Are You a Leader or a Slacker?

 

Do you claim to be a Leader in your business or your field of expertise?  I have noticed that many people claim to be Leaders, but I consider them Slackers instead.  A Slacker is someone that basically likes to give orders and passing off as much work on to others as they can while taking as much credit as they can.

 

Now take an honest look in the mirror. It may be difficult to answer truthfully, but does this describe you, your up-line or someone else on your team?  Here are some clues that might help you out.

 

Leader:  Praises his/her team and offers encouragement.

Slacker:  Quick to find fault and slow to give praise.

 

Leader:  Holds himself/herself to a higher standard than his/her team.

Slacker:  Has a high level of expectation for his/her team but doesn’t hold himself/herself to that same standards.

 

Leader:  Leads by example and is a role model for his/her team.

Slacker:  Blends in with crowd and never steps up to take a leadership role or passes off leadership responsibilities to subordinates while still taking responsibility for all positives that take place.

 

Leader:  Has deep-rooted belief in his/her business and leads new teammates through the growth process (learning the business and facing obstacles with the team as opposed to stepping back and letting others take care of everything.

Slacker:  Convinces a person to join his/her team then pawns them off on someone else or simply pushes them to the side (Referred to as “sign and drop”) to either sink or swim and all the while making veiled and not so veiled statements such as “if you can’t do your job, I’ll find someone who can.”

 

Which of these characteristics, best describes you and your teammates?  Be honest with yourself.

 

Just remember, that a leader must lead and nourish others through the growth process.  If he/she loses integrity and fails to take action, then this same failure mindset will ripple down to his/her teammates and reflect throughout the company.  Employees will always be a reflection of their management.

 

So let me ask you one last time…Are you a Leader or a Slacker?

 

 

 

Power Question?

I am still taking a running poll;should I keep adding them in at the end of posts, or would you prefer a Power Quote? Or nothing at all? Let me know your feedback. 

The Leader You Need To Be In 8 Steps

 

An important part of success in life is the ability to lead. It is important that we not only be able to lead others but be willing to lead ourselves first. No one succeeds in life by simply following others.

 

Being a good leader is more than simply being at the forefront of the crowd. A leader must act. Too often we simply accept that someone looks or sounds like a leader and too rarely do we actually investigate their character, experience and actions to see if they really are.

 

In order for us to become good leaders ourselves, we need to concentrate on actions rather than simple appearances. The title of this article refers to eight steps, but do not think of these as steps like in an instruction manual; once completed you move on to the next one, but instead, think of these as progressive actions that you must repeat on a regular basis.

 

First, be alert to new potentials. "Reality" is not absolute but rather subject to constant change. Think about inventors, explorers, and agents of social change who have achieved greatness. Some might simply say that certain people are successful because they are lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe so, but if they hadn't had their eyes open for the opportunity when it showed itself then it wouldn't have mattered if they were in the right place.

 

Second, accept inspiration from wherever it comes (even your opponents). The wisest leaders constantly study their competition. In war, politics, and business we constantly see examples of this research and reconnaissance. Too many times though a certain study, many concentrate on finding a weakness to exploit. If you want to be a leader of positive change don't fall victim to this trend. Instead, if you find a weakness, make sure to avoid that pitfall yourself. If you find the strength then find a way to strengthen your own qualities to match.

 

Third, learn something new and work on implementing it every day. This means you must continually seek to expand your horizons, internally and externally. Feed your mind with new lessons and knowledge and constantly expand your horizons. Seek out and meet new people and immerse yourself in new social situations. You never know when these new experiences will help you in your leadership role.

 

Fourth, search for and find answers in subtle clues. Look beneath the surface and constantly question. This is an extension of the third step in that you are seeking new knowledge. But this also means that you will need to sometimes step off what we see as the traditional paths of knowledge. Don't simply read books in the literary canon or the bestsellers list. Take seminars rather than classes, as there is more room for questioning and debate. Seek out the unconventional thinkers, teachers, and writers. You may not agree with them, but to know someone else’s perspective is to be able to more effectively verbalize your own.

