Leadership Aficionado

When you are doing something that you are passionate about, your Why is obvious. It is the thrill, excitement and sense of accomplishment you feel while doing it. But what about when it is a job or career that you may not be so passionate about; or something that involves more time or more mental and physical effort. It is crucial that you identify your why ASAP. This requires self-awareness. It must be your Why, not someone else’s. This is a personal choice and you may have to tune out the noise of those around you. I speak from the heart on this because I trapped myself in a 23 year career that left me unfulfilled and empty. It’s never too late to identify your Why. Please have that long over-due conversation with yourself. Discover your Why and run with it. When you do You, for You, with all you heart and soul; and you do You every day, this is where the magic happens.

Motivation is the state of being motivated or having a strong reason to act or accomplish something. Motivation is the reason behind the thing you are doing - the why. When you combine your love and joy for something - your passion, with strong reasons for doing it - your Y, you become unstoppable. Whatever your passion may be, dig deep down to expose your internal why and when you combine the two, that, my friends, is where the magic happens.

When I was in college, I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM), the 1974 philosophical classic novel by Robert M. Pirsig. I didn’t have enough life experience at that time to fully appreciate it and my only take-away was “how cool would it be to ride across America on a motorcycle. On my Instagram page, Leadership Aficionado, you can view several one minute video clips depicting a middle aged man riding his Indian Motorcycles across America with my words of wisdom as background audio. You can say that this is my modern version of ZAMM. Check it out and let’s take the journey with him.

Passion is more than just enthusiasm; it is ambition that is materialized into action. It is when you put as much mind, body & soul into something as possible. One of Tony Robbins’ many mantras was “Live with Passion”. I believed in this philosophy but I didn’t execute it. Sadly, we are just one moment away from a negative life-changing event. Please live every day like it is your last. Don’t wait to tell people you love them. Do what you love to do every day. Live with Passion and let the magic happen.

Fear prevents us from opening certain doors, driving certain roads and climbing certain mountains. What are you really afraid of? The unknown, failure, or the opinion of others. Not facing your fears leads to a life of mediocrity, unfulfilled dreams and lack of growth. The only way to overcome your fear (F) is when the pain of not moving forward (P) plus the desire for something more, your why (Y) is greater. Then you will succeed (S). When P + Y > F = S. God gave you Heart, Soul, Spirit, Hope & Free Will. Use these gifts to face your fears with all your might and get what You want out of life.

What are you giving your children? What Legacy are you leaving for them? The best thing you can do for them is to become the best person that you can be. To actually become the men and women who you are encouraging them to be. Show them that life is about being happy and that they should follow their dreams. That success is not money, a fancy title or power. Show your children that success is doing what you want to do; when, where, and how you want to do it - on your terms. The best way to show them this, is for you yourself to become happy and live life on your terms. If you can provide your children a glimpse of what their future can be as a result of your actions, that is Legacy; and that my friends, is where the magic happens.

Listen to a compilation of motivational clips to put a little fire under your butt this Monday morning.

To achieve any goal, you have to become the person who can and will achieve that goal and you need patience to become that person. The patience to keep grinding even though results are not immediately evident. You may be on the road to success but do you have the patience to see it through.

Professional goal setting is a little more involved because it requires Self-awareness. Before you can Do, you have to Be. Do you actually have a profession or is it just a job? Are you capitalizing on who you are; your DNA, or are you just trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? Assuming that you are doing whatever it is that moves you, then here are some tips.

2019 Financial Goals: 1. STOP SPENDING- you cannot move forward financially if you are constantly buying bullshit. 2. PAY OFF DEBT- credit card debt can paralyze you for years. 3. DOWNSIZE- the more stuff you have or more expensive, bigger stuff you have, the harder and longer you are going to struggle financially. 4. INVEST- once you have stopped the bleeding, paid off debt and made life simpler for yourself, start buying dividend producing stocks when they go on sale.

Goal setting is so much more than just making a list. Goal setting is results oriented but the process is more valuable than the outcome. It’s one thing to achieve a particular goal, but you have to become the person who can and will achieve that goal. Please don’t rush your goal setting process. Take your time, think it through and incorporate self-awareness. Do this right and you will set yourself up for a successful year.

There are hundreds of studies demonstrating that writing your goals down increase your chances of successfully achieving them. I know firsthand that when I write my goals down, on average, I have an 80% success rate. When you have goals, you need to do whatever it takes to achieve them. Write them down on paper or in the Notes app on your smartphone. Write them on post-its and put them on the fridge or your bathroom mirror. Whatever it takes. You have to want the desired outcome more than you want to breathe.

We have to trim the emotional fat in our lives. Get rid of your loser friends and tune out the noise. We all have one or two friends who are such emotional wrecks that they not only waste our time and wear us out; they just suck the life out of us with their drama. For those family members or housemates who we can’t just blow off; distance yourself as much as you can, share less of your future plans and tune them out. When you are moving toward your goals and dreams, make like a butcher and trim the emotional fat that will only weigh you down and hinder your success.

Before you can set goals for yourself, you have to know who you are. Self-awareness is ground zero. If you embark on any path without knowing who you are, you run the risk of just spinning your wheels. Before you waste any more time, before you start on a path of unfulfilling mediocrity, become self-aware. Take the time now to discover who you are, what you like to do and where you want to do it. Assess your strengths and ask yourself what do you have a passion for, what are you good at? Before you jot down goals and formulate a strategy, dig deep down, search your soul, discover your essence and the path to your new journey will be obvious.

This is going to be our year. We are going to accomplish small short-term goals and we are going to move closer to those bigger long-term goals. My friends, with God, all things are possible and, along with a recipe of self-awareness, clearly written goals, drive, determination and tenacity, you can become the person who can achieve his or her goals. Remember, before you can DO, you have to BE. Before you can achieve your goals, you have to BECOME the person who is willing and able to achieve those goals. Celebrate today, welcome the New Year with open arms and embrace 2019 as a new beginning.

The New Year is just hours away. Tomorrow is a very big day. Tomorrow, we move forward. But today, we have to think about what needs to be done to allow us to move forward and what or who is preventing us from moving forward. There are two things you need to do today. First, I want you to emotionally purge yourself of the people in your life who are preventing you from going for your dreams. Second, I want you to picture yourself years from now sitting in a rocking chair thinking about what could have been. What are you going to say that you wish you did. The New Year is about getting rid of the old and bringing in the new. It’s about moving forward and doing whatever it takes to fulfill your hopes and dreams. And most of all, my friends, it’s about sitting in that rocking chair and not having one regret.

The New Year is 2 days away. As a leader, did you cultivate a culture of respect? Or do you entertain and enable the cry babies at work? Did you steer the ship yourself or did you captain your crew to navigate the rough seas? Use a leadership checklist year-round not just year-end. Hold yourself accountable for who you are and for the kind of leader you want to be.

The New Year is 3 days away. As a leader in 2018, did you cultivate leadership in others? Did you lead with positivity? Did you take ownership? Did you manage your relationships? Did you lead with inspiration? This is the last weekend before the New Year. Please take the time today to reflect, assess and plan your new strategy for 2019.

The New Year is four days away. Let’s continue with Lolly Daskal’s Year-end Leadership Checklist. Did you build others up; instilling confidence in them? Did you communicate effectively; were you clear, concise and specific? Did you listen to your people; with the genuine intent to learn from them? Do you encourage feedback from others?

The New Year is 5 days away. Listen to a year-end checklist for effective leaders. Take the time today to reflect on 2018. Were you a person of character? Did you visualize who or where you wanted to be; getting everyone involved on board? Did you pull the trigger and execute?