The Art of Leadership

Since grade school I have heard teachers talk about the two types of people.  There are leaders and there are followers.  That makes sense to me.  There are places in the world for both kinds of people.  There needs to be followers or there wouldn’t be a need to lead.

As I have gotten older, I realize that there are different kinds of leaders.  I am going to break them out into three different categories.

There are the Winners

These are people that are frustrated and scared every day.  Sometimes they even think of quitting.  They hurt and worry every day like everyone else.  But, they are obsessed with success and winning that success.  They have a passion for it.  They have a clear concise mental image of what it will look like when they win.  They are able to communicate their vision to others and make a place for their followers in their vision. 

They want to succeed more than anything else.  They are committed to winning that success.  In spite of all the frustration and fear they stay focused on winning.  They move forward every day towards their goals.  They occasional make a call and run a play that doesn’t work.  When that happens, it frustrates them.  They take that opportunity to learn from their mistakes and always move forward.  They keep that vision of what they want in front of themselves and their followers at  all the time!

There are Potential Winners

These people are just what this category says.  They have potential.  They are also frustrated and scared, but for some reason they don’t go out and fight to win that success.  Maybe, they don’t know what to do or they don’t have the vehicle in which to focus their dreams of success.  Their vision isn’t clear and because of this they lack passion.  Since they lack the passion of their vision they are unable to communicate it to those that are following them.  They and their followers wander in the wilderness and aren’t obsessed with winning like the first group.  This group of leaders needs to find their passion.  They have the goodies but they lack focus and direction.  They will need to find their passion that will inspire their vision and their followers.

There are Losers

It is politically incorrect to refer to these leaders this way.  Let’s call them “leadership success challenged”.  These people get frustrated and scared, but they always manage to find someone to blame.  They lack vision and keep their followers with them out of duty or convenience.  Since they don’t have a vision or clear picture of what they want, when they get knocked down they tend to stay down.  They focus on making excuses for why they can’t win.  Their followers eventually drift away and find someone else that can lead them.

There are lessons to be learned from all three leaders.  If you are wanting to win and lead those that follow you to victory, you must become obsessed with your vision, be able to communicate your vision and move forward every day. 

Success!  For more success information click here!

Goals and Dreams Versus The Crab Pots of Life

Humans, as a species, our nature is to always strive for more.  It is what keeps us moving forward.  It has been proven time and time again that a capitalistic society achieves so much more than a socialistic or communistic societies.  Why is that?

It is our nature to want things.  If there is an incentive to earn more, have more, be more, humans will rise to the occasion.  It is call the WIIFM factor, which stands for what’s in it for me. 

We are blessed to be living in a capitalistic society.  I don’t know how long that will last, but each and every one of us has the opportunity to advance and live the life of our dreams.

If you aren’t living the life of your dreams, what is standing in your way?  Here are a few reasons that might ring true.

Fear is the Killer of Dreams

All of us can come up with a handful of things we would like to do.  When it comes down to the investment of our sweat equity is too easy to choke.  We allow fear to dictate what we accomplish.  The fear of failure.  Fear of success.   Fear that our friends won’t like us any more if we become successful.  Fear of change.  Fear of responsibility. All fear is really False Evidence Appearing Real.  The things we fear rarely come true.  Do what you fear and the death of fear is certain.

Allowing the Pooter Bombs to Talk Us Out of It

What is a pooter bomb you might ask?  These  are two words used as a noun by my kids that they used to describe someone (usually their sibling) who is saying something negative or  acting in a negative way.  A word you might have used is “naysayer”.  They are the people that always want to tell you why it’s not going to work.  Its like two pots of crabs.  If you have a crab basket with one crab in it and a crab basket with multiple crabs and you only have one lid,  which basket would you put the lid on?  Most people would say the basket with the multiple crabs, because you would have more crabs to lose.  A fisherman that specializes in crabs would tell you to put the lid on the basket with the one crab.  Why?  Because, no crabs will escape from the second basket because each time a crab gets close to climbing out there is another crab that will pull it back down into the basket.  People can be like those crabs.  When we start to achieve our goals and dreams there is usually someone there to tell you why you can’t do that.  Get away from them.  Hang around with other people that are working towards their goals and dreams.