 

Fifth, improvise if no existing solutions are available. No excuses. Necessity is the mother of invention. How do you know it won't work if you've never tried it before? Remember, not all approaches need to come from the front. Look at your problem from all sides and systematically attempt different solutions in various combinations. Part of being an effective leader is problem solving.

 

Six, make at least one person you care about happy every day. If you make it a point to be thoughtful and caring for one person every day then soon this thoughtful, caring behavior will become a habit and that habit will spread to the others around you. Making someone else happy also feeds your own personal happiness. Just imagine how much better the world would be if we all did a little bit more to spread happiness. Successful leadership has the respect of those around you, not fear. Spreading happiness attracts people to you and thus makes you an attractive leader.

 

Seven, offer help, even if there's no apparent advantage to you. This means more than writing a check. It means giving of your time and energy and yourself. Sometimes it will mean helping someone you don't know and sometimes it can be a very personal action. Zig Ziglar is well known for saying “you’ll get everything you want out of life if you just help enough people get what they want.”

 

Finally, never let negativity be your last word on any subject. If your final words are negative it doesn’t matter how hopeful you may be about the potential of a project or action the lasting impression you give to others is one of negativity. Accentuate the positive and you are more likely to see a positive outcome. Even if you have to walk away, regroup and readdress the issue, come back and make sure that the last impression you make on the subject is a positive one.

 

If you follow these eight action steps not only will you become a better leader but you will also lead yourself to a more successful life.

 

If your leadership is stifled due to shyness, limiting beliefs, etc.,click here for help.

Power Question?

I am still taking a running poll; should I keep adding power questions at the end of posts, or would you prefer a Power Quote? Or nothing at all? Let me know your feedback. 

 

Body Speak

Use Body Language to add hidden power to the Message of Your Presentation.

 

“In an orator … we demand the acuteness of a logician, the profundity of a philosopher, the diction virtually of a poet, the memory of a lawyer, the voice of a performer in tragic drama, the gestures, you might almost say, of an actor at the very top of his profession. Here, then, are some of the reasons why a first-class orator is one of the rarest things in the world.”

-- Cicero

 

In any speech or presentation, your body language adds power to the message. It either supports or detracts from what your words are saying. The operative word here that we want to look at is "support". Body language must be in tune with the message. And the corollary is that body language must also not distract or detract from the message you are giving. If they are denying each other, then your presentation will fail.

 

Confidence and sincerity are the absolute basis for this process. If your body is declaring that you are not sincere in what you are saying then your credibility decreases and there is no way your message will have the impact it should have. Think about the tone of your message. Is it relaxed, conversational? Then make your body language relaxed. Is it passionate, strong and powerful? Then create body language that conveys that passion. Is it alert and enthusiastic? Then your body language needs to be reflecting that enthusiasm.

 

Learn to become aware of what your hands are doing while you speak. If necessary, make yourself hold them still. Many people have habits that are terribly distracting and yet they aren't aware of what they are doing. They click or twiddle a pen, play with their hair or their clothes, hold a microphone with fingers unconsciously making a rude gesture (if you know what I mean), take glasses on and off, put hands in pockets only to take them out seconds later and repeat the process continuously. All of these things are not necessarily detrimental in themselves, if the audience is absolutely focused on the speaker and the message. But if there is any reason for the audience's attention to stray (and we all have short attention spans) then they will become fascinated, at best, and possibly annoyed at whatever it is that the speaker is doing with their hands.

 

If, on the other hand, (pardon the pun), those hands are working to support the speech, they will bring the attention back to the message. They will also give power to the impact of the message.

 

Natural looking gestures are basically the aim. If you are not a natural gesturer, your body will support your message. It is necessary to be aware that you are not repeating the same gesture many times. It may add emphasis the first time, but after that it will distract as much as the others mentioned earlier. Watch television journalists and sooner or later you will notice this.

You can also practice gestures. Join a public speaking club where you can practice in a supportive environment until you are comfortable, and confident that your gestures are not detracting from your message.

