Move forward and be your own Leader...
John Maxwell famously said, “A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not
position.” In tough
times like these with the global banking crises, innumerable economic
travesties and bad news affecting our very view on today’s world, I would say
to feel a little world weary is very understandable and very human! We often
look to leaders for inspiration, security and direction with mixed results and
an open question remains when we lay down our heads at night, which is “will it be alright?”
In order
to answer this question, I think we have to reframe our mindsets especially if
we have known nothing but good times flowing freely in our lives and never
really needed to summon our “internal leader”. Denis Waitley once said “you must stick to your convictions, but be
ready to abandon your assumptions”. This
is something to live by in order to be flexible enough to adapt to a sometimes
unfair but always changing world.
Draw from your past, don’t let your past
draw from you. It is
very natural to sit into a “silo mentality” and think our chosen professions
will see us through to retirement with our company’s management group planning
our progression. This is often not the case and one should not be caught
unaware of this. You are your own best career advocate! You need to stay active
in your own career research, guidance and planning.
Givers will be givers and takers will be
takers! We
naturally seek out those of like mind but often carry a learnt assumption that
we can handle those whom are not like us in today’s connected world. Maybe we
can, but if we don’t approach this scientifically and verify, then we leave
ourselves exposed to bad behaviour and exploitation especially through the down
side of the economic cycle like we have had for the last 6 years or so. Surround yourself with people whom believe
like you do and you will not fail!
Know yourself, your company culture and
your colleagues. Honest self-reflection of strengths, weakness, fears and hopes should
leave us with two enormous questions. Who am I? Who do I want to be? Once
answered, one should have a sense of one’s present and future desired state of
‘you’. Knowing this, we then can ask the next round of questions. Do I know my
company culture and am I compatible with it?? Do I know my colleagues and do we
share some common values and beliefs? If we can reconcile these elements positively,
then we have a workplace avenue in our lives that can help deliver the desired
future state of ‘you’.
If we cannot make it, make something else.
There is
nothing more terrifying then a career professional having to consider
‘something else’! Life can be unfair and unfortunately, we have to deal with
it. How we deal with it can determine success or failure starting with
approach. If we are good at what we do, chances are we will get to where we
need to go in life and achieve our desired state of ‘you’. However, if we
cannot reconcile the present ‘you’ to the future ‘you’ due to incompatibilities
in one’s company culture, job/profession, who we call our colleagues or indeed
our friends, then we need to remember that those inconsistences could in
aggregate deny us our desired future state, which acts are a barrier to being
truly happy. Sometimes those painful steps in becoming something else can
transform our personal lives enabling our achievement of life’s goals.
A balanced mind is a powerful mind! Excess is a temporary
state that fulfills a temporary need just as scarcity is a temporary state that
creates temporary needs. The key to balance is not only in the likes of
exercise, meditation and work-life balance, it also lies in a wider realisation
of the world around us and how this reconciles to our future desired state of
who we want to be. If we can achieve a sense of balance in ourselves, then we
open a new world of possibility as we travel down life’s path.
There is
no single right answer to any of the above, only what’s right for you. The
lessons we have learnt in life do not prepare us for everything, which is why a
balanced learning mind will always be mindful of the future whilst enjoying the
greatest gift the universe offers us, which is the present; an indelible
reality fulfilled by those whom embrace it believing today can deliver a better
tomorrow.
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