Lack of Belief

This is a biggy.  As the old quote from Henry Ford says, “Whether you believe you can or you can’t you are right.”  Belief is huge! To move in the right direction towards your dreams and goals you have to be able to suspend your disbelief.  Jesus said it best, and I am paraphrasing his parable, you can not build a castle on a bed of sand.  It won’t last.  It must be built on a rock.  That belief and faith is your rock.

Focusing on the Wrong Things

Many talented people who don’t accomplish their goals and are not living their dreams because they are focused on the wrong things.  They focus on the struggle, their illnesses, friend’s problems, family issues, lack of money, etc.  They are going to attract what they focus on.  What you focus on grows.  This is called the Law of Attraction.  Take your focus off the negative and look at the positives.
Settling for Less

This one dovetails into the lack of belief.  Many times we are focused on why we can’t do something and then we begin to just settle.  Settle for a cheaper car, a less expensive house, a lower paying job, you get the picture.  We allow things like the lack of money to dictate our dreams instead of rising above it and pushing forward.

To counteract all these things you will need to be bold.  Playing it safe doesn’t get you the life of your dreams.  Make bold decisions and choices!  Risk = Reward.  Is this an overnight fix?  No.  But as Robert Frost said in his poem The Road Not Taken,

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference”

Leave me a comment below.  I would like to hear from you!

 

For more goals and dreams information click here!

Vision – Do You Need It For Success?

Most people are happy to be average and ordinary.  They don’t have a long term vision for their lives.  They don’t have any particular goals and dreams.  You know these people.  You go to work, church, and sporting events with them.  They can be the nicest people, but they are not driven.  They go to work, they come home and they live for the weekends.

Then there are the “others”.  Most people look at them like they are an alien species.  They are driven by goals and dreams.  They have a vision for their lives.  They may fall down and fail, but they know what they want.  Before you know it they are back up and going again.  Sometimes, they are just looking for the “vehicle to success” and once they find it, look out. 

They aren’t afraid to work hard.  They come from all walks of lives.  They aren’t born with “winner” stamped on their forehead for everyone to see.  No doubt about it, you will notice them.  They have extra bounce in their step.  They are always looking for opportunities to learn more, make more money, and make a better life for their families.

They aren’t a certain race, creed, or color.  They aren’t born with silver spoons in their mouths.  They aren’t always the most educated or the best looking. To find them you have to look inside their heart.  That’s where you will find the “winner” stamped.

Watch for these people.  They will become successful because that is what their “vision” calls for them to do.  Learn from them.  Let them mentor you.  Follow them until you are strong enough to lead.

As the old saying goes, “When you live on the edge the view is always better!”

  
For more tips on your success and vision click here.

The 3 Best Kept Secrets of Time

What is the most perishable thing in your life?  No, it is not the milk in your refrigerator.  It is time. Every second of every day keeps ticking away.  Time doesn’t care if you are working or playing.  Even though, it does feel that time passes quicker when we are having fun.  Since time is a perishable commodity and can’t be collected to be used at a different time, all you can do is make a choice to spend it differently.  Take time away from low return projects and reallocate it to the higher valued activities.  Because once it is gone, you will never get it back.  Here are a few rules to time.

Everything Requires Time

Everything you do requires time.  It doesn’t matter if you are sleeping, eating, having fun with friends or sick in bed you are using time. It is still draining away from you like sand in an hour glass.  This is where planning is so important.  If you take 10% of your time to plan your activities in advance, it will save you 90% of the effort you will expend in achieving your goals.  Put a different way, if you 10% of your time to actually plan your work in advance it will drastically reduce the amount of time to do the actual job. 

