Donna Miller August 17, 2020 
This week, many of us found ourselves experiencing power outages. We were in our offices, we had no electric, we had no power, we had no air conditioning, and we had no internet. Oh my goodness; we had no internet! And I don’t know about you, but my cell phone data wasn’t even working the way it usually does, so I couldn’t even hotspot my computer off of my phone. What’s a gal to do? This also comes on the heels of (and in the middle of) us already feeling a little powerless over what’s going on in this COVID tainted world. In a world that is full of all kinds of unrest it really can be quite overwhelming.
I, for one, do worry a little bit about the emotional impact that all of this is going to have societally. That is the reason for my rant today, because here is what I know for sure: You always have power. Breathe that one in. You always have power. No one and no circumstance can ever actually take your power away. You’re going, “Oh yeah, Donna. Right, right, right. You know, there I was, a tree was blocking my house. I couldn’t get out.” “We’ve had all kinds of obstacles we’ve had to navigate in this post-COVID world.” “I had no electricity. What do you mean I have power?”
Well, here’s the truth. I believe there are two things that allow you to always have power. The first one:
Perspective
If you think you have no power, then guess what? You have no power. So when you’re sitting here in the middle of an electrical outage, what’s your power? You can read a book. You can learn something new. You can go for a walk. You can help your neighbor. You can talk to people. First Covid-19 and then a power outage. I really believe somebody bigger than all of us is telling us we may need to do things a little bit differently.
What is your perspective about your current situation? You’ve heard so many quotes about this. If you think you’re beaten, guess what? You’re beaten. So change your attitude and you change your entire world.
So if the first thing you can do to claim your power back is to adjust your perspective, combine that with the second thing you can do:
Take Action
Do something. Sitting, worrying, complaining, thinking about how little you have, just leads to having less. Get up and take action.
Some of you may know this, but in the last couple of years, I’ve lost 95 pounds. I was taking serious action people. I knew it is very hard to lose weight, but frankly, having done this more than once, it’s even harder to keep it off. So when the gyms closed, I said, “Okay, what can I do?”. I started running. I don’t love running, but I love how it helps me to keep my weight off. How it helps me to take care of my health. How it helps me to practice self-care. And guess what? This weekend I ran five miles. My two little feet took me five miles. Didn’t need electricity. Didn’t need internet. Although it is nicer with music to run. But the truth is, as Aristotle says, “We are what we repeatedly do”. Therefore, excellence is a habit.” Take action.
There is always something you can do to improve your situation. So first think about it differently than do differently. Learn something. Share it with someone. This is where, for me, it’s faith over fear. Action moves me past fear. Action actually motivates me. Thinking about it does not motivate me.
What I want to leave with you is that no one and nothing can ever take your power away. Your power is within you. You can tap into it at any time. I want to encourage you to get quiet with that power and decide what action will bring you the greatest result.
If you haven’t read it, read The One Thing by Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan . What is the one thing you can do, that by doing so, will eliminate or make everything else easier. You have to, as a business owner, figure out those activities that will drive your business forward. You have to do that now and you have to do it in the future. And just because we’re kind of in this new norm, which I really don’t like saying, you do have to decide what action makes the most sense for you.
Here’s what I know for sure. Action leads to results. There’s no other way there. I’d like to say I have a magic bullet for having built this company that runs without me, but it was based on action. It was based on behavior. It was getting up and doing what I had to do. It was creating the habits that are excellent.
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