How to Become Powerful With Your Weakness

Do you want to become powerful? Everybody has weaknesses. That's the normal part of being human. A lot of us are intimidated by our weaknesses.

The degree we feel conflict about a weakness, depends, I suppose, on our level of self-acceptance. A big majority of us go through life without a clue about personal weaknesses. The slant of this article is that one way to handle "weakness" is to accept it, make a friend out of it, and manage it. In another words, make your weakness work for you, not against you. This is how you become powerful.

Maybe you are quite reserved and shy. That's ok. Live and enjoy this weakness or reality. Don't beat yourself up over this. Compensate for this weakness in social graces by becoming very thoughtful and analytical. As you mature with these traits, you very well may become a very sought after employer or employee. You will become powerful in your own right.

A person known for thoughtfulness and carefulness. The kind of person who doesn't shoot from the hip. A very valued individual when things go wrong. You know, a good clutch player. This is the way you become powerful.

I will give you a personal example of weakness. I have or had an inordinate desire to please authority figures, starting with my parents and teachers. As I matured and aged, this desire for approval expanded to the meeting and maintaining my own, very high, principles and ideals.

The up side of this was I got promotions and made some good income. I was a professional salesman. Needless to say, my idealism and working in a very pragmatic occupation, caused me some conflict. I learned to control and manage my conflict. Just like most of us learn to adjust and integrate ourselves into the realities of life. You become powerful.

This strong desire to obtain approval from authority figures actually had its ups and downs. While playing football in high school, I became a fierce tackler. My coach gave his team a lecture one practice about the techniques of good tackling. He said it was like the laws of physics. The fastest object in a collision received the least amount of damage or harm.

So, I took this as a clue to be sure my tackles were very fierce. It didn't make any difference how big a ball carrier was, if you hit him hard enough, he would go down and I would be less war torn for it.

My biggest thrill in football was when I knocked out the opposition's all star hero. My school did the kick off to the opposing team. Mr. "All Star" caught the ball and was heading toward my side of the field. I was playing defensive end at the time. My couch yelled at me, that "All Star" was headed my way.

Sure enough, he was coming right at me. I felt like the entire stadium was watching me. I am running as fast as I could straight at him, and he wasn't giving an inch.

He looked like a huge steam engine, huffing and puffing, twice my size. My first thought, was of fear. I shoved that thought aside and girded myself for a gigantic explosion. And sure enough, it happened.

We collided at mid field and we both flew up into the air. You could have heard the collision five miles away from the stadium. When I hit the ground, I was momentarily stunned and dizzy. A few seconds latter, I regained by senses and composure. I looked up to see what happened to "All Star".

I saw two guys in white clothing running towards him, with a cot. Yeah, they carried him off the field in a stretcher.

Moving along here, as I was explaining about making your weaknesses work for you. During my boot camp training in the Marines, I had two interesting episodes where my need to meet my "ideals" were of paramount importance to me.

One incident was, during guard duty. When ever I pulled guard duty, I literally walked and soldiered my territory without stopping or failing. A buddy of mine commented to me one day, "Everybody else goofs off when they pull duty, like stops for a smoke or rests. You don't. You are like a "machine". And believe me, I was.

My sense of honor and high ideals led me to an interesting week-end liberty while I was in Advanced Combat training. This same buddy and I went to Oceanside, California for a short night on the town. It was our first liberty since our training began. We got a bottle of whiskey and got smashed. He did more then me. If fact he got so sick, I thought he was going to die.

I stayed with him the entire night, at a local motel. I helped him go to the toilet and throw up. Sometimes he made it and sometimes he didn't. Yeah, I cleaned up after him. Don't get me wrong. This is not my nature. I am not a "nurse" kind of guy. But, I felt it was my duty, like it or not, to watch over him. That's what Marines do right? Semper Fi. This is how you become powerful with other people.

To my total surprise, word got around my platoon, what I did for this guy. Some guys, which I thought were a bunch of smart asses from New York, suddenly were very courteous and friendly with me. One guy in particular, which I was having a problem with, questioned about my buddy drunk helper experience. I confirmed it. He immediately began showing me respect.

I guess they figured a guy that looks out for others can't be that bad. You become powerful.

The need to make money and the desire to excel and please, gave me a pretty good career in sales. I set a lot of sales records, both for volume and duration. I wasn't looking to become powerful, I just wanted to make money.

I must give you a word of caution, regarding turning your weaknesses into strengths.
Most things in life, involve trade offs. You give to get. There is no getting around the "giving". In another words, you will pay the bloody price for the things you want and value. I have and I am sure everyone else has also.

In summary, strive for self acceptance. Love both your strengths and weaknesses. You will become powerful.

Don't be intimidated by what "you should be". Don't let other people scare you off from being your own man or woman..

Just for the record, I am older now. And, I am much better adjusted. I am not the nut case I once was.

At lease in terms of the extreme journeys I used to venture to.

I guess life has a way of balancing things out. In all honesty, I am much closer to the kind of person I always envisioned I had the potential of becoming. Cheers. Here's to "weakness". God help me, I love it.

Do you still want to become powerful?