Relationships Require Time

Every relationship you have takes time.  Our loved ones spell love T-I-M-E.  You can spend thousands and thousands of dollars on your loved ones. But, well spent time with them will mean more than any dollar amount.  When you are spending time with someone you are giving them a gift of yourself.  No relationship, whether it is with family, co-workers, friends, collegues or anyone else that you value can not grow and develop without time spent in the process.  To be truely effective in your relationships take a little time to block that time out for family, etc.  For example, let’s say you are a very busy person building a business.  You should have a planner that you are recording all your appointments.  It could be your phone, your pda, or a spiral notebook, whatever you are using to keep track of your important appointments.  Your child wants you to take her to the zoo.  That is something worthy of your time.  Put it in your planner.  Block out that time for child.  It will be time well spent.  The more time you spend with your loved ones the deeper your understanding and affection is for them.  When you are talking about children, the more time you spend with them when they are young the more it matters later when they are more grown up and life takes them in another direction.

Goal Achievement Requires Time

Time is crucial for accomplishing goals.  Everything you want to achieve takes time.  When you are writing your goals down, make sure to allocate a certain set amount of time to achieve that goal.  This will give you a focus when you are striving for that goal.  To not give it time is to doom it to the list of goals never accomplished.

Life is a series of choices.  What you spend your time on is a choice.  Reallocate your time from low valued tasks to high valued activities.  Giving up that extra 10 minutes you spend sleeping in the morning will give you an extra 43.5 hours in a year.  What extra value could you receive from that 43.5 hours?

For some extra time management tidbits click here!

Success and the 5 Pointers to Staying Positive

Have you ever had a dream or a goal that moved you so much you could hardly sleep at night?  Did you accomplish that dream or goal or did it just move to that area of your brain that is labeled “should’ve”, “could’ve” “would’ve”?  What changed?

I have learned over the years that perception plays a major part in our relationships with others, our selves, our careers, the flow of money into our lives, our enjoyment of our lives, etc.  We start out with great ideas or interests in certain things, but we allow ourselves to begin to focus on the negative aspects of  them.

I believe that we begin the process of talking ourselves out of it.  We start out with little things such as doubt that we can do it.  If you are starting a business of your own you could start thinking it takes too long.  Maybe, there isn’t “instant money” involved like there is when you start a traditional job.  Sometime, we even slide into that flawed thinking of telling ourselves that “people like me just don’t make it big!”

Here are a few pointers on how to keep yourself positive so you can reap the rewards of success in your life:

Talk to Yourself Encouragingly

Instead of picking out your own faults and hammering yourself about them choose to focus on your attributes.  Think kindly of yourself.  You should be as kind to yourself as you are to your partner, friends, or even your pets.  If we learn to love ourselves more and are kinder to ourselves we can accomplish unbelievable things. 

Listen to Motivational CDs

 Plug a motivational CD into your car every time you go somewhere.  The average person drives 12,000 to 25,000 miles per year which works out to 500 to 1,000 hours per year that we  spend in our cars.  That becomes a perfect opportunity to listen to motivational material and keep your attitude positive while learning some important things.

Keep Learning Your Craft

Attend seminars and online training sessions in your field of endeavor.  Learn from the experts.  Write to those experts; ask questions, read their books and articles.  Listen to people with proven track records in the areas you are striving to succeed.

Associate with the Right People

Did you realize that your income will be the average of the 4-5 people you associate with on a regular basis?  Start to hang out with the people that are succeeding and are practicing those success habits.  Get away from the negative people in your life.  If you hang out with those people you are dooming yourself to a life of underachievement, frustration and failure.

Visualize Your Goals

The best time to reach your subconscious mind to implant your visualized images of your goals is first thing in the morning before getting out of bed, and right before you fall asleep at night.  Your subconscious mind is more open to programming at those times.  Your subconscious mind is only activated by affirmations and pictures that you feed it in the present tense.  Picture in your mind the situations working out the way you want.  See yourself succeeding.  A vision board is a good tool to use.  I know people that keep their vision boards on the ceiling in their bedrooms so they can feast their eyes on the dreams when they first open their eyes!

