional purpose that you can live with ethically and energetically, then build boundaries and rituals so your family is not collateral damage. Trade precision for honesty. If your mission demands heavy seasons, communicate them, plan recovery, and protect non-negotiables.
What Is New In The Expanded Edition
Goggins adds what experience demanded:
- Stories that show purpose can evolve as you do.
- Team dynamics that value outcomes over comfort.
- Practical tools to pressure-test your plan in the real world.
- Case studies that prove the 4 Ps scale from classrooms to C-suites to difficult life transitions.
This is not a “read once and shelve it” book. Mark it up. Fold pages. Use it like a field manual.
If You Start Today. What Changes In 90 Days
Two paths.
- If you are already aligned and need structure, you gain a disciplined operating rhythm. Clear mission. Ruthless focus. Better interviews and negotiations because you are evaluating them as hard as they evaluate you.
- If you are misaligned and resetting: expect discomfort. Income and identity might wobble. Keep your purpose in front of you and execute the plan. Momentum arrives faster than you think if you move daily.
Final Word: Stop Renting Your Life To Other People’s Approval
Most people spend their attention trying to look right at people who are not thinking about them. That is a losing trade. Invest your attention in the small circle that truly loves you, and in the work that matches your purpose. The rest is noise.
Clarity is not a mystery. It is a skill. The 4 Ps are how you build it, keep it, and turn it into results.
Get The Framework
Dive deeper with Dr. Trunnis Goggins: the newly expanded The 4 Ps of You, The 4 Ps Podcast, and resources from The 4P Group LLC. Put the principles to work. Then come back and show your receipts.