Power is a Means to an End

Power essentially just means influence. The ability to influence other people. It usually refers to influencing behavior, but it also could mean influencing thoughts, beliefs and feelings. Power has a very forceful connotation, but it doesn’t have to involve coercion. Hard power is when you use coercion to have influence. That could be with physical force, or with money, or with something else. Soft power is when you influence people to willingly think or do what you want them to. This is the distinction between people doing it because they have to (hard power), and doing it because they want to (soft power).

If power just means influence, then the reason to obtain power is because you have something that you want to influence. You have a certain cause in mind.

Sometimes it might make sense to temporarily sacrifice your cause so you could obtain more power. But only if you use your new power later on to better accomplish your cause. It only makes sense if you “cash in”.

It seems to me that a lot of people get caught up in this infinite loop of perpetually seeking more power, and that these people completely forget about cashing in. For example, politicians spend a ton of time trying to maintain and increase their power, but not too much time doing things they believe in. And CEOs seem to spend a lot of time making money, but not so much time using it.

I could be wrong. I don’t know that much about the workings of the rich and powerful. Maybe there are reasons why they can’t really cash in, and why they have to work hard to maintain their power in order to have at least a minimal positive influence. Maybe they really are doing the best they can do. However, something makes me doubt that. Something makes me think that powerful people lose sight of the real reason that power is desirable to them. Something makes me think that they work hard to maintain/increase their power because of habit and cached thinking.

It’s important not to lose sight. It’s important to know what your power is really for. Absentminded use of power can be dangerous.

If you have power, I ask that you reconsider why you want this power. Remind yourself why every day. Then, once you know why you want your power, use it for that reason. Sometimes it may make sense to make sacrifices to acquire more power, but the reason it makes sense is because you eventually plan on cashing in.