The Power Mindset
Success or failure in anything we do is largely a function of our mindsets as we approach the action. What is the best mindset we can cultivate in order to more fully realize our personal power and maximize our agency in this world? Here are seven precepts that help get us there.
---
Listen to the podcast here
The Power Mindset
The Eye of Power is a tool to help us reach our full agency in this world. Like any other tool we may decide to use to take on any task, its value comes from skillful and appropriate use. It follows then that to get the full benefit from the Eye of Power, we need to know how to use it appropriately and with skill. You may have read the following before more than once, "All positive change begins with awareness." Once we become aware of the need and possibility to make a desirable change, we immediately become positioned for the next step.
We are free and empowered to set an intention and affirm an unshakeable application of willpower to make the necessary change. As we accomplish these things, we use the Eye of Power more appropriately. That is with greater amounts of awareness and intention. In this case, we're focused on awareness of the range of possibilities of what we may do to create new outcomes in our lives. Our intention strengthens, and our resolve to take the required actions builds to make those changes real.
These are actions we can take, and that is the requirement or the ante in this game. If you're not there, don't worry. You're close. I know that because if you weren't, you wouldn't be listening to me. If you're close, keep going, working, moving, and refining. Try something, anything, and learn from it. That brings us to the second aspect of getting the most value from the Eye of Power, how we use it skillfully. To do that, we must cultivate what we call the power mindset. This is a set of precepts that function like fertile soil. It provides an environment in our minds that is friendly to the insights and resolve that come from the use of the Eye of Power model.
Let's talk about the details of these precepts, the beliefs, truths, ideas, ideals, or how you would like to think about them. I invite you to think about where you may be at the moment in relation to each of these. Are they news? Do they make sense? Is there something here with which you can't agree? Keep these in mind as we go through these seven foundational notions that light the path to our power.
Here's power mindset precept number one. I am the primary determinant of the reality I experience. This precept means that we recognize that the conditions of our lives are functions of what we do. What we do is determined by what we believe, what we believe is determined by what we perceive, and what we perceive is filtered through our cognitive limits, our personality proclivities, whether innate or acquired, and our mental and physical capacities. The recognition that we have control over those things opens a path to power. Without it, we are blown around by external forces. Typically, that's other people.
What we do is determined by what we believe. What we believe is determined by what we perceive.
I would like to talk about a concept that many of my Christian friends espouse, the idea of surrender and giving it to God. There's a trap that sometimes catches people with this kind of thinking. Whether or not we recognize the power of prayer, which I do, because it's a form of intention, there's an idea that God is in charge and controls everything. The danger here is that we may unintentionally abdicate our agency. We will look more at the fallacy that leads to that trap in the next episode, but the idea that our wills are not our own is incompatible with the model of free will. Without free will, there's not a whole lot left for purpose or meaning.
Whenever I think of this issue, I think of the following old joke. A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help. Soon, a man in a rowboat came by, and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, "Jump in. I can save you." The stranded fellow shouted back, "It's okay. I'm praying to God, and he's going to save me." The rowboat went on. A motorboat came by. The fellow in the motorboat shouted, "Jump in. I can save you." To this, the stranded man said, "No thanks. I'm praying to God, and he's going to save me. I have faith." The motorboat went on.
A helicopter came by, and the pilot shouted down, "Grab this rope, and I'll lift you to safety." To this, the stranded man again replied, "No thanks. I'm praying to God, and he's going to save me. I have faith." The helicopter reluctantly flew away. Soon, the water rose above the rooftop, and the man drowned. He went to heaven. He finally got his chance to discuss the whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, "I had faith in you, but you didn't save me. You let me drown. I don't understand why."
To this, God replied, "I sent you a rowboat, a motorboat, and a helicopter. What more did you expect?" What I take from the story is that each of us is the hand of God. We have free will. We are not forced to serve. We choose to. We're motivated to serve good ends because we're wired to feel good when we serve others. Problems come into the picture when we serve only smaller sets of needs, like our immediate circle of people.
