Switch On Your Power Through Commitment and Congruence

Everyone can talk about a cool idea they’ve had: ‘Oh I thought of that years before they launched it.’ But not everyone makes their ideas happen. Breakthrough of any kind demands a high level of commitment.

When you meet people who are committed, you can sense it. They embody their vision inside them. Heart, head, and hands are all congruent, aligned. Even if they have no external power (like wealth or political clout) you can feel their internal power.

Being Congruent and Turning Talk Into Walk

The more we embody our ideas, possibilities, and stories, the more people will feel us being congruent. When we are congruent, we bring ideas down from our head, into our heart and hands. Each is saying: ‘YES! THIS WILL HAPPEN.’

We turn talk into walk. We live the possibilities that we love. We feel them, act them, breathe them, play them. When we are congruent, our powers are conditioned into our nervous system as part of who we are. We don’t have to remember to be on fire. We just are on fire.

There may well still be moments of doubt and fear. But they are the exception, no longer the rule. As we develop congruence, we find that our sense of power—power to influence reality, power to break through—rises exponentially.


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Shifting from a Great Idea to a Lived Reality

With commitment and congruence, we shift a breakthrough from a great idea to a lived reality. Even if it hasn’t quite happened in the world yet, we act like it has already happened inside us. This is what happens when we break out. It’s a done deal within us. It’s just a matter of time before it happens in the world. There is no way our vision will not happen, at least in some form or other (how it looks when done is as much to do with the universe as it is us).

People can sense this within you. Would the people in your network buy stocks in you? If you don't think they would . . . then there is more breaking through to do before you can break out.

Break out =- Insight + Ideas + Commitment + Congruence

Commitment keeps the switch on even when part of you (the scared or exhausted part) might want to switch off. Commitment pulls you back into congruence whenever you get reactive or defensive. When you have commitment -- when you have embodied your breakthroughs and are free of inner conflict -- people want to believe in you. This is the essence of power.

Commitment is the only thing that will get you past the inevitable blockages and obstacles along the way. Scan inside you now.

  • Are you thriving . . . or merely thinking about it?
  • Can you shout across the rooftops, with total resolve, ‘I am ready for this!’?
  • Are you ready, right now . . . or getting ready to be ready?

If you hear a big YES! to these questions, perhaps with a deep, guttural ooompphh in your core, it means you are committed.

If you hear an ‘UMMM . . .’ or a ‘NOT YET’ that is totally OK. There is no morality here, no good or bad. However, it does mean there is something within that will get in the way. You have some incongruence, and it will show up in the way you act, speak, and feel. It may be that it’s not the right time; that the vision isn’t the right one for you; or that you have some fear within.

Better to wait until everything is aligned before you commit fully and publicly, as opposed to commit and then let yourself and others down. Take your time before you make your move. There is no rush. When you leap, leap fully.

Avoiding Commitment?

Notice how often we use words like ‘maybe,’ ‘might’, and ‘try’ to avoid commitment. Phrases like these pepper our everyday language. They ensure that we have a way out, in case things don’t go quite as we’d planned. They keep us uncommitted and so disempowered. When we commit, we remove any back door that might allow us to do a runner. We shut down any wiggle room that can help us avoid response-ability.

Nobody can be half-committed. We are either ON or OFF. When the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés landed and claimed Mexico in the 16th century, he encountered the rumblings of a mutiny. To give his soldiers no choice but to press on, Cortés ordered all the ships to be scuttled. There was no retreat. All they could do was keep going.

What would it be like to burn the boats that you use to take you back to your comfort zone?

Commitment is incendiary. It smolders away, free from the doubt that quenches flames. There are no question marks. No ‘probablies.’ No ‘one days.’ There is just absolute certainty throughout our body.mind. The dials are all tuned up.

Beware of Attachment to Results

Commitment has a catch though. We can get so focused on what we want to create that, if it doesn’t happen, we become disappointed and upset. We get attached to the results, not the journey of discovery.

One of life’s greatest challenges is to remain full of resolve yet totally at peace if things don’t go the way we planned. If our Tiny Me starts to worry about whether we will look good or feel happy, we will begin to get ‘grippy.’ Power leaks. We immediately lose some of our flexibility, our flow, and may well try to control things. We may start to control others too. This undermines our ability to flex with the moment and spot new possibilities. We have flipped from being driven by love (i.e. purpose) to being driven by lack. We’re back in the Survival Trip. Eek!

