What do millions of people committing atrocities during WW2 have to do with whether or not you will get a six pack this year?

It may sound odd, but the answer is:  A lot.

Both things are decided by a specific tendency us humans have.  A tendency that we can easily change in ourselves.  And when we do, it unlocks a whole new realm of possibilities for making our dreams come true.  

Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who benefit from you not knowing about this. Which is why it rarely gets talked about.

Today though, that’s all going to change.

So what do you say?

Ready to kick some nazi ass while making your dreams come true?

Then read on, cowboy!^**

_{(**Disclaimer: When I use the term “cowboy”, I don’t do so for sexist reasons but for brevity’s sake.  If you feel like the word excludes you, you are free to replace it with  “cowgirl”, “cow-eer”, “cowabunga”  or any other bovine identity that suits you.)}

Giving Your Power Away

The specific human tendency I was talking about, is the tendency to give our power away.

The purpose of this post is to give you a deep understanding of all the ways in which you give your power away.  Because when you don’t know you’re giving it away, there’s no way for you to take it back.

But what does it mean to give your power away?

You give your power away every time you believe you need permission or assistance from an outside source to take decisions or actions.

Many people would read the above phrase and say “No shit, Sherlock”.  (Some people name themselves “Snoop” and say “No shizzle, shernizzle” instead. To each their own 😉 )

But as simple as it sounds, let me assure you:  I have never met a person who doesn’t give their power away in at least some places.

And as this post will show you:  It goes a lot deeper than you’d expect.  _{(That’s what she said).}

Here are some common scenarios in which people give their power away:

Social Life

Suppose you want to be surrounded by like-minded people who treat you well.  You have a certain idea of what such people look like.  But you seem to have bad luck and this area and find yourself saying “I just don’t ever meet anybody like this.”.  

If this is the case, you are giving your power away to coincidence.  And because of that, you do nothing about it and feel stuck.  If you take back your power, you can fix it:

Step 1. Sit down.

Step 2: Make a list of qualities and interests those people have.

Step 3: Based on these qualities, brainstorm a list of places such people could frequent.

Step 4: Go hang out in those places.

Another example:

Do you sometimes feel like interactions with other people never go right?  Maybe you end up in useless drama without intending to.  Or people at work often fail to understand what you’re asking them .  

If you feel bothered by that, you are giving your power away to those other people.  You can take back the power by learning about communication techniques to improve the reactions you’re getting from other people.

Love

Lots of people give their power away when it comes to attracting the partner or relationship they truly desire.  Many even give their power away when it comes to having permission to feel loved.

• You may think you need to be in perfect shape for this
• You may think you need more money or fancy clothes
• You may even think you just had to be born prettier

In all cases, you are giving away your power to something outside of you, which stops you from finding what you really want.

Other Common Examples

• Believing you need money to make money
• Thinking you need to drink in order to dance or be social
• Thinking you need a degree to get a good job (this is true for some specific jobs, but not for the concept of “having a good job”)
• Thinking you need just about anything before you can be happy.

“So what did this have to do with saving the world from the Nazis again?”

Patience, young grasshopper…

Why We Give Our Power Away

There are multiple reasons for this.  But the main essence is this:

We fear the responsibility that comes with our power.

We do this because we either:

A. Fear the burden of the responsibility

B. Fear the blame aspect of the responsibility

Fearing the burden of the responsibility.

Let’s say you want to get in perfect shape.  Whatever getting in perfect shape looks like to you, you have the power to do this.  It’s not rocket science:

• Keep track of what you eat.
• If you want to lose weight, eat less calories than you burn.
• If you want to gain weight, eat more calories than you burn.
• Make sure you eat adequate amounts of protein to preserve muscle mass.
• Do not binge on protein to the point that your body decreases absorption.
• Google a weight training program and stick to it.

However, you have to be consistent.  You have to make sacrifices.  You have to put in the work.  This is a responsibility most people don’t want to take on.  