When we fail to respect that others are free to do the same as we do, we transgress, but when we place ourselves in the position to determine the reality we experience, we expand our range of perception and action we can take to manifest a life more in line with what it is we value. With an expanded range of perception, we also expand our awareness of what's real about others and increase our capacity to respect that which is in them that we would want others to value with regard to ourselves.
Power mindset precept number two, I take full responsibility for how I think, behave, and affect others around me. This is a necessary corollary to the first power mindset precept. If we determine our realities if we are to own our power or agency, then we must own the responsibility. It may sometimes feel like others are doing things to us, and within a prescribed limited point of view, they are, but when we look at our lives through only this lens, we too often end up giving our power away. We discount what we did and didn't do to engender that treatment. When we don't take responsibility, we blind ourselves to those lessons we can apply to build the awareness necessary to skillfully use tools like the Eye of Power.
Power mindset precept number three, my beliefs, thoughts, and feelings determine my actions, which determine the reality I experience in the future. This is how we drill down into the space of self-mastery. In this regard, we have one choice in life. Either we control our thoughts and feelings, or they control us. Often, we surrender our power, ideas, and feelings that may have been true and useful at one time but no longer apply to our current circumstances.
Power Mindset: We control our thoughts and feelings, or they control us.
If we wish to take action, but we somehow can't bring ourselves to keep at it, this is a likely contributing factor. By allowing our thoughts and feelings to always remain subject to revision, we minimize this limiting effect. We build the ability to craft improved versions that pave the way for more powerful actions.
Power mindset precept number four, if I'm not where I want to be, some of my beliefs, thoughts, and feelings are in my way and must be changed or ejected. This is the natural conclusion from power mindset precept number three. It points the way for us to direct our attention and energy right at those internal culprits that limit us, tell us we can't, and tell us the lie that we're not worthy and some other such nonsense. That allows us to clear the rubbish and create a mental space that is clean and powerful.
Power mindset precept number five, the way I change my beliefs, thoughts, and feelings is to take actions that feel uncomfortable. This precept is a bit counterintuitive, but it partly explains why changing our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs is such a difficult task. We're comfortable with the familiar. It doesn't matter whether the familiar is limiting us. It's still comfortable because it's what we know. It's what we're used to. The novel is, by definition, unfamiliar and thus not comfortable. Mastery in this precept involves becoming comfortable with discomfort. It's another reason why it's advantageous to have the support of thought partners when we try new tactics and strategies in our lives.
Power mindset precept number six, small sustainable actions that change me in necessary ways are more important than the immediate results of those new actions. This is a critical component of the power mindset. It's what allows us to stay focused on the process and resist being distracted and frustrated along our path to power. It's like what you hear from successful sports teams. They're focused on process, not on outcomes. Work smart. Work hard. Keep getting better. They don't measure by wins and losses. They measure by plans and execution.
It's easy to underestimate the power of incremental change. I urge you not to. It's like compound interest. A little bit sustained over time turns into the literal difference between being rich and being poor. It's even more dramatic when it comes to investing in ourselves. How are we getting better? The answer doesn't have to be something monumental. The answer must have two features. It must be something noticeable and measurable, and it must be something sustained and consistent.
It's easy to underestimate the power of incremental change.
It's the focus and discipline applied over time that transforms us. It's what moves us in the direction of our power because we find that the biggest payoff in work is not having the beach house, the dream job, the perfect partner, or the beach body. The biggest payoff is the person we become along our path to our goals. As we manifest our wills in this world, we meet our needs and those of the people we serve. We receive the gift of deep satisfaction in having a purpose with the ability to move the needle in ways only we can.
Power mindset precept number seven, I remain staked to principle as I remain open to permutation. Not everything about us is subject to change. There are some bedrock truths and principles from which we operate. We talk a lot about these. These precepts are examples of that. Taking inventory of principle versus notion is a large part of the work we do together using the Eye of Power model. You may already have adopted one or more of the power mindset precepts. Wherever you are, think of how you can strengthen them. Think of it as conditioning training to be in the shape and form of yourself that is more suited for the desired reality. Consider the Eye of Power as an option to help you along the way to a more fully realized version of yourself. Let's go.