Are you giving away YOUR POWER to others?

Dear Friend,

What do you think is common among the following statements:

 Gosh, this traffic is totally ruining my day
 My boss is so intimidating
 Some of the people on my team simply lack motivation
 My kids don’t listen to me
 Why does it have to rain today?

What is common among all of these instances is a belief that there is something external to you that is causing you unhappiness or frustration.

That you are helpless in this situation,

And if only the cause of your frustration could be fixed or go away, your balance of mind would be restored.

And in thinking this way,
we give the POWER to choose our state of mind to others,
and to external circumstances.

Whereas the truth is that no one person and no one thing
can have greater power over your state of mind than you yourself.

And the good news is the moment you take 100% responsibility of your own thoughts, perceptions and behaviors, as Rajiv Vij highlights in Inside-Out Leadership, even if the circumstances of your life don’t change, you will start to experience a different reality.

How do you take 100% responsibility?
Shift the lens towards yourself:

 Instead of: Why is my boss so intimidating?
You ask: Is my boss too intimidating, or am I not exercising enough courage to express my needs to him?

 Instead of: My team lacks motivation.
You ask: Does my team lack motivation, or am I unable to inspire them more?

 Instead of: My kids don’t listen to me.
You ask: Have my kids stopped listening to me, or have I stopped listening to their needs?

The idea is not to shift the blame from others to yourself, but to take full ownership of your part in influencing the situation as best as you can, so that you can take both your POWER and your peace of mind back.

In the words of Marcel Proust:
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes.”