Access to Power

(This article appeared in the September issue of Student Plus, a magazine for MBA and CA aspirants)

Take a look at the following names…
Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Alva Edison, Albert Einstein, Theodore Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachhan, Michael Schumacher, Anthony Robbins, Lee Iacocca, Osho, Steve Jobs, Baba Ramdev, Malathy Holla, Nick Vujicic… this list is endless. You have heard of them, seen them and at times followed them. You might have wondered how did they do ‘it’?
How could they enjoy such a high quality of life?
There is something common that enlists these people together.

And this has propelled me to know- why is it that some people make it really great in life and why others in the same area are still finding ways to get to the top?
What is it that separates them from the others?
Why is it that highly successful people are a minority?
What are the tools that they have access to which others are not probably aware of?
How do they see the world around them and how do they respond?

All these questions led me to one thing that they used the most of… POWER

These are people who have taken the invisible and made it visible.
They believed in themselves and in their dreams. They had the power to generate the results they wanted to. In their respective fields they are icons who symbolize power. They dreamed big, they were passionate and believed that the journey they were embarking was a road full of possibilities. These people had similar problems and challenges that we face and in some cases even worse yet went on to make the best out of all that was available to them. What separates them from the others is that they identified POWER.

What is POWER?
How much power do you want?
How much power do you think is sufficient for you to achieve what you want?

What does Power mean to you?

POWER is a very emotional word that means different to different people. For some power may symbolizes lust and jealousy, for some it may be a means to be able to sabotage people and make them do things according to their wishes. For many it means being independent and being able to make their own decisions.

Take my case for instance, Power is to fulfill all my dreams, it is to live life the way I intend to. When I say to myself that I choose to be the best that I can be, and I am responsible for whatever happens to me it gives me a sense of immense power. Power is to be able to adapt myself to achieve what I am destined for. Power is to be my own benevolent dictator where I have the ability to change my life, to make things work for me. The ability to stay focused and help people live life to the fullest and help them get to the next level means power to me.

Power has taken many forms through centuries. During the earliest ages the man with all the muscle power ruled over the others. When kings ruled, vested in the form of conquering people, controlling them and conquering lands and power was transferred to their children. In the 20th century the Industrial revolution brought a tremendous amount of power in terms of money. People got easy access to money so those who made more money could set up bigger factories and industries and those who couldn’t, suffered. In the past 2 decades information became power; information on anything can be made available within seconds. The Information Technology giants help almost all organized businesses to operate efficiently and effectively. The power of the future would be the mind. Gone are the thoughts when people claimed the space to be the last frontier. The Power of the future is the mind. It is by far the best gift to mankind and the one who can unlock the hidden potential of the mind will be the most powerful person on this planet. The mind controls the body; it gives signals to the body and it responds exactly the way it has been instructed to. Imagine if we could operate our minds to the fullest and use our body effectively, what can be created. From centuries man has been exploring and is still in search of the key to unlock the true potential of the mind.

And still I don’t get an answer for the following questions. What is the difference that makes the difference? I spoke about people who resorted to power and created an extraordinary life. What power am I referring to, what is the key ingredient that makes the recipe to live a life of power?

After a lot of pondering over I found out that all of these guys faced problems, they had their own set of issues to handle, they were criticized, booed, they had to face several obstacles, roadblocks, they had to deal with all the problems we normally face and here’s what these guys did different, what made the difference was the way they communicated to themselves. They saw an opportunity in a problem, if they felt stuck; they would search for different ways to get unstuck. If they were trapped, they would search for the door, if that didn’t work they would try the window and if even that didn’t work they would try something different until they got what they wanted. What worked was the way they communicated with themselves and others around.

This story appeared in a book that I once read, two women turn seventy years old, one says “I know my life is coming to an end, I have lived for seven decades and now my body is breaking down and I need to start preparing for the end”. The other says “What I am capable of at my age depends on how I represent it” She decides that mountain climbing can be fun and a good sport to keep her fit. Hulda Crooks is in her nineties and she is the oldest woman to ascend Mount Fiji.
As I leave you with the above example, ask yourself this question.

Am I living powerfully and if not then what can I do different to make it powerful?