One thing I am passionate about is leadership. I believe that everyone in our world serves as a leader to someone else in some way, shape, or form. Somewhere, another person is looking up to a characteristic that they see in you. How can you give that person the very best example to look up to?
External vs. Internal
Stephen Covey wrote "I am not a product of my culture, my conditioning, and the conditions of my life; rather, I am a product of my value system, attitudes, and behavior - and those things I control." What does this mean to you?
'You' is separate from your environment
To me, this quote explains that we are solely responsible for who we are and how we behave. The environment is merely the surroundings by which we are present in. It does not dictate what we do, our characteristics, or our actions. Too often, we are caught up in circumstances, places, and events.
Be aware
Whenever you feel yourself drifting from your true self - try to become aware. Am I acting this way because of some outside, external influence on my being? Or are these a behaviors a reflection of what I believe and value? Am I being guided by my inner principles?
Be proactive
It is easy to be reactive as opposed to proactive. In a reaction state, we see, feel, or are impacted by some outside stress or stimulus and immediately respond without allowing our true values to dictate our actions. This is when we find ourselves in misalignment with our true self, causing cognitive stress. Whether we actively know it or not, our subconscious is aware and all of a sudden we feel uncomfortable or uneasy.
Leader of oneself
Remember - we are leaders to ourselves as much as we are leaders to other people. Are you leading yourself with a true vision of who you want to be? Are you reflecting often on your actions as a leader to yourself?
Do you believe in yourself?
Perhaps it is wise to view yourself objectively at times. If you were leading yourself, would you believe and trust in the other you? Or are you catching yourself making up stories, excuses, white lies, procrastinating, putting things off, or forgoing long term success with short term pleasure?
Be honest with yourself
Putting these thoughts down on paper helps to vet things out at times. It has crucial to my own personal success to reflect critically. Just put pen to paper and let the thoughts flow. How am I doing? Am I in alignment with myself? Have I led myself to good? Do I have a positive outlook on tomorrow/ the future? You might even catch yourself creating false promises and statements when writing and this is when you know you need to dig a little deeper to understand why it is your are being dishonest with yourself. But when you write it down and start to realize where the gaps are is when you can really start making corrections and establishing a higher rate of progress.
You might even find that by catching yourself in these white lies is the best way to truly understand yourself, and re-align with your value systems and inner principles.
Who do you serve a leadership role to? Are you doing all that you can to develop both the leader within you and the leaders around you?
Keep the mood good, dudes.
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