Getting Control of Your Life – Power – 2nd in the series

Greetings Leaders!

In the first article of this series, we talked about admitting you have control over certain aspects of your life and your assignment was to write down the things you have control over. So, how did you do? The exercise was meant to lay a firm foundation in your psyche… in the deepest recesses of your mind, that you do have control over much of your life. The question now becomes, why don’t we control the things we can? Why do we choose to be powerless instead of powerful?

Have you ever seen a new born infant enter the world? What is the first thing it does? Cry. Loudly. As infants enter our world, the first thing they do is to yell at the top of their lungs. It’s as if we are all proclaiming “I am here! Look out world, here I come!” Funny, people proclaim to be powerless, yet I often watch in amazement, as a little baby who can’t do anything for itself, has adults who are much older and wiser, running around to do its bidding. A baby cries and instantly there is an adult nearby, cuddling, nursing, feeding, and of course, ugh, cleaning it. Talk about power.

We all have power, and yet over time, most, if not all of us, learn to give up our power. Why? Because we were disappointed. As we grew up, people started to tell us things like…. “You’re too slow”, “You’re too short”, “You’re too dumb”, “You’re too smart”, “You’re ugly”, “You’re weak”, “You stutter”, “You have a big nose”, “You can’t do that”, “You’re so lazy”…. yet get the idea.

In addition to people discouraging us, we also faced disappointments and failures. These disappointments and failures reinforced what people were already telling us.

As we go through life, we learn to choose to be powerless.

To get control of your life, you’re going to have to regain your power. Unlike control, where we can’t control all things that happen to us, we can ALWAYS control our choice to be powerful. In the face of death, life’s most certain and final challenge over which we have no control, we can still choose to be powerful. How you face death, is more important than fretting over the fact that you will die. We have all heard stories of amazing people facing the adversity of death head on. I blogged about Jonathan White and also Nick Vujicic before. They are amazing. Choosing to be powerful in the face of adversity, even death.

Today’s assignment –

Starting from your earliest memory – write down the major disappointments in your life, and also the major naysayers. What crazy things did people tell you that you couldn’t do? What trials did you face and then fail at?

This assignment should take you about an hour or two, not five minutes. Take some time. Reflect. In the next blog, we’re going to discuss how to get over these  and to reclaim your power.

Lead With Honor,
JT