Keep in mind that they are your dreams and goals.  It is your responsibility to keep striving for them.  After all, it is about your success, isn’t it?

I would love to hear your comments.   Click on comments below and leave some for me.

Success and the Hard Hearing Frog

Yesterday afternoon was another busy day for me.  I had work that I wanted to do.  I had errands to run and people to shuttle places.  I certainly didn’t have time to catch up on news.  I usually limit my exposure to the news to short burst so I can protect me attitude.

As evening approached, my husband, realizing that we had both had busy days was very convincing to get me to nix the dinner plans I had and took me out to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.  I have the philosophy that if something news worth happens that I should know about, someone will let me know.  Sure enough, our server, who we have known for awhile, told us the news about Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett.

When someone has attained fame in the entertainment industry they become very public figures.  Farrah’s battle with cancer was widely known and it seemed to be drawing to an end.  Her death, although sad, wasn’t a surprise.  Michael’s, on the other hand, death was a shock.  Because of the shock factor, the news agencies ate it up!

Michael was exceptionally talented performer.  When he danced and sang he was connected to the Devine.  He felt the music.  Because he felt the music so strongly, his dance was very fluid and he accomplished dance steps that are still marveled at today. 

When Michael performed he was in his zone.  One of the things that made his performances so special is that he truly cared to bring that side of himself out to make us happy.  He always liked to please his fans.

That was his blessing and his curse.  People reacted to his performances by making his music one of the most sought after in all of history.  He was truly the “King of Pop”!  But, his desire to please also made him unhappy by all of the negative press that he received. 

Even though we may not be in the public arena, doesn’t mean that we won’t be faced with harsh critics when striving for our dreams.  Especially, if we are trying to accomplish something extra-ordinary, such as success.  Some of the harshest criticism might even come from the people that we love the most.  They don’t mean to hurt us, but they are concerned about our deviation from what they consider normal.  They don’t want to see us get “hurt”.

If you really, really want to accomplish incredible things in life you have to survive the naysayer.  That means, growing tougher skin.  It means knowing that you aren’t going to please people all the time.  It also means being committed to doing what is right for you.

Understand that everyone has a right to their opinion.  Turn your hearing off.  It is like the story about the hard hearing frog.  It goes like this:

Two frogs fell into a pail of milk.  They both wanted to get out before they drown.  One of the frogs had exceptional hearing and the other frog was a little on the deaf side.

As the two frogs struggled to get out, a crowd of frogs gathered around the top of the pail.  The crowd of frogs soon started shouting “give up, you can’t get out”, “why try, you know you’re going to drown”, “you have gotten yourself in a fix this time”, “no frog has gotten out of a bucket before, so why try?”

The frog, with the good hearing, soon became discouraged, gave up, and drowns.  The hard hearing frog couldn’t hear the other frogs and kept jumping and jumping until he turned the milk into butter and he was able to hop out.  The other frogs said to him, “we told you that you would fail”.  The hard hearing frog said “What?”  His friends said it again, louder this time.  “Oh”, said the hard hearing frog, “I thought you were just cheering me on!”

Moral of the story…..when everyone seems to be telling you to stop pursuing your dreams and just be average and ordinary, you must be like the hard hearing frog.  They are just cheering you on!

Dreams – How to Create Serendipity in Achieving Them!

Most of us have dreams.  Dreams are what keeps us engaged in life.  Dreams will make a normal existence shine with that extra additive.  A dream makes our eyes light up and gives us that extra bounce out of bed in the morning.

Many times we can cause us to kill our own dreams by convenient excuses such as, “I don’t have any money”, “I don’t have the time”, “I’ll do it tomorrow”, People like me don’t have a chance”, “I can’t change after all these years”.  Sound familiar?

