Step Into Your Power

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Gina Gardiner

Feb 24, 2017

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Motivation, Personal Growth

The principles are the same both Personally and Professionally.

The quality of your life is entirely determined by the quality of your thinking. Surprisingly few of us actually give any attention to the way in which we think and there is a really good reason for that.

Research has demonstrated that for most of us, most of the time, we think in habitual patterns for around 95% of the time. Our thoughts bypass our conscious mind. Something happens and it triggers an automatic response

To be truly powerful you have to think and act mindfully, to make conscious, informed decisions.

Why is it so important?

Our beliefs generate out thinking,

Our thinking generates emotions which in turn generates actions.

Beliefs can be either empowering or dis-empowering. Our beliefs about ourselves and the world we live in are often created when we are very young, once installed we look for evidence to support it being true.

Trouble with that is beliefs can remain in place for years unless they are challenged.

I have studied countless people who have stepped into their power and as a result are extremely successful. It is easy to see why. They follow the same pattern of mindful thinking. It’s not magic or rocket science. Great thing is that there is nothing about the way highly successful people operate, that cannot be replicated by you, if you have a mind to do it.

So let’s look at what makes the difference

Consider the following approaches

No 1

If you think - I will fail. It’s becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy – it’s a done deal. Many people will not even start if they think they will fail. They would rather not try than be seen to fail.

No 2

I might fail. Whilst they go through the motions everything is coloured by the fear of failure. It is rather like trying to run up hill with a boulder strapped to your back

No 3

I will succeed

If you are determined to succeed it doesn’t mean you have to know al the answers from the start. Indeed people who are mindful about being determined to succeed will see every failure as an opportunity to learn before moving forward.

Dyson who is now a multi – millionaire made nearly 2000 prototypes before creating a carpet cleaner that was commercially viable.

For each of the three approaches there is a corresponding set of approaches to decision making. You will make VERY different choices if you are fearful of failing to if you know you will succeed and see anything which goes wrong as just a step closer to getting it right.

Think about your approach to life. Do you spend much of feeling you will fail or being fearful of failure?

2) To step into your power it is important that you make the best use of the resources at your disposal

Time, energy and money are all finite resources. Of course you can use your money to buy other people’s time and energy. There are times when it is far more cost effective to buy other’s expertise and experience and other times when learning to do things yourself is a far better option.

How strategic are you in your use of time, energy and money.

Do you spend much time worrying about things or complaining. Both are actually an expensive use of time as not only do nothing to move you forward in achieving the thing you desire they leach your energy, take over your thinking and make you feel un-resourced.

Research shows that on average, people tell 37 people when things go wrong and only 5 when they go right. That’s a lot of wasted energy!

If you live to 70 you have just 613620 hours. It makes sense to make the most of them.

3) Successful people make as many mistakes as the general population. Indeed they are more likely to make more as they generally procrastinate less and give things a go.

So what is the difference between people who are successfully living an empowered life and those who are less so. Some may think it is all down to luck. A famous golfer once said “Its funny – the more I practice the luckier I get” Success is far more about the quality of thinking, the level of activity and the general approach than it is down to luck.

When you own your power it is easier to be more optimistic about life – and when you expect a good result it is far more likely to be successful.

Stepping into your power means having clear goals –being definite about what you want to achieve and why it is important to you.

The sense of clarity is important. If you don’t know what you want and why it is so much more difficult to plan how to achieve it.

Highly successful people aim to achieve their goal or something better. They celebrate each achievement along the way which gives them the impetus to keep going. They adapt their plans as necessary – they are resilient when things go awry. They are enthusiastic, resilient, they look for solutions rather than dwelling on the problems they encounter.

They have a sense of perspective which helps them keep the end goal in sight.

Crucially empowered people take action but they do it in a very specific way. They are proactive rather than reactive. They make active choices in the knowledge that in many circumstances it is only hindsight which will reveal whether the decision was good or not. Very often the decisions we make are not right or wrong – they are simply different. It’s like taking a journey from London to Glasgow. You can fly, take the train or coach, drive a car, ride a bike or walk. Every decision has a consequence in terms of the time taken and the cost financially or physically.

Life is not a spectator sport. You can choose to sit on the side lines but you will experience a very different quality of life if you choose to take a full and active part.

Stepping into your power requires you to take consistent action over time rather than making a grand gesture which fizzles out as soon as things get a bit tricky.

Think about how many people join a gym after Christmas as part of their New Year Resolutions. They buy the membership and all the gear. They go on the first visit and go for it all guns blazing. As a result their body complains, they are stiff and full of aches and pains for several days. They then stop going to the gym because it is too hard.

The successful approach would be to start with a short programme in the gym one which leaves them tired but able to move. They then keep going to the gym over the coming weeks and months building up the programme as they develop stamina and strength.

The same principles hold true in every aspect of life.

You are the author of your life story so why not give yourself the part of a hero or heroine rather than the victim.

Life can be very challenging but it is not the challenge which defines you. It is how you react to the challenge that makes the real difference. Learn to focus on what you can do rather than what you can’t. Be creative about finding a different way to achieve what you want if necessary. Often the alternative route has real bonuses to offer.

When things go wrong, look for the learning which comes out of it. That is the real gift.

Just as in Marriane Williamson’s poem give yourself permission to shine. If you are unfamiliar with the poem you can find it on my website.

Lean to be more child-like rather than childish – be playful and curious. There are lots of free materials on my website if you’d like more information.

Remember being powerful requires courage – the courage to be vulnerable and to step out of your comfort zone. The interesting thing is that for anything that is important you need 20 seconds of courage. By then you will have past the point of perturbation – your comfort zone will have begun to expand.

Remember these three simple rules in life: