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WTF does empowerment even mean?

WTF does empowerment even mean? – Off The Mat

I’m sure you’ve seen this buzzword almost everywhere. Self-development groups. Sales pages. Speeches. Life coach advertisements. But if you’re like me, empowerment doesn’t really mean something specific – it’s more of a vague reference to something to do with self-development. Broken down, it would mean “to give yourself power”, but in what context?

Even last week, I was still unclear about the meaning of “empowerment”, or even what it was. Tools? Information? A concept? It wasn’t until last week when I read a book called Speak Love Not War that the concept of empowerment finally clicked.

I know what you’re thinking – The title of this book put me off at first. “Not another hippie book,” I thought to myself. It was only when I started reading the book I realized that it was mainly about developing a new way of communicating, with others, but mainly with yourself. And it finally helped me gain a specific understanding of the term “empowerment”.

Empowerment isn’t a set of tools; it’s a mindset.

Empowerment is a mindset, and a big part of that is recognizing you have the ability to determine what does and does not affect you. You are no longer a passive being when you are empowered. Everything that happens to you happens with your permission. Take a close look at how these next 3 examples, and how the responses are restructured in a way that gives us power over the situation.

Getting picked last made me sad. I make myself sad when I was picked last.

I’m upset because my mother is disappointed in me. I upset myself because my mother is disappointed in me.

You hurt me when you didn’t give me the response I wanted. I hurt myself because I didn’t hear the response I expected from you.

You see what I’m doing? Instead of assigning responsibility to someone else or a situation, I’m taking ownership by acknowledging that it was ultimately due to myself I feel one way or another.

If you missed your workout last week because you had something else come up, acknowledge that you missed your workout because something else took priority over your workouts. Whether that was work, a family situation, or a lack of purpose isn’t important – what’s important is that you acknowledge that you allowed it to happen, and that YOU have the power to make it happen, or not happen.

But I want to point out that this isn’t about guilt – It’s not about blaming yourself and feeling bad about it. It’s about owning your reaction and realizing that you have the power to choose how you respond.

Something to think about. 🙂 I know it’s been powerful for me. And it starts with the conversation you have with yourself, changing yourself from a passive object being acted upon to an ADULT individual responsible for your reaction to situations or others’ actions.


Here’s what’s going on this week.

Fitness focus: THE VIBRATING FOAM ROLLER (Hyperice Vyper 2.0)
This has been super fun. I’ve been using this on my thighs and hips, and the result has been wonderful. Click here to check out one of my training sessions on YouTube featuring that.

Music I’m listening to: Backstreet Boys
I’m in Vegas this week to see my favorite childhood music group. Courtesy of a very thoughtful gift from my girlfriend of 3 years now, Marisa!

Product I’m enjoying: Collagen Protein Peptides
I’ve been using these for the last 6 months now, and it’s become a daily thing. I add two scoops of this to my smoothie every morning, and my joints have never felt better. I haven’t had a shoulder issue for as long as I can remember (even though I’m doing things that years ago would have aggregated them) and my knees feel great, too. If you’d like to pick up a case for yourself, click here use the code “manflow_10” for 10% savings.

Book I’m reading: Speak Love Not War
This book is incredibly simple, but very powerful. The book is told in the form of a conversation between the teacher of “green speak” (the central theme of the book having to do with empowering yourself by changing the way you speak) and his brother, who is dying of cancer. It brings an element of empathy to the instruction that makes it easier to grasp. I highly, highly recommend this.

Personal Struggle: Not Starting Sooner
Recently I have had this bad habit of not starting work until later in the morning. I spend more time than I would like to doing busy work (checking statistics, re-checking emails, etc) instead of spending time on actual product creation. The thing is, as soon as I actually get started and working for a few minutes, it’s easy to stay on track.

There’s also the balance of how much downtime do I need in order to be effective with my work. Do I really need any if I’m alternating between demanding and less-demanding tasks, or focusing on activities that encourage a flow state? If you’re enjoying everything you do, do you really need to take 30 minutes to veg out on Netflix?


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