Power Moves – Defining moments of your life

Power Moves – Defining moments of your life  

Decisions vs Power Moves  

There are many moments in life when we are forced to make decisions that impact us in a very meaningful way. These are decisions about life, career, relationships etc. Decision making is always hard, as we have to sift through a lot of information and even though the decision may have a long-term impact on our life, we can only base it on the data at hand, and hope that it is the right decision, as the future can’t really be controlled!  

Within me executive and life coaching work, I have developed a framework for decision making which considers both our values and our emotional states,. These are the main driving factors that impact how decisions are made and what outcomes we get.  

Examples of decisions are – choosing between two jobs, or deciding on a career pathway, or which property to rent, or even how to respond to a someone in a situation where it matters. Life is a series of decisions – some so fast, we don’t even notice we are making them.  

Power moves on the other hand, are big bold decisions we make at times where we are challenged the most. These are situations, where we are pulled in different directions as we stand to lose something either way. However, it is these decisions that define and alter the pathway of life that we choose – these are situations where we decide if we are empowered enough to be the change in the world we want to see, or are we going to give in to fear, to try and fit in the mould, not stir anything and be just a cog in the wheel. Power moves always tend to feel integrous to our core, a deeper part of ourselves that I call our soul, but feel very challenging to our human self, that wants to peacefully fit into the world by being accepted by those around us.   

Take an example of one my executive coaching clients, who was a CEO of tech start up. He had worked diligently to build the company, given it his heart and soul, and made a success out of it. However, he was finding himself increasingly at odds with one of the main shareholders. There was a marked difference in values between the two.  The CEO was finding that this person was increasingly stepping on his boundaries, not keeping his word to him, not giving him the due compensation or acknowledgement, and interfering in how the company was run in a manner that was detrimental to my client’s and the organizations well-being. His power move was to stand up for himself and have a forthright conversation where he could call for change, and if that would not work, he would choose to walk away. He had thought about it long and hard an knew that to continue to work in an environment that does not serve his soul will eventually catch up to him. The alternative to this power move was to pretend that all was well and keep receiving his paycheck in the hope for the big payout when the company would go public.  

In the above situation – Fear would say, keep the job, why risk the loss of the potential payout. Love for self, and the soul however knows that being integrous to the self, which means sticking up for your values, and walking away from situations even when, by doing so, there is a potential for some perceived or actual loss.  

These are the power moves in our life, that decide who we are going to be and how empowered we will be to navigate our own destiny.  

To develop your ability to make power moves in life, you can seek the help of an executive coach or a life coach. Book a complimentary introductory call here.  

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Photo by GR Stocks on Unsplash