 

Of course, there are many books and websites with information about body language and gestures. Basically:

• Gestures above shoulder level support messages about things that are spiritual or uplifting (a church minister will raise his hands in blessing).
• Ordinary messages are supported by gestures at the middle level of your body.
• Things that are despicable or degrading or debilitating are supported by gestures below the waist.
•  

You can use your palms. Held out, palm upwards, they support supplication, requesting a response, or openness. They can be used to indicate division if held vertically with the little finger down. Using a fist is a very powerful gesture. It indicates strong power and passion, and may also be used as a threat. Be careful with that. Take care, too, with pointing with a finger. People don't respond well to accusation or to being singled out, so be sure your gesture supports your message.

 

Your clothes, too, can distract attention from your message. If you have a very bright or unusual item of clothing, if your scarf or tie flaps in a breeze, if your earrings dangle or click, or your necklace or tie pin clicks on a microphone, the audience will be distracted from your message. Again, unless your message is absolutely riveting, your clothes will become the centre of attention just as gestures can, and your message will lose its impact.

 

How you stand and walk works in just the same way. If you are a passionate speaker who simply cannot stand still, then hopefully you will support the passion of your message. Try to use standing still to give the same sort of impact that a pause in the middle of rapid speech would give. If you choose to move or change position just to provide relief because you think your speech is boring; be careful. It may be that your movement will have more impact than your massage. Timing can help so that you change position with a new idea or with a new visual support. Try to make all of your body language work with the movement. So, for example, if you want to walk to give the impression of thinking of a new idea, then set your hand up to your face to indicate thoughtfulness, and speak slowly or stop speaking altogether.

 

Facial expression, too, must be in harmony with your message, or it will work against it, just as your body language does.

 

Everything - body language, image and message must work together to create the impact you have chosen.

Click Here to find out more on body language

 

Power Question:

OK, I have gotten an equal amount of positive and negative feedback about ending with power questions, so my question to you now is, should I keep adding them in at the end of posts, or would you prefer a Power Quote? Or nothing at all? Let me know your feedback. 

Ignore the Voices

Believe in Yourself, No Matter the Opposition

 

 

We all grow up hearing THOSE voices; you know the ones, the voices that say things like,  “Who do you think you are?”

“What are you thinking even trying to do that?” 

“You have failed so many times in the past, why do you think you can do it now?” 

“Why would anyone listen you?”  “Nobody is going to be interested in what you are trying to do.”

Trust me, been there, heard that. And we end up hearing the voices for so long that we end up becoming conditioned to them so much so that our own inner voice begins to repeat the outside voices. 

“You don’t deserve to be successful.” 

“How is anyone going to want what you have to offer? You’re not a professional.” 

 

Obviously, I know the voices all too well. The voices aren’t just against you; get the picture? I don’t need to keep going.  These voices continually playing and replaying over and over in your mind are destroyers of dreams and can snuff out ambition, self-worth and success faster than anything.  I know, remember I have heard these same voices for years and also because others that I have worked with have told me similar stories. Some of these voices I still have to make a conscious effort to ignore.

 

The most important thing is to remember that it’s all about your perspective. If you find yourself with a gift, a talent, an inspiration or idea that is placed in your heart to share with the world then who are you not to share it? Who are you to allow some echoes from your past to stop that dream from coming to pass?

 

When you reach that moment of clarity, the point in which you know you have something to share then that is when you have to make a decision to let the voices, that we have already established are going to be there, control your thoughts and thereby control your actions, or conclude that you are going to share your dream, your talent, your idea in spite of the negative voices coming in from every direction.

 

After a while of just ignoring the negative input, it starts to take on an almost comical role that inspires you to continue and you come to understand that you are qualified; that you are valuable; that you are helping those people that your contribution is meant for and you are effective. 

 

If you have a calling to write a book, or become a mentor, counselor or coach, then you must accept that you are qualified no matter what the naysayers may tell you.  It is you, your desire to achieve your goal, to reach your dreams and your own journey of self-discovery that will make a difference to others.  Not some external standard of what someone else’s will lead you to fulfilling your calling and NOT what the voices say.

 

Allow yourself to see that you are qualified, you are valuable and you are worthy. You can and you will do it. When you find those voices trying to take over, step away from the situation. If it is a voice from someone now, walk away. Explain that you have heard their opinion and respect their right to have one, but you disagree and will not accept the negative input and then remove yourself from that situation. Every successful person that I have had dealings with have stated that one of the first things you need to do is weed out the negative influences in your life and replace them with good influences. 