Excuses can’t count.  I believe that everyone has the ability to begin right now to take control of their life.  Anyone can begin today, right now, to take the steps to follow their plan that will lead to the success of their dream.

It is not enough to think you know what your dream may be.  You should know clearly, in black and white.  In other words, write your goal down and the steps to reach your goal.  Once you know what the steps are to reach your dream, look at your list.  What step on your list, no matter how small, would start all of your other steps falling into place?

Take that step!  No matter how small that step may be, you are taking action.  You are creating momentum.  Momentum is good!  Remember, all you can control is your attitude and your activity.

As you take that step, other things will drop into place.  Your life will be filled with what will seem to be “serendipity“.

I have a treat for you today.  It is a video blog post called “How to Accelerate Success – Trim Tabbing” from Bruce Muzik.  He has a great way of illustrating this concept. 

Don’t forget to leave some comments and let me know how you enjoyed today’s post!

Who is that Man in the Mirror?

Have you ever felt like the world was conspiring against your success?  You just know that if you could get that “one break” everything would change and start flowing your way.

I think we have all felt that way from time to time.  It doesn’t matter if you are in sales or computer repair what is happening to you in your outer world is a direct reflection of what is going on in your inner world, inside your mind.

It has become very chic to be the “victim”.  Society caters to the “down trodden” more and more each day.  Living off the system can become a full time job.  Don’t get me wrong.  Sometimes, people need a little help to get back on their feet.  What is happening in this world today is that we are tailoring our whole society to take from those that have it to give to those that don’t, victimizing those that don’t in the process.

The problem with being the “victim” is with that mentality the blame is always placed outside of our selves.  It is never “our faulty”.  It is always the circumstance.  Entitlement thinking will eventually rob us of our self esteem.  It perpetuates the never ending cycle that leads to society’s breakdown.

Take responsibility for your life.  It is your life and your mistakes.  But, your life can be filled with triumphs!  When you take responsibility you are empowering yourself.  Taking responsibility for your life doesn’t mean beating yourself up over and over about your mistakes.  Look at them, decide to do things differently and then move on.  When something is going well pat yourself on the back, then move on.

Each and every one of us wants to be special.  We would like to change the world!  We want to look at ourselves as winners.  What ever is going on in your world right now is a mirror of what is going on in your inner world.  If you aren’t making the money you want to make look inside of yourself to see how much you feel you are worth.  Look at your money beliefs.

If your relationships are not what you desire, look inside yourself and see what beliefs you have about yourself and your worth as a person.  Everything in your life is there because of the beliefs you hold and your self esteem.  How do you see yourself?  What would you like to change? 

Often times, we make ourselves reach rock bottom before we make that decision to find out what is going on inside ourselves.  No matter when the time comes in your life, the only way to make the change is by the decisions you make.  You can choose self esteem, empowerment, and self discovery.  You can change the world!  Or….you can decide to stay the same.  The choice is yours. 

As Michael Jackson’s song, “Man in the Mirror”  says:

I am starting with the Man in the mirror

I’m asking him to change his ways

And no message could’ve been clearer

If you wanna make the world a better place

Take a look at your self and then make that change!

The Power of a 90 Day Cycle

In our everyday life we all have areas where we feel we could grow and improve.  We seem to be a society that focuses on New Year’s Day as a time of new beginnings and setting goals.  Every where we look, around that time, whether it is ads on TV, our friends, our work associates, everyone is talking about their “New Year’s Resolutions”.

We are half way through the year and I would guess that most of us haven’t kept those resolutions for more than one month into the New Year.  Most fitness clubs will tell you that their business booms in January with new memberships.  People with the discipline to go to the gym all year absolutely hate January because of all the traffic.  They know that February and beyond will be back to the “old crowd” of people that dedicated to their fitness goals.

