Do you have the qualities, skills, experiences, and qualifications to be a leader? If we were talking about a company these questions would be important. However, what if we were just talking about you; about one person. When reflecting on one person, the truth is that these aren’t questions that matter.
In actuality YOU ARE A LEADER. What…? Me…? A leader…? What are you talking about…?
Yes, YOU! YOU ARE A LEADER! Say it, ‘I AM A LEADER!!!’
How can this be so?
We are all leaders but when we typically think of leadership what do we think of? We think of people who lead other people. For example, CEOs, political leaders, religious leaders, managers, supervisors, coaches, mentors, etc. These are examples of people who lead other people. All of us have leaders that guide or influence at least some aspects of our lives, whether personally or professionally. However, who is leading us through all of it, who is making decisions for us when we’re at home, who’s leading us to be responsible, accountable, and so forth? Have you figured out where I’m going with this? YES, YOU ARE LEADING YOURSELF. You are leading yourself through your life. You are your own boss, your own leader. You have free will to be able to make decisions for yourself and choose what it is you want.
Have you chosen what you want? Do you live the way that you want? Have you taken hold of your life to get what you want out of it?
There are always going to be leaders in our lives who influence different aspects of it but we always have a choice on which path to take and therefore, we are OUR OWN LEADERS. WE ARE FOLLOWING OURSELVES!!!!!
Therefore, the real question in life is: Are you a leader you would want to follow? Truthfully and honestly, are you?
Let’s take a step back and look at outside leaders again. Do they always make the decisions that we like? No, they make mistakes; they make us do things we don’t necessarily appreciate or want to do. However, they have the ‘big picture’ in mind. A place where they need the company to go and they need to do whatever is necessary to maintain the course.
Could we say the same thing about ourselves? Are we always happy with the decisions that we’ve made in our lives in the past and/or present that has gotten us to where we are today? Do we wake up one day and wonder why we’re so out of shape? Do we wake up one day and wonder why we don’t like our job? NO! Things aren’t absolutely perfect one day and terrible the next. Wherever we are now, we’ve led ourselves there! If we don’t take ownership and responsibility and be accountable to ourselves to where we are today who are we going to blame? Our boss for hating our job? Where’s that going to get us? Who are we going to blame for being so out of shape? The couch, the TV, and the chip companies? See how far you get with that.
If we have a task to do at work and it doesn’t get done who are we going to blame? Someone else? NO, it was our job! If we’re not happy about a place we’re at in our life whose job is it to change it? Are we waiting for some magical fairy to sprinkle fairy dust on our life and change everything we don’t like about it and that one day we’ll wake up and everything will be perfect?? Do you think Steve Jobs woke up one day as the CEO of Apple, or that Jeff Bezos just woke up one day as the CEO of the multi-billion dollar company Amazon, or that Dwayne Johnson woke up one morning absolutely jacked and famous? NO! They had to take ownership of their lives and lead themselves in the direction they wanted their lives to go. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you know everything about the direction that you’re going but you’re doing the tasks that are steps in the right direction; the direction that YOU want to go.
So, back to the question, are you a leader you would want to follow. When the storm is approaching how are you going to take it on? Are you going to want to run or are you going to break down the tasks, organize them, and complete them one at a time in order to get through. Take hold of YOUR ship and start taking it in the direction that YOU want to go. You are NOT going to wake up tomorrow in the exact place you want to be but if you keep your ship pointed in the direction you want to go and maintain that course through the necessary tasks and work then you will get there. You can’t control which direction the winds are blowing or the other aspects of weather or your environment but if you keep that direction and a certain place as your ultimate goal and focus and work hard you will get there. Do not be deterred. Be the leader you would want to follow.
As always, Strive to Optimize!
Originally published at www.mikeorsini.com