Instead of focusing on the fruits of our labors, focus on the love that ripens the fruit. In the place of results, focus on intentions. You can be resolved to make stuff happen, and yet at peace with whatever the outcomes are.

You don’t need a result to feel good; you feel good from the start. Your actions and projects are gifts of love to the Great We, not attempts to get love.

Once we accept that we are co-creators of life, with life, we can gracefully take ownership of all our commitments and yet be relaxed if things go awry because, ultimately, we can’t control everything.

We live in a complex, adaptive system, which promotes adaptation and learning. We cannot second-guess why some things don’t work out. It may have been to teach us something, or stimulate someone else in the system to expand. All we can do is switch on to any lack of integrity, congruence, or commitment in our body.mind, tune ourselves up, and keep on growing.

The truly powerful are those whose feelings (HEART), thoughts (HEAD), and actions (HANDS) are in alignment with their true purpose, who power up whenever they feel powerless, tune up when they feel out of sorts, and are totally committed to a result yet free of grippiness. We dance like the mighty oak in a storm, without ever losing our ground.

SWITCH ON TO POWER

We're Switched Off when power comes from outside. When we get respect and money, we have it. When we have power, we can control people and nature, and so manipulate them to ensure our needs are met.

When We're Switched On, power comes from within and we are connected to ourselves and the universe. As we align our emotions, beliefs, and actions within, we develop integrity of intention, word, and deed. This congruence empowers us and attracts support. When we commit, we engage the full power of our being into making things happen. We lose power when we self-sabotage.

SWITCH ON NOW

Right now, get your Connector into the mix. Breathe. Relax. Maybe close your eyes for a second while you choose to switch on.

HEART: Remember the last time you felt powerful and masterful. How did it feel? Flood your body with that feeling and amplify it to the max.

Imagine being like this all the time.

Can you offer an idea or project that you are committed to, back to the Big U as a form of devotion?

As you do, can you feel yourself release any needs or expectations . . . leaving a sense of peace with whatever happens?

Enjoy the feeling of raw power it brings.

HEAD: Can you declare to the universe that you are ready to make change happen without hesitation or provisos? Can you exclaim, right now, that you are the person you need to be to have the things you want to have?

If not, can you switch on to be that person?

Develop some Switch Statements that help you build new powers. Say them now, feeling empowering emotions explode inside.

HANDS: Identify a few people in your network (family, friends, colleagues, connections) that you can share your ideas and commitments with.

Are you committed enough to ask for their help? Can you allow yourself to accept support?

If appropriate, make an agreement with them about what you or they are going to do next to keep things happening. Do whatever you can, with compassion, to ensure that the agreement is honored.

Breakthrough Questions

What would Mahatma Gandhi/Nelson Mandela/Yoda [choose a person or character who inspires power and commitment] feel and then do now to bring this idea to life?

If I devoted this project to humanity as a gift of love, what would it feel like and what would I do next to progress it?

Subtitles by InnerSelf

©2014 by Nick Seneca Jankel. All Rights Reserved.
Published by Watkins Publishing, London, UK.
Dist by Osprey Publishing

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Switch On: Unleash Your Creativity and Thrive with the New Science & Spirit of Breakthrough by Nick Seneca Jankel.Switch On: Unleash Your Creativity and Thrive with the New Science & Spirit of Breakthrough
by Nick Seneca Jankel.

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About the Author

Nick Seneca Jankel, author of: "Switch On: Unleash Your Creativity and Thrive with the New Science & Spirit of Breakthrough"NICK SENECA JANKEL is a 21st-century shaman who has helped over 50,000 individuals, hundreds of world-class organisations like Disney, Nike and Pepsi, national governments and millions of TV viewers to ‘switch on’ and break through challenges. He has a triple First from Cambridge University in medicine and philosophy, and is a director of creative management consultancy wecreateworlwide.com and co-founder of ripeandready.com. He is a sought after inspirational speaker and hosted a BBC TV series as a breakthrough coach. Visit his website at http://www.nickjankel.com/

Watch an interview with Nick: Nick Seneca Jankel speaks about Switching On

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