The Cycle of Empowerment

” Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny. ”

-Gandhi

The statements and words above speak to us to some degree. Yes, words! Yes, values! Yes, actions! Yes goals! And habits! and so on.. And when they appear so frequently in our radar, some of us go through this hype mode and some of us even go as far as attending a seminar. We get this motivation to make a list of goals we must meet by next week, month, or year. This sudden burst of energy is put into working towards our goals… without really understanding how the process of all of these words above (can) work with each other.

Ghandi explains it very nicely. He goes step by step to describe the process of manifesting our destiny; starting with “beliefs”, and then going from that leading on to “thoughts”, and so on, until we arrive at destiny.

Although I love the process of how manifestation works as Ghandi presented, the process of manifestation isn’t linear.

The process of empowerment is a cycle. Take a look at the image below.

For many of us, our starting points are “goals”, and then we take ACTION, and expect RESULTS…then we go directly back to GOALS by continuing to check off the to-do list we have posted in our calendars. However, our BELIEFS are crucial when considering a starting –and ending– point for tying the loop of empowerment.

For example, say we want to gain weight. Our goals would consist of things to do –actions– in order to achieve results. Then, our results influence our beliefs, but our beliefs aren’t a destination.

That’s because when we see progress in our results, the results affect our beliefs, and because we believe that actions taken are bringing results, we begin to reinforce our beliefs, and so we continue with our goals, only now, with more vivacious purpose. This is why self-fulfilling prophecies start with beliefs.

For a more concrete example:

I want to have a healthy lifestyle that consists of being flexible and strong, GOAL.
I go to the gym four times a week, ACTION.
I feel how far I could stretch and how many groceries I could carry now vs. three months ago, RESULTS.
The results felt amazing and I don’t want to believe I’ve come to an endpoint, and in fact, want to continue because I feel competent, BELIEFS.
Thus, I continue the lifestyle, back to GOAL.

When I saw this visualization for the first time, I challenged my beliefs even more –including the internally wired, deeply indoctrinated ones. I reflected upon my upbringing and questioned why certain beliefs were passed on to me and how they affected the way I lived. Once I believed to have pinpointed some beliefs, I made it part of my goals to behave in ways contrary to those pinned beliefs, so that I may experience the results that would then overwrite those original beliefs with new, and what I found to be, more empowering beliefs.

The one example: School is the answer to success. I believed that growing up, so I would aim at getting good grades, take action, such as studying, and see the A’s down the list, therefore, believe I was going to be successful (whatever that meant at the time). Before seeing this graphic, I rebelled with inappropriate behavior in the classroom. I still did my work and excelled at it, receiving the A’s for the homework and tests passed, but I saw the school teachers behave different towards me. At the time, I didn’t know I discovered something obvious that I now ritualistically believe: “behavior is the the answer to success“.

Fast-forward to college and I could see how the belief that school was the answer to success existed all around me. Not that it’s bad or wrong, but the magnitude fascinated me. And so, seemingly out of nowhere, I decided to take a long break to venture into skills I wanted to learn and become an entrepreneur. And that year was incredible. I indulged in programming languages, drilled into web-development, tutored, and made a living off of it. By that time, I had a clearer sense of what success looked like to me, and I was achieving it daily by empowering others.

I challenged the original belief that “school is the answer to success”, and even after that, I challenged the new belief, “behavior is the answer to success”, by asking what success looks like to me and what kinds of behavior do I want to embed in my persona. Up to date, I still observe and challenge beliefs to push me even further to where I want to go, to who I want to become.

Ghandi is right about beliefs being the starting point that ultimately shapes our destiny, but our destiny isn’t the end of this process. The destiny Ghandi spoke of can be translated as our results, which then return to the starting point of the loop to influence our beliefs.

That’s because the process of empowering ourselves is not linear; it is a cycle. And as Leaders, it is a cycle we must use as an essential gear whirled towards professional and personal growth. A cycle that must be spun in motion, endlessly, in order to continuously empower ourselves and those whom we take care of.

🔴 Be Empowered, my friends.