 

Now, saying that, I realize that there are some influences in your life that you just can’t walk away from, but you can adjust how much of an influence they are, by taking more control of the conversations and the amount of time that you spend with them. Realize that you are the one that sets the path that you take, not them and just because your direction isn’t the one that they would have taken, doesn’t mean that you are on the wrong path, you are just not on their path.

 

For the inner voices, reflect on where they are coming from. You will find that most are voices from the past that have influenced you. Just like the present voices, CHOOSE not to listen to them. Every time they start to repeat, actively work on replacing the negative output with positive input.

 

As the saying goes, “garbage in, garbage out” so by getting self motivational CDs, reading self-help material, surrounding yourself with people who affirm who you are, you can record over these voices from the past.

 

Now for your own voice; too often we are our own worst critics and so many times we don’t take the first step, or we quit half way through because we start doubting ourselves.

 

This is where faith comes in.  We must know that what we can perceive, we can achieve. All we need to do is not let our own negative programming from past situations, relationships, and failures stop us.

 

Failure is only failure if you choose to not get back up after a fall. If something doesn’t work the way you feel it should have, take on Albert Edison’s perspective; it’s not failure, you just discovered one more way that doesn’t work.

 

You are unique, you are wonderful and you can achieve anything that you put your mind to if you just refuse to let the voices stop you.

 

Click Here for more success

Power Question:

If you do not make changes to your current situation, what would the cost be for doing nothing?

Learn to Lean

 

As the phrase goes, “no man is an island.” There are times on this road to success that we have to lean on others for support.

 

Ask for assistance and let yourself be helped and contributed to. Get those around you involved in your journey of success--work together as a team. Recruit acquaintances, loved ones, neighbors, bosses, fellow employees, and so forth and invite their support.

 

There are few things as useful in life as a solid support network. In the great times you have someone there to share them and in the bad you have someone there to help you through it; a support network provides you a feeling of stability as well as a safety net. A support network, however, does call for time, lots of dedication and a right approach to correctly build and maintain. Follow these steps to establish and keep a solid support network around you.

 

Make the time. A support network takes time to build and develop in a stable, organic way. Likewise, allowing a support network to grow will give you a clue of whom you are able to trust, for what reason and to what degree. Trusting someone in one area doesn’t necessarily mean that you could or even should trust him or her in another; take the time to grow slow and know for sure who has your back. Deliberately build your network to be diverse. Diversity commonly promotes force in a system. Cultivate a lot of different meaningful relationships so that dissimilar parts of your emerging support network may help you deal with different sorts of issues.

 

Keep in touch. On a regular basis connect with the individuals in your support network. Making a fast phone call or writing an e-mail just to say "hello", or even a personal message on social media lets individuals in your support network know that you're there for them even as much as they are there for you.

 

Utilize the Golden Rule as your guide. You will get as much out of your support network as you place into it. Zig Ziglar always said, “you will get everything in life that you want, if you help enough people get what they want.” If you want a good friend, you must first be a good friend, this holds true in any type of support group whether it is professional or personal. A Component of constructing a support network is giving up your time and energy to assist other people, even if they claim not to need the help or if you are busy. To construct a really strong support network, offer other people as much as, or even more than, you expect in return.

 

Power Question:

What one change would help propel you forward?

Lean toward your success

Let Go of the Guilt

 

I know, you are probably looking at the title and wondering how this has anything to do with success, but trust me, we all grow up with levels of guilt when it comes to having more or being better than someone else. In today’s society, there seems to be a rule of thought that everyone should be equal and no one should be better off than someone else. That is, of course, “stinin’ thinking” as Zig Ziglar used to put it. It also plays into the scarcity mindset which so many of us grow up with that keeps us bound in the golden handcuffs of a paycheck to paycheck mentality.

 

Now you are probably saying to yourself, “Huh? What is he talking about?” I know, trust me, all too well. I didn’t think I had any guilt about success until I looked back and saw so many times that there were areas that I sabotaged my success subconsciously.

 

Guilt is among the biggest wastes of our emotional energy. It causes us to get trapped in the present by over-concentrating on the past. Guilt, at times, can be very draining. By introducing logic to help counter-balance the guilt, you are able to avoid undermining your efforts toward a successful life and stay on course.

