The Illusion of Power

 

     Through out history all over the world people have chased after power and have often used all kinds of means to attain it. This quest for power has lead to wars, the deaths of many as well as the oppression of many people. In our society, power can come in many forms such as through possessing a lot of money, position (government, politics, business, etc.) and physical. Even through the imagination of man he has created characters such as Superman and other comic book characters to satisfy his longing for power. The problem with attaining power in any form requires that you must work even harder to keep it because of the fact that others want what you have.

     What is true power?  I believe that if one has real power then no one, regardless of who it is, can deprive you of it. True power is not found in money, position or physical means but is actually based on a different set of rules that few have come to master. In order to have true power it must come from within and it must be realized and not acquired. Power is based upon realizing who you are and developing yourself so that you are in the position walk in your destiny. Having true power enables you to control your own destiny instead of others controlling it for you. Just like supporting a cause isn't support until you invest time, money and effort into it, you must have skin in the game to obtain true power. All one has to do is look at great people of history who had true power and they all had something in common. They knew who they were, developed it and had skin in the game (made a sacrifice). With true power, you can be an employee but get paid what you think you worth instead of settling.

     True power can only come from within and it never seeks to dominate others but instead causes others around you to improve. You be willing to invest in yourself and make the sacrifice of doing the hard work of looking within and dealing with the good, bad and the ugly. Never have a false sense of who you are and learn humility and meekness (strength under control). Dealing with who you are on the inside while at the same time developing your talents and gifts will cause you to become a very powerful person, which is someone who writes their own story and controls their own destiny.

Know What You Don't Like

Finding that place in your life where you are doing what you want to do and are successful at it can be tough.  Especially when you hear or read about someone who is successful and they just enjoy what they do so much.  Quite often people will live their lives in a reactive fashion and end up taking jobs out of necessity with the results being that they are miserable.  The key to avoiding this pitfall is to do what you are passionate about and as you may have heard when you do what you love it is not work.  But how do you find out what you love and are passionate about? 

A good place to start with is to find out what you do not like.  Doing this will help you to eliminate things you are not willing to do and help you to focus on finding your passion.  For example, if you are looking at working with children as a passion you can look at the age groups you know for sure that you do not want to work with.  You can also look at subjects, grade levels, setting and many other things to eliminate.  When you discover these non-negotiable things you know what to avoid because wouldn't it be such a waste of time to prepare for something you do not like?  Here is one thing to keep in mind.  Sometimes you might have to do what you do not like in order to do what you do like.  There are times when sacrifices have to be made in order to get to where you want to be.  It might mean going back to school even though you hate school to get the required credentials or you may be at the right company but have to work hours that you do not like until the right moment comes along.  This is where having a vision or a goal in place will keep you motivated in doing what you need to do.  At the end of the day in order to be happy and do what you love find out what you like and what you do not like.  Then focus on getting rid of what you do not like so you can focus on what you like.