How to Access Your Real Power

You’re disciplined, motivated and you have goals. 

So why aren’t you seeing the results you really want?

Here’s a question most high-achievers rarely pause to ask: What actually drives me?

It sounds simple (maybe even irrelevant) when you’re focused on performance and outcomes. After all, we’ve been taught that success comes from doing more, working harder, and pushing through resistance.

But here’s the truth: when you don’t understand what truly drives you, it’s easy to pour your energy into the wrong things, and mistake effort for alignment.

And here's what I've learned: your results don't come from what you do. They come from where you're programmed - your subconscious mental programming. And most people, about 80% according to Dr. David Hawkins' research, are stuck operating from fear or anger without even knowing it.

The operating system you can't see
Dr. David Hawkins spent decades researching human consciousness before creating what he called "The Map of Consciousness," a calibrated scale from 20 to 1,000 that measures where you're "operating" from at the subconscious level. It's about your core beliefs state - the operating system running beneath your conscious awareness.
 

Recently, I've been studying Dr. Hawkins's landmark book, Power vs Force - The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior (1). And here's the uncomfortable truth: you can't outperform your current state. It's subconscious. It literally drives you. It keesp you in auto-pilot.

"The Map of Consciousness" scale breaks down like this:
20: Shame
30: Guilt
50: Apathy
100: Fear
150: Anger
200: Courage
310: Willingness
350: Acceptance
400: Reason
500: Love
600: Peace
700-1,000: Enlightenment

Below 200, you're operating from what Hawkins calls "force." Above 200, you access "power." And the difference between the two determines everything about your outcomes.

Why most people stay stuck
When I look back at my life and career, I see that I hit invisible ceilings I couldn't explain at the time. I'd sabotage myself right when a breakthrough was possible. And I'd repeat the same patterns while expecting different results.

I wasn't lacking strategy or effort. I was operating from fear and limiting beliefs at my core. 

Below the level of courage, at 200 on Hawkins' scale, you're fundamentally operating from avoidance. The past controls you. You're locked into a fixed identity and reacting to circumstances rather than creating your reality. You set goals based on what happened last year. "It took me four years to be promoted to Vice President, it'll be another three years to my next promotion." That's not strategy. That's linear psychology - going from A to B to C - keeping you safe and small.

And here's what makes this so challenging:  Hawkins found that the average advance in consciousness throughout a person's lifetime is only five points.  Five points in an entire lifetime? Most people experience millions of moments, thousands of lessons, and still barely move.

Why? Because real transformation requires being honest with yourself. And most people avoid questioning the belief systems keeping them imprisoned at lower levels. It's hard.

The courage threshold
At 200, courage, things change. This is the dividing line between force and power, between destructive and constructive patterns. Courage doesn't mean fearlessness. It means the willingness to see reality as it actually is. For example:  Being open to receive honest feedback, acknowledging your blind spots and patterns or addressing your denial.

When I work with successful, high-achieving women leaders in my BLISS Accelerator career and leadership program, they clarify their bold meaningful goals. They write the self-image script of their Future Self who's acheiving their goals. They look at habits and limiting beliefs that are holding them back. In other words, they start stepping into courage. They start operating from power.

When you operate from courage, you stop letting the past unconsciously drive your present. Your future becomes your northstar. You're no longer protecting your old beliefs. 

The person operating from fear is unconscious driven by: "How do I stay safe?"
The person operating from courage is consciously asking: "What do I need to face about myself?"
That's the difference between force and power.

The difference between force and power
Below courage, you're applying force. You're controlling, predicting, and protecting. You might get results for a while, but it requires constant effort. Force is exhausting.

This is why - when a new client comes to me -  she realizes she's stuck. And - through my BLISS Accelerator program - she's able to see that she's been running the same program from the past, attempting to control everything, making decisions from fear of what might go wrong rather than vision of the future that's possible for her.

Power works differently. Power is sustainable. It attracts rather than pursues. It creates rather than controls. It operates from honesty rather than avoidance. This is the transformation I'm committed for my clients to experience.

You can have all the right strategies, all the best tactics, all the perfect systems. But if you're operating from fear or anger at your core, you'll unconsciously sabotage yourself. Your subconscious won't let you have what you're not ready to hold.

The tranformation you're putting off
Here's what makes Hawkins' work so powerful: it reveals that personal development isn't about accumulation. It's not about learning more, doing more, or achieving more.

It starts with self-awareness.  Then, it's about fundamentally changing who you are at the subconscious level, which then changes how you see reality, which then changes what becomes possible for you,

Real transformation and moving up the scale, requires profound commitment and self-reflection. You can't perform your way up. For example, you can't fake courage while operating from fear. Your subconscious mental programming drives you and determines your outcomes.

Your next step
The question isn't whether you want to move up the map. The question is whether you're willing to face what's required to get there.

And it starts with brutal honesty. This brings us full circle to my initial question - what really drives you? Not where you want to be, not where you think you should be, but where you actually are right now.

Are you making decisions from fear of what might go wrong? Are you letting past results determine future possibilities? Are you avoiding feedback that might challenge your current identity? Are you controlling rather than creating? Where do you think you are on "The Map of Consciousness"?

Until you're honest, you might still be operating from force. And that's potentially exhausting.

Your self-awareness is your most valuable asset. Don't leave it unexamined. If you're ready to stop operating from force and start accessing real power, the kind that's sustainable and exponential, it helps to identify where you are on this map.

And here's the beautiful truth: your results change when you start with becoming someone new.

Want to learn more about my BLISS Accelerator: 6-Month Career & Leadership Accelerator for High-Achieving Women (Directors, VPs & Above)? Please contact me at [email protected] . 

ENDNOTES

(1) Hawkins MD PhD, David R. (2012). Power vs. Force - The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. Hay House Inc.