All Hands On Deck: 8 Essential Lessons for Building a Culture of Ownership

Appendix 2. The Self-Empowerment Pledge

Would you invest 365 minutes over the next year to dramatically improve the quality of your life? One minute per day. Would you give up one television commercial and instead use that minute to invest yourself with personal power?

The cubicles of corporate America are filled with people waiting to be empowered, complaining that nobody ever empowers them, yet who are scared to death that someone might actually expect them to act as if they were empowered. In truth, no one can empower you but you. The only genuine empowerment is self-empowerment. Once you empower yourself, though, nobody can take that power away. Empowerment is a state of mind—not part of a job description, a set of delegated tasks, or the latest management program brought in by the boss.

The Self-Empowerment Pledge includes seven simple promises that will change your life. Read these seven promises, then ask yourself this question: If I were to act upon these promises, would I be in a better place—personally, professionally, financially, and spiritually—than where my current life trajectory is taking me? If you're honest, the answer will be absolutely yes. The promises themselves are simple, but keeping them will require desire and determination. Fortunately, you don't have to do it all at once. Focus on one promise each day so that you make all seven promises to yourself each week. Do this each day for one year; it will be the best daily one minute you ever invest in yourself. ...