(Sep. 2016)
Source: eHotelier
Searching the Leader in you to live your highest life, then, requires a process of unlearning by self-remembering and self-honoring. Being an effective leader again will require you to be brave and unlock the door to your inner attic, where your childhood dreams lie, going inside to the heart. So what is required to awaken the leader in you…in other words making the leader out of you?
The qualities mentioned below do exist in you, all it requires is to highlight them and make yourself familiar with them again and then take them in your stride.
Humility.
Leadership starts with humility. To be a highly successful leader, you must first humble yourself like a child and be willing to serve others. Nobody wants to follow someone who is arrogant. Be always curious, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge. For what is excellence but knowledge plus knowledge plus knowledge – always wanting to better yourself, always improving, always growing. When you are humble, you become genuinely interested in people because you want to learn from them. And because you want to learn and grow, you will be a far more effective listener, which is the #1 leadership communication tools. When people sense you are genuinely interested in them, and listening to them, they will naturally be interested in you and listen to what you have to say.
Self-awareness.
This is a useful key to gain access to self-knowledge, self-remembering, and self-honoring. Start by listing all you Strengths including your accomplishments. Then write down all you Weaknesses and what needs to be improved. Make sure to include your doubts, anxieties, fears, and worries that you may have. These are the demons and dragons guarding the door to your inner attic. By bringing them to conscious awareness you can begin to slay them. Then proceed by listing all the Opportunities you see available to you for using your strengths. Finally, write down all the Threats or obstacles that are currently blocking you or that you think you will encounter along the way to achieving your dreams.
To be conscious of what you are ignorant, is a great step towards knowledge.
Vision.
Without a vision, we perish. If you can’t see yourself winning that award and feel the tears of triumph streaming down your face, it is unlikely you will be able to lead yourself or others to victory. Visualize what it would be like accomplishing your dream. See it, smell it, taste it, hear it, feel it in your gut.
Honor Your Word.
Every time you break your word, you lose power. Successful leaders keep their word and their promises. You can accumulate all the toys and riches in the world, but you only have one reputation in life. Your words is gold. Honor it.
Pursue your Happiness.
Regardless of how busy you are, always take time to do what you love doing. Being an alive and vital person vitalizes others. When you are pursuing your passions, people around you cannot help but feel impassioned by your presence. This will make you a charismatic leader. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, be it writing, acting, painting, drawing, photography, sports, reading, dancing, networking, or working on entrepreneurial ventures, set aside time every week, to pursue these activities. You will find the time. And there is enough time, no excuses.
Dream Big.
If you want to be larger than life, you need a dream that is larger than life. Small dreams won’t serve you or anyone else. It takes the same amount of time to dream small than it does to dream big. So be Big and be Bold! Write down your One Biggest Dream. The one that excites you the most. Remember, don’t be small and realistic; be bold and unrealistic! After you’ve written down your dream, list every single reason why you CAN achieve your dream instead of worrying about why you can’t.
Perseverance & Luck.
Victory belongs to those who want it the most and stay in it the longest. Now that you have a dream, make sure you take consistent action every day. I recommend doing at least 5 things every day that will move you closer to your dream. Ever wondered what is Luck? We refer to many of our friend as lucky! Did this question arise what is this luck? When I got dejected, with my own self and realized I am not lucky. I wanted to have an answer what is it being lucky. Answer what I got was very simple and made quite sense. “Luck is when your preparation meets the opportunity. “Whichever sequence you put Preparation and Opportunity it would not change this equation but having just one of the two will defiantly make you unlucky. Look back to those people you find lucky this equation will fit well.
Get a Mentor / Coach not Role Model.
This one is the tough one as we all have role models and here I am saying not to have one…When you have role models you end up being a substandard copy of the original. You are unique like all others so why become similar to someone. Leaning something from someone and trying to become someone are two very different things. Find yourself a mentor. Don’t be afraid to ask. You’ve got nothing to lose. In addition to mentors, take time to study autobiographies of great leaders that you admire. Learn everything you can from their lives and model some of their successful behaviors, not to copy but to learn.
Be Yourself.
Use your relationships with mentors and your research on great leaders as models or reference points to work from, but never copy or imitate them like a parrot. Everyone has vastly different leadership styles. History books are filled with leaders who are soft-spoken, introverted, and quiet, all the way to the other extreme of being out-spoken, extroverted, and loud, and everything in between. Be yourself, your best self, always competing against yourself and bettering yourself, and you will become a first rate YOU instead of a second rate somebody else.
Give.
Finally, be a giver. Leaders are givers. By giving, you activate a universal law as sound as gravity: “life gives to the giver, and takes from the taker” The more you give, the more you get. If you want more love, respect, support, and compassion, give love, give respect, give support, and give compassion. Be a mentor to others. Give back to your community. As a leader, the only way to get what you want is by helping enough people get what they want first. As Sir Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.”
With these points or inner reflections, not only will you unleash the leader in you, you will also discover the magnet in you. Magnet that will attract talented team members. Remember leaders are only as good as their team. Leadership and success is achieved by having a team that can manifest the vision, the dream into reality!!