Turning Knowledge into POWER

[Daniel Becerra]

I would like everyone to do fill the following. It will happen once a month only. There are really no excuses, you have plenty of time and it can surely enhance your performance. It's simple. It's a group of effort and I would really like everyone to do it. Round Table Members, Senior Members, Junior Members, Members who rarely post - everyone. Here we go.

I'm subscribed to SUCCESS Magazine, one that I recommend to everyone. And in each edition, they have a section they like to call "Turning knowledge into POWER". This is a quick thing that involves TEN things to do to enhance your character to be the best it can be. Let us all get involved in this.

10 Actions You Can Take Right Now

1. Take a Walk in His/Her Shoes
Write down how you can improve your customer service/relationships with others immediately... it could be your greatest competitive advantage!

2. Get F.I.T
Strengthen your body, strengthen your mind. Focus Intensity Training (FIT) is engaging your mind, not just your body. Here is an illustration of this process:

Take your right arm, extend it out and then contract your biceps as if you're performing a biceps curl. No big deal, right? Unfortunately, this is the same approach most people take in the gym.

Now let's do it again, This time, however, as you contract your biceps slowly touch your left index finger to the center of your right biceps. Concentrate on a single spot in the center of your biceps muscle. When you reach the fully contracted position, hold it for about ten seconds and then release.

If you've done this correctly, you should feel an intensity in your biceps and bit extra pain. Focus on doing this principle during gym time, even if it means you do less reps.

3. Gotta Believe!
Norman Vincent Peale said people become truly remarkable when they begin to truly believe in themselves. What is your mind telling you? Write down three negative thoughts you tend to replay in your mind. Now what is the positive replacement for each?

4. Get 20/20 Vision
Ken Blanchard, author of over 40 best-selling books, says effective leadership begins with a compelling vision. Shape your vision by knowing (writing it down) where you are going - your ultimate goals - and the values that define your journey. Write down the three most important goals in your life. Read them each morning before you start your day - or you can be reminded of them by checking this post.

5. Architect Your Inspiration
Like Frank Gehry - world-wide recognized architect - you can design the environment where you can feel most inspired and energized. Make time in your calendar now to spend time there rejuvenating and getting in touch with your spirit and stimulating your creative mind. The next big idea may be waiting for you there. What is(are) the place(s) that you love the most?

6. Connect With Good People
Vitality comes from connecting with the people you love and care about. List three ways you can regularly reconnect with the important people in your life.

7. Take a Tip from Tony Hawk
Build your empire when everyone else think it's a down market. List three proactive steps you could take this week to leap out in front of your competition.

8. Be the Best
Write down five descriptive ways to make everyday your BEST. Work each day to be the best and come back tomorrow to do the same.

9. Age Amnesia
Think you're too young or too old to achieve your goals or pursue your dreams? Michael Dell (Founder of Dell computers) and Harland "Colonel" Sanders (Founder of KFC) didn't. Write down five reasons why you are the perfect age, right now to achieve your most ambitious dreams.

10. Stay True to You.
Are you doing what you love? Really? Like Jay Leno, stay true to your craft by asking yourself if you are spending the majority of your days doing what you love or doing the things that will enable you to later on, really do what you love. Are you doing those things? You better!

[Nick Krygier]

"As long as you want power you can't have it. The minute you don't want power you'll have more then you ever dreamed possible.

What a weird thing!

As long as you have an ego you're on a limited trip"

anyone know where this is from?

[Daniel Becerra]

I think the word "power" is one of the most misunderstood words in the dictionary. Power is seen as something that gives you control and it often has associations with self-righteous things, even with negative ones. Power is only the means of taking action. That's power. Hence, the title "Turn Knowledge into POWER"

In the statement made in your reply, power can be translated as "control". You can not have control, only influence. And the more you focus on other things (besides control) that help others, the more you'll influence. Again, don't seek the influence, seek what drives you and the influence will happen on its own. I have no idea where that statement came from, but it makes sense when you read it from the perspective of "control".

[Nick Krygier]

When I see the information coming from SUCCESS magazine I instantly think of power in the control sense. I read the post and even throughout the end I thought of it as a means to create power (in the acting sense) to gain power (in the control sense).

I don't understand how trying to do all these things is NOT trying to gain some control and a place in this world. They are doing all these things so that they can 'become the best they can be' but most of these things are about getting something out of life- getting a feeling of control in your life (what I see it as at least). I would really like to be able to see your perspective on here because either my ego is in the way or I'm just blind.

[SilverStreak]

ok, to start off, this sounds like a cheesy tv ad from the 80s aimed at teens...so yeah

Secondly, good ideas generally. They're good tactis but i do feel their underlying ideals need to be changed slightly (and the ideals/principles behind the tactics can easily change!).

I feel the best way to sum it up is how Steven Covey explains it. The only person you can willingly ever change is yourself. Through changing yourself you can then attempt to try and bring change to others and to the world, through your changes.

Hah. That sounds really confusing in the way I put it, but without having the book/trying to explain in a way for people that don't have it I find it very hard to explain. Perhaps Daniel or someone else can explain it better?

[Daniel Becerra]

@ Nick

I like Steve Pavlina's definition of power - Power is your ability to consciously and deliberately create the world you want around you.

Translate that directly into the title of this thread ==> Turning knowledge into "ability to consciously and deliberately create the world around you". In other words, learn something and then use it to create the life you want. Which we all hope to be aligned with truth and love.

Steve Pavlina puts it like this:
" To some people, the word power is almost a dirty word (control), negatively associated with abuse of force, corruption, and unbridled greed. But in truth there is nothing inherently evil or corrupt about the exercise of power. This principle can be aligned with truth and love, or it can be falsehood and disconnection. Whether power is used for good or evil is determined by the consciousness behind it.
...The triad of truth, love, and power can serve as incredible force for good. The world is well served when those who are aligned with truth and love align with this third element (power). If you can be such a person, then I encourage you to consciously develop your power, since that decision benefits us all"

In other words, power on its own is not a force, but a complement for the force behind it: one's mind. In the case of SUCCESS Magazine's list, yes, they are giving a stimulus for you to acquire more power, but in this case, power is that knowledge (the tips given) so that you can implement them to create a good life. It is assumed that the person reading this list has a mind aligned with truth and love. I personally don't see how this list can come across as getting something out of someone rather than giving, maybe except from the tip regarding Tony Hawk (who I recently heard speak, great guy!) but leaping out from your competition by staying true to your passion is not a dirty tactic, it's the cleanest of them all!

Silverstreak, Stephen Covey states that you can not change or control people. Influence - at its best - is all you can do. But influence gets better, bigger and stronger if you grow first. Ghandi said it best: "Be the change you want to see in the world"

[Nick Krygier]

Thank you for your response, I feel as if I see what you mean much more now