One question that I’m often asked is whether or not I believe every person can be a leader? My answer: yes and no. I answer “yes” because I think every person has the potential and the responsibility to lead oneself well. I believe leadership does start with you. You and I must learn, practice, and hone our ability to lead …
Why Can’t Anyone Motivate Me?
When it comes to motivation, you might think this requires giving something to someone else that pumps them up (like a pep talk, a bonus, an ultimatum, etc). But motivation actually comes from the inside of a person. It’s a person’s own desires and energy that fuels action. You can’t actually motivate someone else. But you can influence the motivation …
Excellence Is An Attainable Goal
I’d like to talk to all of the student leaders in the room for a moment. (Everyone else can listen in if you’d like). As a student leader, you bring a unique set of strengths, abilities, and weaknesses to the table. You may or may not feel like you possess the “leadership” gene. But the one quality each and every …
How To Do One Thing For 90 Days In A Row
January 1 is such an exciting day. Sooo many people are all geared up to make changes. They start writing. They start working out. They start eating vegetables. They start… Then there’s January 11. Not such an exciting day. And not very many people doing what they set out to do on January 1. Why can’t we find the self-discipline …
Self-Discipline Isn’t Automatic
Miranda Lambert has a song out entitled, Automatic. You can watch the music video below. The chorus of her song seems really appropriate for this next post on self-discipline. It goes like this: Hey what ever happened to waiting your turnDoing it all by hand, ’cause when everything is handed to youIt’s only worth as much as the time put …
Five Irrational Fears That Keep Us From Moving Forward
If you are a human being (which means all alien beings can stop reading now) then you are going to experience fear. Fear is emotion – raw, unfiltered anxiety that has evolved over time to protect us from the painful and maybe fatal situations we encounter. Rational fear is good fear. It protects us. It is a healthy fear that …
Making Setbacks Work For You
This is a guest post by Robert L. Dilenschneider, author of The Critical First Years of Your Professional Life. How can you tap into the power of a setback — and make it work for you? I have nine recommendations. 1. If you’re shocked by the setback, ask yourself why. In Ambition: How We Manage Success and Failure Throughout Our Lives, …
Three Ways To Capture Your Vision
I recently returned from a leadership conference with my newly elected student leaders. We bonded and created fun memories. We even made up a few new words that will stick with us throughout the next year. The conference and journey together gave us all increased momentum as we anticipated what we wanted to accomplish in the near future. Each new …