Discover your personal power.

 You were born with personal power. God gave you the ability to THINK, to KNOW and REASON, to SENSE and FEEL, and the determination and self-discipline to ACT. These gifts working in harmony give strength to your life and give you the PERSONAL POWER to manage your thoughts and emotions rather than let them be dictated by outside conditions. Personal power is the combined strength of three forces—your INTELLECT, SPIRIT and WILL—collaborating to bring vitality to your life—even in the midst of difficult circumstances. Personal power enables you to choose:

• Knowledge over ignorance
• Wisdom over foolishness
• Courage over fear
• Hard work over entitlement
• Hope over despair
• Humility over arrogance
• Appreciation over ungratefulness
• Love over hate
• Justice over unfairness
• Grace over condemnation
• Inclusiveness over alienation
• Service over self-interest

Six enablers that will strengthen personal power.

Know what you stand for.

If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything. Your personal power will evaporate because you’re not grounded, you’re not anchored to anything. Knowing what you stand for is about knowing what you value. Values are the emotional rules that guide your life, the fundamental basis for every decision you make. Values give your life focus and meaning and power.

Believe in what you are doing.

Many of us end up compromising our most deeply held values at work because that’s what we think we need to do in order to get ahead, whether “ahead” means more money, power, pleasure, status or some other lure. When we end up doing things we don’t believe in it saps our personal power and we slowly become DEAD PEOPLE WORKING.

Find your sweet spot.

When you find your sweet spot—the synergy between what you are good at, passionate about, and what needs to be done—you tap into the joy and enthusiasm that increases your personal power. If you are stuck in a job because it’s easy or safe or pays well, but gives you no sense of purpose and passion, you are in the most difficult job of all—a job that constantly drains your personal power.

Be authentic.

It takes GUTS to be yourself, to live your values out loud. Your values and deep-seated beliefs are what make you YOU. Authenticity requires putting it out there and being vulnerable. There is always the possibility that you or your ideas will be rejected. Yet, if you think about it, being rejected for being you pales in comparison to being a poser. Nothing drains your personal power like being someone you aren’t—living a lie. You are uniquely different from every other person in the world. When you honor and leverage your uniqueness by living your values out loud you strengthen your personal power.

Choose not to be a victim.

Let’s face it. Life is difficult. Bad things happen to good people. If life hasn’t dealt you some serious blows you better ask whether or not you are in touch with reality. But here’s the deal. While life may cause you to be a victim, only YOU decide whether you are going to become victimized. People who become victimized live in a sanctuary of self-indulgence.