Why the world needs your
leadership today!

‘You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step’. Martin Luther King, Jr.

You can’t really start this topic of leadership without looking at someone who lived, breathed and died leadership to get some perspective on this subject. I am not saying we should all have to die for the cause (or should be killed for it either) but what I am saying is, you need to lead and you need to do it NOW, not tomorrow or the following week. And as awe inspiring Mr King says, just take the first step, regardless of whether you can see the big picture at the moment or not.

Leadership is simply taking the decision, formulating the plan and taking consistent action, make that massive action on a continual basis and maintain the ‘student’ mentality of eternal learning. So you can learn, adjust, make progress, review and so on.

It may be helpful to refer to the Black Belt Success Cycle, so print this out and use it as a reminder you are on to something big, regardless as to whether you know what ‘it’ is yet or not!

‘What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others’ Confucius

And as I have said before leadership isn’t always an ‘easy’ thing to do because you have ‘overcome’ yourself first; you have the not-so-well meaning friends and family to side step, plus the media and societies misconceptions amongst other things.

However, that said, many, a great many people have taken a stand in leadership, are doing this and tread this path daily. And like any form of new habit forming, it gets easier with practice.

Now the thing is, and this is key, you are the leader, yet at the same time, you are in amongst others (leaders) and part of a community of people, so essentially we are not as ‘alone’ as this may first sound.

‘Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure’ Nelson Mandela

One of those early hurdles is that we confuse what is ‘important’ with what is maybe more pressing, urgent, or just has to be done (well we think this way). I for one have a terrible time with my obsession of list making and martyrdom that I really have to do absolutely everything myself or quite frankly the world will blow up!

Really, this is ridiculous, isn’t it? Do you have moments or days like that? Or is just me! Clearly the world will not end because of our self imposed ‘reasoning’ and ‘rationale’. So we have to re-train this brain of ours and work out the fundamentals first. This is why learning those ever important leadership skills are so important.

Now, admittedly, at the moment, there probably are many things that we have to do and I am not saying they are not important in your life. Many of us have children to look after, the home to take care of, working, the finances, exercising, shopping and on and on and on it goes.

But what can get in the way of you making the real objective decisions is this busy being busy syndrome; I think most of us can admit to it. ‘I’m too busy doing ......’. However, once you stop and take a deep breath and look at the circle of personal growth and leadership, following the steps around, you start to see things with more perspective and importantly whether the ‘busy’ is congruent with your life purpose or its getting in the way of you making progress.

‘Be great in act, as you have been in thought’ William Shakespeare

There are several ways to see leadership. Leading in certain tasks and projects like the manager or boss who knows what he or she is doing and taking the lead role in your life.

We ultimately will probably do both to a degree but this the time being we are focusing on taking the lead in your life, as we are at present aware, this is the only one you have.Do we give this over to others and spend our life complaining? I have been around people like this friends and family and my, it is so draining. I cannot fathom why people waste energy complaining and not actually focusing on the issue and working out a solution they are comfortable or happy with. It is wasted energy people, let’s stop it right now. And next time you are witness to this, watch closely how that person has no self leadership and is giving their energy freely away to others.

I wouldn’t suggest we are perfect and aren’t entitled to the odd gripe and moan, if you need to and if it helps motivate you and make you aware you are not happy. That is fine but some people have it has a hobby a past-time that they fill moaning about this and that, this person and that person, their job, their boss, their xxx. Do you notice how all of that doesn’t make for a ‘leader’ does it. It sounds more like a sheep!

‘Independent inquiry is needed in your search for truth, not dependence on anyone else’s view or a mere book’ Bruce Lee

So first rule of leadership, you are in charge and what you say goes (in your mind). You work out your own belief system not the one someone else gave you, you decide what you moral behaviour and integrity are. You decide what is acceptable and not. And you decide what you are going to do with the rest of your time here on earth.

I appreciate we have other people to consider so please don’t mistake this for a one man or woman army of selfishness and this isn’t the point. It is about being clear and concise as to your goals and vision and using your leadership skills to steadily move towards them.

As denoted by the financial freedom and philanthropy aspects we are always mindful of others and always operate from the perspective of treating others how we would like to be treated ourselves. So essentially leadership in that sense is raising the bar of what you expect from yourself and others but in a thoughtful manner.

I have had many scrapes with my high expectations and have upset people, so I have had to learn (and am still learning!) diplomacy and perspective and be more considerate to how that person is right now in their world because most of the time the people in question are not on a personal development path and take everything as a criticism. Leadership also includes communication skills and how to empower people and not disempower them.

We need to keep a steadfast faith in our own ability to lead ourselves to the right paths, the right choices and decisions and ultimately to wherever it is we are going. This can be easier said than done but if you decide that is going to be your path, it will eventually be that you can walk no other, as the more you walk it the more you know in your heart you can never go back. And the path of leadership becomes second nature.

This is one of the reasons that ‘personal development’ per se is so powerful and such a thriving industry. People taste the change, the difference, they see themselves in a contrasting perspective and sometimes for the first time in their lives, they really start to believe that these changes, whether subtle, slight or large and life changing can really be true and accessible to them. It is open to everyone and everyone is welcome.

‘All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a man has taken the first step. With every additional step, you enhance immensely the value of your first’ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Slowly but surely the mind grips and embraces these changes and the self absorbs them and we become them. Our leadership is then part of us. But this is all in incremental steps and starts with the decision, progresses with the faith and the single step and is followed up consistently. But the jewels are there for anyone and everyone, there is no shortage and you can take what you need to ensure you complete the journey.

‘Life’s like a flower. You have to push your way through the top soil and often some manure before you get to blossom’ Richard Wilkins

So over to you, the decision is yours, do we continue feeling miserable, unhappy, pushed pillar to post with our hectic ‘to do’ lives or do we take stock, become the leader and keep a check of what is really important in this life time and make the necessary adjustments.

Ironically you may have noticed when you are the leader and in leadership all these other incidentals get done anyway, so you are really in a win/win situation.

It is just the systematic mindfulness of the complete picture and using a skill set to diligently work through.

Some people like to use this analogy for leadership, that you are the director of your own film, you are the in the star role and that the film is of your life. You get to choose who is in it, and who is out of it! You get to say where you live, how you live, what you choose to do and what you defer. This is a good exercise when invoking the universe and laws such as the law of attraction.

But if you are not so much a visual person as a kinaesthetic then you use your thoughts and feelings to evoke the emotions that take you to a place that instinctively feels right as opposed to the one that doesn’t.

Or for the writers like me, out come the list! The faithful list, putting pen to paper, or fingers to keys on your laptop and you draw your picture in words of how and where, what and why and all the other little details.

‘Life isn’t about finding yourself Life is about creating yourself’ Unknown

Then as the leader you decide where you want to begin who you want to use as a mentor(s), what skills you may need to learn or get assistance with. And of course, there will be the bits that you know you currently don’t know yet.

One thing is for sure when you have personal leadership, you won’t be or feel a victim when you are in the driving seat, you won’t be a pushover and smile and say yes when you mean a big fat NO. You will feel calmer and more peaceful within yourself because your internal dialogue isn’t screaming this doesn’t feel right any longer at you. And no surprise here but the calmer we are, the more in control we are, the more we access the answers to our riddles and questions, the more we progress, the more confident we get and the more in control and a better leader is growing by the day.

Peter Thompson says to aim for ‘being South of arrogance’ the place where you are confident and steadfast but you are definitely not arrogant and cocky – no-one likes them!

‘Do what you can, with what you have, right where you are’ Theodore Roosevelt

Let’s increase our leadership skills right now.

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