Legendary director John Huston explained real power this way, “When I make a movie, I feel like God. I have the world in my hands, I can make it come out any way I want, decide who lives and who dies, who gets punished, who gets to live happily ever. In between pictures is my seventh day, I rest.”
Unlike Huston, few people ever experience real power, because they sabotage themselves by not following through on their potential based upon past achievements. The definition of “real power” can be summed up into two words: integrity and authenticity.
This is especially true when considering midlife career changes.
In the most basic sense, being powerful means completely fulfilling your potential and acting that you were meant to be where your talents and character have taken you. While on the other side, is the fear of being powerful, where you reach a level of achievement outside your comfort level where you begin question to whether your talents or character can sustain your success in the future.
Some people fit into the category that they don’t believe they are powerful and others believe they are powerful, but realize their actions tell themselves and others otherwise. In either case, most people who find themselves in this situation will say they don’t feel they deserve the power that has been bestowed upon them.
Often, we might be watching the Olympics or seeing others who seem more powerful than us and you can hear yourself saying, “Why can’t I do that?” The answer is entirely up to each of us. The only difference between those who become powerful and those that do not is a matter of choice. But how can you stay at a constant level of feeling powerful when so many other things in your life keep trying to tear you down?
If you are making midlife career changes, think of a time in your life when you felt the most powerful. Most likely, you will notice that you were coming from a place of authenticity or being totally comfortable with who you are at that particular moment in time. Thus, the best way to become a more powerful being is to continue to find ways to tap into the authentic nature of who you truly are, including:
- Constantly taking powerful actions, by honoring your commitments and prioritizing your life in such a way that you are living in a place that embraces who you are and engages your entire wholeness of being.
- Stepping out of your comfort zone and doing different things. Taking risks and feeling what it feels like to have courage, face fears, move forward and have a zest for life will allow you to tap into an incredible sense of power without fear.
- Refusing to settle for average or below average standards will help you avoid planting any additional seeds of powerlessness.
- Temper your fear by doing one thing everyday that scares you.
- Remove any unresolved issues or things that you are simply tolerating in your life that drain you and take energy away from your sense of who you are. Getting rid of these distracting obstacles and making room for what you truly do want allows you to become more powerful. The unresolved issues that you haven’t cleaned up just create more mental images of how you are not good enough. The powerful being you want to become needs to have these issues resolved and have people around you that support your powerful presence.
- Part of being powerful is actually being ok with yourself when you aren’t powerful. This is about accepting what is happening versus resisting what is occurring. By accepting your condition in this moment of intense self-doubt will give you an equal playing field to actually begin to change it.
What is an action step you could take today that would honor your transparent nature of who you really are?
Ask yourself, what is so scary about becoming more powerful?
What holds you back from being as powerful as you are meant to be?
Remember, as the great Indian leader Seneca, once said, “most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”
