Great Powers comes great responsibilities
Probably you already heard this quote “with great powers comes great responsibilities” but whether you never heard it or don’t remember that I’ll help you.
This speech was made to Peter Parker, the Spiderman, from his uncle Ben eternalized in the movie launched in 2002 (yes, it was 20 years ago already). Although uncle Ben was trying to transmit some good values to the nephew, Peter does not give any credit and let the last moment with his uncle pass.
Because of the announcement of the new Spiderman’s movie I thought that is a good time to rewatch the old ones and this famous quote makes me thinking about it.
By the way, we all want to achieve more and get in a better situation, can be to achieve our financial independence or receive more prestige, respect, admiration… Anyway, we all want to be more “powerful” than before, don’t you agree?
With that in mind, I realized the quote can be reverted and I will explain why.
In ordinary life, where radioactive insects cannot transform us into a superhero, we all need to be responsible for the “power” that we already have, but if we want more? So, in this case, the logic has to be reversed.
To make more power
Around my 22 years old, I had decided to run my own business and it took me more responsibilities than I could imagine.
I had to manage my bills, prospected new clients, coordinate projects and people, and, above all, provide a good service. For sure, I learned a lot of things in that five years, much more than I expected, but I had to pass through a lot of things that I don’t know whether I choose it again if I could.
Even so, slowly, that enabled me to face my shyness and met people who aid me to amplify my point of view about business and my own life. With that, I became affiliated with the local Commercial Association and participated in the Service Department, where I could help in the decisions about the actions that the department could take, giving support to the local business.
Probably it is not an enormous achievement for you but it was much more “power” than I could ever imagine in my twenty and something years old, even more to whom was always pretty shy to sell anything.
Today I don’t have this business anymore but I can perceive the rewards of that. Gave me the power to search for another occupation area, to discover the love that I have for learning, to share experiences, and to meet a lot of interesting people that I never could meet if I kept the olds path.
Take responsibility is the bridge to reach more capability, to have more power. That is the only way to be prepared, because, trust me, power has its weight.
The Burden of Responsibility
Like any kind of weight, it is wise to know how much burden you can carry and for how much time. Just observe how much work the empowered people have to do, don't matter whether it's to do good or bad things.
Take more responsibility than you can carry can be a way to accelerate your progress but also can bring much more pressure than you can hold on. Probably you will need to bear psychological or even moral issues that you didn’t foresee.
If you don’t believe in me, just look at the number of articles popping up every day about businessmen and C-levels that are getting sick because of the amount of stress, anxiety, fear, and doubt they face every day.
The path you can take to prepare yourself for that is knowledge. Not just anyone, a specific one: self-knowledge.
You have to discover the why of your limitations, dive deep into your fears and anxieties (those little things that we never want to touch), find out the reasons why some situations blow you up… That kind of knowledge will prepare you to carry more power. Although, guess what, you need to want this process deeply.
Thinking about all that, that is the biggest meaning of what uncle Ben was trying to say to Peter Parker (also to us): be aware of what kind and amount of power you have or want to because you will have to take responsibility for that!
