Jim Bouchard

Power is just for the powerful. Who believes this one? Power is just for the powerful. No way? In fact, how did they get there? I believed that for a long time. Only powerful people had all the power. I wasn't a powerful person, so what right did I have to it? You see what I'm talking about? You think that helped me or you think that crippled me? It crippled me horribly for a long time. Power is not just for the powerful.

I felt like this is probably one of the most meaningful presentations that I'll see during the show, if not for the year and and probably for some time to come.

So thinking big is not some kind of platitude. It's an essential ingredient. It's what we have to do first. We have to create our belief in ourselves. We have to do that for ourselves, for our companies, for the people that work for us, for the people that depend on us for our livelihood. You sort of get caught up in it, and he's a wonderful speaker. So—

Yes.

I'm not that kind of speaker.

Don't worry.

I saw your face. Now here's the big thing. I don't mind using this word failure. Again, I'll tell you, I use dirty words. I'm going to tell you this up front, okay? But there's a failure with a little f, there's a failure with a capital F. You know what I'm saying? Those little failures, well, we're going to deal with those. Yeah, I'm not the nicey-nicey motivational guy, so I'm not going to go, oh, failure, you learn a lesson. Yeah, that's all true. Back when I was boxing, I had this wonderful trainer. Boxer? Any boxers? There you go. I just trained with him. Find these boxing gyms, you find these old guys, right? Can't remember what the heck they had for lunch, but they'll tell you everything, every punch from every fight for the last 100 years, right? This guy was like Yoda. He's like a little philosopher, right? So once in a while when we'd get beat up, he'd say, "Jim, don't worry about it. You always learn more when you lose." Think about that, right? That's like the lessons from failures, right? You only, you learn more when you lose. Now he usually said that when my nose was hanging off my face. Then he'd add a little quip to it. He'd say, "But some days you just don't freaking feel like learning anything." Right? You see what I'm saying?

I feel powerful, the word of the day.

Yeah.

That's a beautiful answer.

It is perfect.

And you've got the data to back it up. Let's go back and review a little bit. Power. How do we define power? Your ability or capacity to perform or act effectively, right? Okay, where does it come from? What are the sources? Body, mind, and spirit. Nourish all three areas. I definitely felt empowered. He's an inspirational speaker.

I learned a lot from the seminar, what he was saying, you know, a lot of stuff that I was unsure of and uncapable of, thinking that I couldn't do. You know, he brought a lot out.

It just reiterates a lot of things that you know you should be doing and that really help you with your life, like getting up in the morning and saying how much you appreciate and think about what you should be thankful for, because that is one of the things, you know, several points like that today hit home.

Points were very applicable to both personal and business life.

I took a lot out of the seminar. I mean, A lot that he said, I took a lot that I can take back to my guys that work under me.

Just, it gives you that sort of power, but yet at the same time it makes you realize there's points that you are stuck in and ruts that you are in and ability to be able to break out of those.

Critical, not just for success, but also for life, and it was great.

Respect. Respect is what controls power. I was asked to speak a number of years ago to a group of elementary school students. And they had practiced, "Sensei was coming," and this and that. Yeah, it was so cute. Most of them were first, second, third graders. So I asked the same question I just asked you. I said, "What does respect mean? Can you give me a definition of the word respect?" Well, one little guy, he's a first grader, he stood up and he did the whole thing like this, and bowed, right? Excuse me, because I always— I can see him. And when I asked him, what's the definition of respect? This is what he said. And it's never lost emotional content, that message. I can still see his face, you see? Respect is taking care of one another. What a beautiful definition. I had to sit down. And I said, "I'm going to take you with me everywhere. From now on, that's going to be my definition of respect." I immediately went back and installed that as our only rule. We had a page of rules. I took them and I said, "No, that's it." Because think about it, no matter what challenge, what situation we face, if we think about this, doesn't that take care of everything? You see? Take care of one another. Master Junri, he said this. Lead by example. Everything we talked about today, live it. You become more powerful, you become an example to the people around you, they will naturally do it. Remember we said power is not control. I can't control the mind, you said, right? I can't make somebody become powerful. I can't make them embrace their job as an important part of their personal success. All I can do is lead by example.

So I think it's great.

Yeah, you're gonna have a great day.

Feel powerful.

Jim was great.

Book Jim Bouchard, America's Black Belt PowerVator, for your next event. From keynote to full-day seminar programs, Jim will leave your audience empowered and motivated to new levels of black belt excellence. Conference and corporate packages include VIP breakouts and online follow-up programming. Call us to customize your event to your specific needs and goals. 800-616-6666. 786-8502. It's time to think like a black belt.