LEADERSHIP
DESIGN YOUR LIFE ON PURPOSE
Your life is the result of the ongoing process of creating who you are every
single day. All too often, people wait to find out who they are as a result of
the many trials, experiences, and lessons they experience from day to day,
assuming that they must passively accept and be at the mercy of whatever life
has in store for them.
This attitude is the opposite of leadership and it makes us a victim. It gives
us a justification for not doing what it takes to proactively bring about the
results we desire—for failing to take risks, to design and redesign who we
choose to be.
Your life is the result of the ongoing process of creating who you are every
single day.
We certainly experience growth and acquire knowledge from the process of daily
living. The point is, all too often we go through life tentatively, waiting for
the next trial or problem to be dealt with, like it or not. This is not
leadership.
Continually Reinvent Yourself
Leaders live life from their declaration of who they choose to be,
continually reinventing themselves along the way. When you design your life on
purpose, your actions will be in alignment with your declared image of how you
envision yourself.
Leaders live life from their declaration of who they choose to be,
"continually reinventing… "
Ask yourself, “Now that I’ve declared myself to be a leader, what actions could
I take that are consistent with this declaration?” This is the first step
toward acting courageously in the direction of honoring your values while
simultaneously inspiring others.
Leaders get to make up the principles they support, the causes they champion,
the people they choose to lead, and the values they adhere to. There is no
arriving… only the constant process of being and becoming. That is the process
of creating who you will become out of your new, empowering, and constantly
evolving declaration as a leader.
Put Values into Action
The primary difference that separates leaders from followers is the
decision to act courageously in pursuit of a dream, a vision, a cause that
serves a purpose far beyond the self-serving needs of the individual alone.
Effective leaders are charismatic and inspirational. They are adept at framing
their missions in such a way that others are moved by them and want to join in
its realization. True leaders contribute to others and inspire their
involvement, rather than dictating their actions and applying force or
coercion.
Effective leaders are charismatic and
inspirational.
True leaders contribute to others and inspire their involvement .
Living your declaration as a leader is simply a matter of concept evolving into
experience. Take any value you hold in high regard, such as the ability to
motivate and inspire others: until this quality is practiced and experienced,
it exists only as a concept—a “nice idea.” When you decide to actually
experience your values through action, they take on a whole new meaning. Until
you do something that actually inspires others, you have only the concept of
leadership, not the experience of it. You have not yet become the value you
seek to experience.
When u experience your values through action, they take on a whole new meaning.
From Experience to Mastery
Just as knowledge of a value can evolve into experiencing, so can experiencing
evolve into being. Being is the ultimate result of “getting it”—experiencing a
quality until you actually become it. This is what mastery is all about—taking
a concept beyond experience into total embodiment of the value. That’s why successful
leaders are often associated with the causes they champion and the values they
represent.
Just as you cannot experience that which you do not know, you cannot be that
which you do not experience. Leadership cannot exist in isolation. It is more
than an intellectual exercise. It is a dynamic, ever-evolving, people-impacting
stand we take when we believe in principles worth pursuing. Leaders risk
failure. Leaders know that not all leadership decisions will be popular.
Leaders know that not all leadership decisions will be popular. CLICK TO TWEET
Leaders embrace problems rather than running from them. They know that each
challenge holds within it the seeds to future breakthroughs.
Leaders embrace problems rather than running from them. CLICK TO TWEET
Leaders would be well served not to pursue perfection, as such a goal is an
illusion. Instead, true leaders seek excellence in all they do. When they make
mistakes, they admit them, clean them up, recommit to those principles most
important to them, and refocus on their next goal on the way to bringing about
their vision.
Power in Deciding
Leaders realize that they do not have all the answers and cannot possibly
be prepared to deal with every challenge they will face. Rather than wait for
the perfect time to take action, they realize the power of being decisive.
Leaders realize that we attract all experiences to us—often for reasons unknown
to us. It is through these experiences that we continually grow in knowledge,
empathy, and effectiveness.
All of life’s experiences present themselves as tools for our own creation. It
is entirely up to us to decide how we will experience any aspect of life as it
presents us with an opportunity to choose who we want to be in those
circumstances.
All of life’s experiences present themselves as tools for our own creation.
Analyze the following areas to determine which ones currently support the
definition of the leader you have decided to be and which ones detract from it.