Enter “giving your power away”:

• To finding the right fat loss supplement
• To “needing” a personal trainer but not having the money
• To the rules of a fad diet
• To not having enough discipline (but not Googling how to become more disciplined)

It’s very convenient to give your power away to such things.  Because if you don’t succeed, you can ignore the fact that you didn’t do the work and say:

• “The supplement didn’t work.  I’ll find a better one.”
• “New research shows there’s another diet that’s better than the previous 12 diets I’ve tried.”
• “I did everything right. I guess I just have bad genetics” (while not counting calories).

If any of that sounds like you, here’s the truth:

You are the person with the power to get in top shape.  You are responsible for putting in the hard work.  So the question is, what will you do with your power:  

Do you want the body, or the not having to work so hard?

Both choices are perfectly fine to make.  The idea of wanting the perfect body may in itself have come from giving your power away. Besides “because I want to”, there’s no real reason why you need a six pack.  Not even a four pack. Or a 2pac.

Fearing the blame of the responsibility.

Let’s say you are put on a project or task at work. And you’re the one responsible for its completion.

What usually matters in these cases is that a specific outcome is achieved.  Still, most people will ask for step by step instructions instead.

Why?

Because when we give our power away to the person who gave the instructions, nobody can blame us.

If the next day the boss comes around and asks “Who did this shitty job?” you can say “I was just following orders, sir.” And deflect all blame.

And if we go a little bit deeper, even the whole concept of “blame” is you giving your power away.

Blame is not a “thing” that exists in objective reality. It is a concept created in our heads. Causality may exist. But “blame” is just a label assigned by humans to other humans. The only way you can actually “be” to blame is if someone else says that you are and you agree with them, thereby giving your power away.

The People Who Prey On You

One of the reasons nobody ever teaches you this concept, is this:

People who give their power away, are a terrific source of income.

For example:  Let’s say I wouldn’t write this article.  But instead, I’d write one explaining how personal transformation e rarely ever happens without the guidance of a coach. This would probably increase my income.

You see, as long as I can  make people believe that I have the power, not them, they are more likely to consider hiring me as a coach.

This is the business model behind 90% of consumer goods and services.

• If you knew that your own pheromones smelled sexy, why would you still need to buy expensive perfume?
• If you knew that you could fix your sleep by changing your habits, why would you buy sleeping pills?
• If you knew that you could just buy a regular pair of jeans and rip the holes in them yourself. … 😉

An additional issue is that by giving our power away, we can get tricked into the exact opposite of what we want.

• If you give away your money-making powers to loan sharks, you end up with a pile of debt.
• If you give away your ability to be joyful to junk food or drugs, you end up addicted.
• If you place the responsibility of creating a loving relationship to your partner, you may end up in an abusive one instead.

There are also many institutions who may have better intentions than stealing your money, but still have reasons not to protect you from this.

For example: Why is such an important subject not taught to us in school?

Not because schools are evil (education is one of the best tools for improving a society). But because in order for a school to function, it needs all the kids to give their power away to the teacher. This is necessary because kids can’t make adult decisions yet. If they knew they had the power, they would just just walk away and go do something fun instead. (Which is exactly what I did.)

But hey, let’s cheer up and get to the Hitler part!

The Horrors That Happen When People Give Their Power Away

Have you ever done something because you were told to even when you didn’t really believe it was right?

How about seeing someone do something wrong (e.g. cutting in line) but not speaking up because you thought “it’s not my responsibility to call them out”?

Or what about the example I gave earlier of asking for instructions to prevent being to blame?

Each of those are examples in which people give their power away all the time.

And this has contributed to some of the most horrible things humanity ever did.

Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, the Soviet Union, the Xinjiang internment camps, the many presidents sending soldiers to foreign countries while staying safe in their own home…  could these peoplee have succeeded in slaughtering so many people if nobody gave them their power?

Of course not.  It is unthinkable that Hitler himself would have singlehandedly killed so many people.  Or that one American president without an army would have walked over to Vietnam to throw around some napalm.

Each of them needed other people who gave their power away to do so.  And because nobody knows we’re doing this, most people just handed it over.

A common narrative about this is that people got misinformed, manipulated, persuaded by evil leaders…  And yes, that is partially true  Human minds can be influenced….by sources we give our power away to.  If you give your powers of discerning truth away to an ideology, an expert in a lab coat, or the media, then yes, you can be manipulated by all of those.