 

Feelings of guilt may not be gotten rid of over night, but they don't have to command your life. By following the steps provided, you can work towards freeing yourself from the guilt in your life that may be holding you back.

 

Pinpoint precisely what you feel guilty about. Your guilt might be telling you that there's something you need to alter in your life. For example, if you are trying to lose weight and know that if you go to a buffet you won’t control yourself and then a friend invites you to a buffet. You may feel guilty about saying no to the invitation, and then you end up going, overeating and then feeling bad about ‘ruining’ your diet. You may find that silly, but that actually happened to me. Or maybe your child wants that latest toy/videogame/whatever, but you have set yourself up on a specific budget in order to pay down debt; the child ‘guilts’ you into foregoing the budget for their newest whatever only to not play with it once they have it. Again (with hand held high) that was something that I dealt with.

 

Guilt comes in many subtle and not-so-subtle packages. The point is to see them, and do what it takes to overcome these guilts. As in the two examples above, most of those types of situations can be handled with a few boundaries that we will get into on a later blog, but for now, lets work on some steps to help you identify and work toward eliminating guilt in your life.

 

Look intimately at your priorities. Make a list of what is all-important for the health and happiness of you, your loved ones and your business. For example, what is significant to your loved ones might not matter to other families and the other way around. It holds true in every aspect of your life. Be strong with your priorities.

 

Construct more time for your priorities. First thing is to know and acknowledge that you can't do everything, so if it is not on your success list then get in the habit of saying "No." The word No can, and will, be your biggest ally. At first you will feel guilty about saying it, but in moderation a little guilt now can save a lot of guilt later.

 

Live in the here and now; any errors in judgment made in the past because of guilt are over and done with. Sometimes, the guilt we feel now that keeps up from moving forward is guilt of the past. Forgive yourself for your errors, learn from them and leave them in the past tense.

 

Determine limits. As a parent you're responsible for the well-being of your children and you set boundaries for them, but you need to do the same for every aspect of your life if you are to be successful.

 

One final thought that is important is to adopt time for yourself. Even though it might seem inconceivable to find the time, if you're debilitated emotionally or physically then you have nothing to give to those around you. Don’t feel guilty for taking some time out for yourself because in the long run, when you have time to recharge, you have that energy to invest in those around you.

 

Guilt is usually subtle, so you have to really look for it sometimes, but when you recognize it and deal with it, you find that success is usually just on the other side of that guilt.

 

An action step for you to take is to do some internal dialog with yourself and see if there are any issues that you feel guilt over. Then analyze why you feel guilty about it. Sometimes the guilt is rational, but the initial reasons for the guilt aren’t.

 

From guilt to success, Click Here!

Power Question:

On a scale from 1 to 10, how excited are you about change?

Income: Which is Better, Linear or Passive?

Linear income is also called active income; this is the income that you earn a specific amount of income for a specific amount of your effort. To earn a linear income you also need to be present at your supposed workplace, whether that be a doctor, lawyer, etc., practically every employed or self-employed person is earning linear income. If they don’t attend to their clients, they won’t get paid.

Now what about passive income? It still surprises me as to how many people do not understand the concept of passive income. It is an income that you continue earning even when you are not working. Sound unbelievable? Well believe it because thousands of people have made it, even me. Passive income, also known as residual income, is a stream of income which you can earn many times, with your one specific amount of effort. Here are several sources of passive income:

1.       Royalty income. Authors, song writers and many content creators are paid royalties every time their book, songs, or curated content is purchased or used, regardless of how long ago they made it, depending on any copyright agreements. This is a form of royalty income and the best part is, in many cases, it continues for the rest of their lives.

2.       Dividends. This type of passive income is generally created from an initial investment. It can come from stock investments, where listed companies share their income with their shareholders in the form of cash dividends based on earnings. Dividends also come from mutual funds and angel investing.

3.       Real estate. Your real estates can be rented out to earn a good amount of passive income. Now let me be clear about this, when I say real estate, I am not just talking about housing. Real estate is property and property is anything that you own. You can rent out your house, your car, and your web space; basically anything that you own that you can rent or lease to bring income in is real estate.