Setting long term goals are for the things you want in your life as an end result.  For instance, your long term goal might be financial independence or that “big promotion”.  These are goals you will want to conquer in the next 1 – 20 years.

Long term goals are usually more complicated.  Due to the time frame it takes to accomplish those long term goals it can be tough to stay motivated for 1 year, 10 years or even for 20 years.  That is where 90 day short term goal cycle can come into play.

The power of the 90 day cycle is that it gives you a sense of urgency and the day to day motivation that can keep you going in the right direction towards your long term goals.  You can do anything for 90 days….that is the length of a semester in school, a trimester of pregnancy etc. …you get the point.

Most people stay at something almost long enough.  Then they stop long enough and lose their momentum.  But, if you work with intensity at your goal for 90 days, you will reach a new level.  That new level will give you more confidence and courage to do another 90 day cycle.  You can do 90 day cycles until you get the job done and your long term goal is accomplished that much faster.

Here are a couple of tips for your 90 day cycle:

Work like crazy for 90 days.

Don’t let yourself get “too high” or “too low”.

Things are never as good as they seem or as bad as the may appear at any given moment.

Most important…DON’T STOP FOR ANY REASON!

At the end of your 90 day cycle, review your results.  Tune up areas that you see needs to be altered.  After your analysis is done, which should be a short amount of time, recommit to another 90 day cycle with new and greater goals.

One extremely important thing to keep in mind is to REWARD yourself when you have done what you set out to do.  That reward might be a lunch with your sweetie or an extra hour of playtime with the kids.  But, on the reverse of that, PUNISH yourself when you know you haven’t done what you set out to do.  Maybe, it’s more phone calls, more face to face meetings, something you don’t enjoy doing, but will help you move toward your goal.  This reward and punishment system should be a daily thing.

Use the power of the 90 day cycle.  Be creative setting goals, work hard, have fun and enjoy your life!

Napoleon Hill’s Advice for Your Journey to Success

Do you ever feel that something that you want so very badly is just out of your reach?  Most people have something that they would love to have as part of their life.  For some it is more money.  Others are looking for more rewarding relationships.  Maybe, you are one that is looking for more fulfillments in your life.  Perhaps, you have something else in your life that seems to elude you.

Lately, I have been rereading “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill.  I hadn’t read it for a few years.  I was listening to a recording from Bob Proctor and he was saying that he has been studying every day for 30 years “Think and Grow Rich”.  He claims all the keys to the kingdom are locked in that book.

As a wealthy man once told me, “If you want to know who’s advice about business and wealth you should listen to, you should look to see who has the bigger pile of money.”  For most of us, that would put Bob Proctor’s advice ahead of almost everyone’s.

Napoleon Hill is someone’s tutelage that we should take seriously.  He became one of the richest men of his times by interviewing the 500 riches men and following their advice. 

Napoleon Hill says, “thoughts are things”.  When they are mixed with a definite of purpose, they become very powerful.  Here are a few tips from Mr. Hill that will help you on your journey to success.

 

Adopt a Definite Purpose

Your purpose must be crystal clear.   “…when a man really desires a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win.”  Not only do you need to have clarity, but passion, an all consuming obsession, for what you want to achieve.

 

Bull Dog Persistency

To bring your purpose into being, a person must develop an attitude of sticking with that purpose and planting your feet with passion until the job gets done.  Often times, when it becomes tough going it is easy to become discouraged and quit.  If you can get past the quitting stage, that is where the magic begins!  When you become discouraged, seek out a mentor or someone that has made the journey to success already.  Even if you have to take a small break to regroup, that is better than quitting.

 

Opportunity from the Seeds of Failure

One of the most common causes for failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat.  To quote Mr. Hill again, “greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.”  When failure happens it can be rich with lessons.  Use that lesson to know what doesn’t work and go at it from another angle.  Profit from failure by using it to analyze what doesn’t work.  Defeat is just a stepping stones to opportunity.

Go here to get your own copy of Napoleon Hill’s great work!