But as any good hypnotist knows, a person who doesn’t want to be hypnotised is really hard to hypnotise.  Because all hypnosis is actually self-hypnosis.  The reason hypnotists can hypnotise you is…you guessed it: Because you give them that power willingly 😉

So the idea that Hitler was just this massively powerful charismatic guy that swayed an entire country against their will is only part of the story.  Every single person that helped them carry out this vision, was someone who gave their power away to them.

Of course, the question arises…what if you are forced to give your power away? What if it’s between that or the torture camps?

Let’s find out!

Why It Is Impossible To Give Your Power Away

Wait… am I now going to disagree with everything I just told you?

Plot twist! Indeed, it’s actually impossible to give your power away.  

Nobody has the power to make you do anything, unless you decide to give your power away to them.

Every decision you make is still yours.

Do you think you have to follow every decision your boss makes?

Nope, they’re just a person you are outsourcing your decision to.  You are the one making that choice.  

Even if you follow orders or “just do what everyone around you does”, you are making the choice to do that.  You also have the option to disagree and do something different.  

That doesn’t mean you should never use your power to follow someone’s orders.   We need strong and visionary leaders.  We need people who can give orders and organise complex projects. We need for people to unite behind their ideas so that they can become reality.    

But you should never give your power away to them. Every step of the way, you should be deciding over and over again whether you agree with their plan or not.

Get rid of the story you’re being told and look at the facts:  “If I wasn’t being encouraged to, would I as a person choose to do this?”  I believe that when people stop giving their power away to a story told by a leader or ideology, very few would honestly answer “Yes, I want to go and commit a genocide”.

We don’t just have to be careful with giving our power to ideologies commonly considered “bad” (like nazism). But also to popular “positive” causes like climate activism. I once met a person who wanted to beat sexism. And she believed that being sexist against men would do, citing a wikipedia article on why this was the right choice. I doubt that if she hadn’t given her power away, she would’ve said “Yes, I believe doing the exact thing I hate is the solution.”

Whomever you choose to side with. No matter which positivecause or holy book guides your choices. Always remember:

No one else is responsible for those choices you make.  I hate to break it to you kid, nothing gets you off the hook.

So if you do not find yourself willing to stand in front of a group of loved ones and strangers and say “Yes, I , name, decided to do this thing because I wanted to.”, then do do not do it.

This is true even in extreme situations.

If someone held a gun to your head and said “I’ll shoot you unless you punch an innocent puppy to death.” would you do it?

Would this person have forced you to kill a puppy?

Nope. You didn’t get forced.  You could have also chosen to just die. But you chose to kill a puppy.

And obviously, I’m not saying that choosing to punch the puppy makes you evil. Nobody would blame you for choosing not to die. Most people would. I know I would.

And I hope you never have to make a decision like that.  But even if that happens:  The power was still yours. The gun didn’t make you do it, the gun just presented you with a difficult decision. The decision was yours.

This Is The Part Where You Escape the Matrix

You take the blue pill... this blog post ends.

You are sent back social media and you believe whatever you want to believe.

You will never have to hear again that you are responsible for your own messes.

You will enjoy hopeful moments of promising advertisements.  And when you talk about how hard it is to reach your goals or fix your problems, most of the world will happily emphatize with you.

Also, there is a tiny chance that you may one day become a big fat genocidin’, puppy punchin’ nazi 😉 And you’ll have to live with that later.

You take the red pill... you get your power back, and find out how deep the rabbit hole of personal liberation goes.

You may feel a little bit more guilt or shame at the start.  As you get used to realizing your new powers and responsibilities.

But you will be free.  No longer a slave to any of your imaginary masters. Completely free to do anything you want, as long as you bear the responsibility for it.  Your life is like an open highway ;-). Go live it your way!

Here are some questions to get you started on that path:

• Where have you been giving your power away?
• What’s “stopping” you from achieving the things you desire right now?
• How are you complicit in creating the conditions you don’t want?
• Which life experiences or goals have you been putting off?
• What would you do right now if you already had everything you needed?

I invite you to grab a pen and paper, and start the process of changing your life.

…and in case you still want to help save the world from nazis:

Share this article with as many people as you can.  Because every person who stops giving their power away, is one less puppy punched at gunpoint 😉