Have you ever looked at people achieving their goals and think they must have some other special talents that you don’t have? Maybe they had a better education, more connections, were born that way or were just lucky. A hundred reasons why they can do great things and you can’t. Whether we say it out loud or not, I feel we often assume that the success of others is because in some way they are better than us.

It’s easy to look at the circumstances of someone’s life and think that yours need to match theirs to achieve the same goals. You hear it everywhere, good art can only come from angst, or great literature can only stem from a tortured life. You match yourself up against that person and start to see the differences as reasons why you can’t achieve the same.

I didn’t finish high school. I’m not an academic, a doctor, or a researcher. I have no formal qualifications or letters after my name, but I could see the damage being done by the way we felt our bodies and knew something needed to be done. To actually do something, to try and change how people behave, I needed to tap into my own personal power. By far, the most important attribute in my personal power toolbox and the quality I have needed to start the Body Image Movement and Embrace is an empowered mindset.

Two important words - empowered and mindset. Let’s reverse it and start with mindset. My mindset, the thoughts I am thinking at any given moment, have the power to spur me on or stop me in my tracks. When my thoughts come from a place of personal power they have the energy to keep me going. When my mind is operating in ‘empowered’ mode I am unstoppable.

The most exciting thought I have ever had is when I realised that we all have the power to take greater control of our thoughts. It does require us to set up the circumstances to make it happen. If we were training for a marathon (and I have), we need running shoes and time to run.

To find the time to think differently we need to eliminate the thoughts that are wasting our precious time and energy. Thoughts that do not serve us and what we want to achieve in our lives. We need to consciously make space to build our new mindset. I call it the Embrace mindset.

What I love so much about having an empowered mindset is that it clears space for joy, adventure, freedom and creativity. It allows you to do big, life-changing, game-changing things because you are in control. Being empowered allows you to directly affect the outcomes in your life. Looking at it from the other side, when you are not empowered you are at the mercy of the wishes and goals of others. You will ultimately be achieving what they want, not what you want and need to do.

Conquering an empowered mindset, today and every day, opens your mind up to create and embrace opportunity. Try this. Before you spend time thinking and working on a task, ask yourself:

• Am I in control of my thoughts in this moment?

• Am I in control of the outcomes here?

• Why am I spending my time and thoughts on this?

• Is this getting me closer to my goal?

Doing this consistently is a small habit that over time can change your life.

The great news is that it won’t cost you anything, there are no qualifying or starting criteria and it’s never too late to start!

Now before I leave you I want to talk a little more about privilege. These are my thoughts from my lived experience and with this I recognise and acknowledge the innate privilege that goes with that. Many people cannot control their life circumstances for all sorts of reasons. Life can throw some awful things in our direction.

Here’s the thing—there will always, always be good fights to fight. But if we don’t individually believe we have the power to make change, how can we ever organise collectively to make the systems change that benefits those who are chronically disempowered?

We have an obligation to use our privilege for the greater good. To choose empowerment, and to use that wonderful, unstoppable mindset to help others.

When we are personally empowered, we transform ourselves.

When we are collectively empowered, we transform the world.