We are all designed for Greatness. The problem is that most of us live our lives, contradicting that natural law. As Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple aptly put it, “Most of us live our lives, living someone else’s dream”. So therefore, if we want to make a difference in our lives and in the lives of others around us, we can start with a simple understanding of the principles behind “The Power of I”.

The “I” as mentioned in this article, does not stand for the singular perspective of self-reliance, indulgence or prideful personal glorification. But rather, it’s about all the possibilities available to each of us, and the opportunities that we miss in life by not living up to our truest potential.

This article offers 3 simple “I” truths for us to think about.

I am reminded of the story that I heard a long time ago of the Bald Eagle – an animal that resembles humans very closely in terms of its lifespan and challenges in change it has to endure in order to survive. We can truly learn how important it is to be willing to embrace change and improvement, in order to make a difference in our lives.

The eagle has the longest life span of its' species. It can live up to 70 years.
But to reach this age, the eagle must make a hard decision.
In its' 40's its' long and flexible talons can no longer grab prey which serves as food.
Its' long and sharp beak becomes bent and its' old-aged and heavy wings, due to their thick feathers, become stuck to its' chest and make it difficult to fly.
Then, the eagle is left with only two options: die or go through a painful process of change, which lasts 150 days.
The process requires that the eagle fly to a mountaintop and sit on its' nest. There the eagle has to knock its' beak against a rock until it plucks it out. After plucking it out, the eagle will wait for a new beak to grow back and then it will pluck out its' talons. When its' new talons grow back, the eagle starts plucking its' old-aged feathers.
And after five months, the eagle takes its' famous flight of rebirth and lives for 30 more years.

The Moral:
Many times, in order to survive, we have to start and go through a change process. We sometimes need to get rid of old memories, habits & other past traditions. Only when freed from past burdens, can take advantage of the present.

Being “impassionate” means emotionally attached to something or someone. Be it an incident or relationship. Whether its personal or about business.

It’s been said that we should “never look back but always look forward”. While this maybe true, we can definitely learn from our mistakes in the past and hopefully not repeat them in the future.
Yes. While many of us know this and believe in above principles, some of us are still unknowingly living in the shadows of our past.

Some years ago, I had an unpleasant falling out with one my business partners. The business arrangement was one that involved great financial returns, based on specific ongoing efforts by respective parties, as well as future performance achieved, not unlike many other business deals.
Each time a problem occurred, it was mitigated and sustained by the patience of the “years of friendship”.

Soon, the situation became too strained for recovery, with both parties feeling that one had given much more than the other.

So I made the decision to terminate the business relationship, though not void of bitter emotions that lingered with me for several months. One thing was clear though; I knew I was a person that would not spend time dwelling too long in the past, to affect my focus on the future.

As time went by, though I thought I had moved on and harbored no more ill- feelings about the situation, I could sense that although mentally, I had moved on, I realized, emotionally I was still sore, especially whenever images or references of the incident came to mind.

I knew then, I had to live up to what I taught to all my participants. I needed to “emotionally” move on; by physically taking action. So I picked up the phone and made peace by affirming to my ex-partner, that I had forgiven him and harbored no ill feelings about him any longer. In the split second that I had acknowledged that, I felt a whole new stream of positive and victorious release in my inner spirit.

This incident once again, proved to me that although at times, though we think we have moved on and are no longer dwelling about the past; the real change only comes, if we physically take action to emotionally “cross-over” over from the past.

So today, don’t let an “emotionally” unresolved past, affect your future and blind you from the brand new opportunities that await you.

In life, we often hear of people complaining about how unfair things are, how unlucky they have been or how come bad things always happen to them. They often go at lengths about how things would be different if they only had this or had that. Yet, if you stop to think about it, we will realize that bad things not only happen to pessimistic people, but it seems to happen to them all the time. It’s as if they were attracting and inviting negative things or events upon themselves.

A few years ago, “The Secret”, a controversial documentary on the “Law of Attraction”, not only took the “world by storm” in terms of viewership, but also created a “tsunami” of mindset change. Concepts of how, if we change the way we think, we can change the way things happen to us, resonated powerfully with millions of viewers and “The Secret” practitioners.

While some viewers embraced the principles easily, there were others still wondering how unbelievable or far-fetched the concept was – “if we think of good things, good things will happen to us” ?

Yet there are some truths worthy for us to consider. Let me explain.

In my interaction with thousands of people that I come across in my Leadership seminars, I observed something very interesting.

People just love to complain. Period.

They complain about their work, their boss, their circumstances, their bad “luck”, the weather, their spouses, their children, their pets, etc. In short, they are complaining about everything in their lives.
They even complain about people who complain !

If there’s any sure fire way to invite bad things to happen to us, well this is it. People complain so much; they don’t even realize it anymore. Habits don’t die easily.

When negativism becomes a habit, it is no longer just a thought in our minds; it will become a focus-point in our lives. And it will end up manifesting in our physical world.

When negativism fills our mind, hearts and life, there’s no space for positive things to come into our lives. Opportunities will come our way. But negativism will camouflage them as challenges and problems. Positivity cannot cohabit with negativism. Positivity will not reside where negativism lives.

Here are some tips to stop living in negativism:

• Be grateful for what you have. Things could be worse.
• Replace negative thoughts with life enriching thoughts.
• Focus your mind on a noble goal.
• Start “making a difference” in the life of another.