4.       Interest income. Interests from savings / fixed deposits, etc. This is most commonly attributed to compound interest.

5.       Websites. This is to expand on what I mentioned in 3. Websites have become an effective place to sell your products and services to the mass and earn big bucks! You don’t have to watch the website 24-7 as your clients will be able to purchase your products / services online without much hassle with the advent of online transaction. Going back to 3, you could “rent” your website out by not even promoting and selling your products, but rather promote someone else’s product or service and receive an affiliate commission for promoting them.

How do people actually get rich? The answer: By having multiple passive streams of income. Don’t have all of your eggs in one basket.

So, would you rather earn linear income or passive income? Why not do both and become financially successful faster? I have published books, I promote multiple affiliate programs and I physically work as a marketing/ copywriting consultant and coach. Remember that money is a tool, not a final goal.

Power Question:

How can you get the knowledge, information, training that you need to accomplish your goal?

Power Question?

What are three worth while activities that you could do this week to move you forward with your success goals?

Your Sucess

7 Steps to Position Yourself for Success

Here are 7 steps to position yourself for your success...

Step 1: Commit to the Journey

Successful people are different from most people in that they are very committed and have higher determination in everything they do. The more committed that you are to your success, the more successful that you will be. You need to be committed, and be willing to take persistent, directed and massive actions that will take you to your success.

Step 2: Save to Grow

Develop the habit of saving; not just money, but information. When it comes to money, it doesn’t matter how much right now as long as you make it a habit to save a portion of your income every month and you will see the power of compounding interest. Without saving money, you will never have money for any form of investment and it is the investments that lead to real successful growth. When it comes to information, Jim Rohn says that we need to have a library. This library will consist of books and authors that you find informative, inspiring and educational. It will also house the journals that you will be keeping so that you can randomly go back and see how much you have grown in this journey to success.

Step 3: Adopt the Million-Dollar Mindset

If you missed the blog on the million-dollar mindset, I suggest going back and reading it. Basically, in order to be successful, you need to think like a millionaire, as Jim Rohn says, “not for the sake of becoming a millionaire, but for what you have to become to be a millionaire. For example, a millionaire never blames other people or the environment for what happens to them, even when they suffer losses. Instead they work to improve themselves and learn from losses.  In their failures, they see opportunities and hope while others will only see the failures and wallow in them.

Step 4: Chase Your Passion

As the old adage goes, “do what you love and you will never work a day in your life.” This will keep you motivated even during difficult times. Keep striving and focus your goals around your passion, constantly asking yourself, “What do I need to do or become to make this dream come true?” and you will be on the path to true success.

Step 5: Have a Clear Financial Plan

This one plays into steps 3 and 4. How much exactly do you need to earn in order to have the lifestyle of success that you are looking for? Figuring this out and adding a specific dollar amount to your goal is imperative because this will start the ball rolling when it comes to setting benchmarks to achieve your goals. The phrase “Money Makes the World Go ‘Round” actually has a nugget of truth to it; everything about success requires investment or money, time and effort. It isn’t sufficient enough to just say “I want to be a Millionaire” because it does not give you a clear picture of your end point or how to get there which means that you will not be able to plan for it very easily.

I will take this time to put in here that this plan needs to be on paper. Don’t just try to commit it to memory because that never works. Being creatures of habit, we will find ourselves taking the easy paths and not sticking to our goals.

Step 6: Become a Manager

It is imperative that you become a manager; a manager of every aspect of your environment.

To be wealthy, you need to balance your income and expenses, your time, your associations, your life.

An example to this would be to track your income to make sure they are spent on the right and necessary things. You cannot afford to have your expenditure rising beyond your income.

 

Finally, Step 7: Take MASSIVE Action!

Take massive actions to supercharge your plan for success and start making it a reality today. You should not just let your plans look good on paper. Start with small baby steps, and aim higher after each successive step. Envision your journey of success, not as a road, but a rising staircase that takes you one level higher with each step that you take. Success is yours to take, start now.

Power Question:

Jim Rohn says that we are the sum total of the top 5 people whom we most associate with, who are the top five people who have the biggest influence on your life and why?

 

Here's to your success!