Why you can and should be a leader

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]When we hear the word leadership, we tend to think of executives leading people, company owners or political leaders for example. However, not every boss is a leader, nor is every leader a boss.

Do you ever watch people walking their dogs? I find it interesting to see how some walk their dogs whilst in other cases the dogs rather walk their owners. This a good indicator for leadership qualities, do you not think?

What does leadership mean

Leadership is the ability to influence people to give their best, to act and work towards achieving goals. Therefore, it is a set of soft skills which allows us to be a leader. These skills are knowing to take the initiative, manage, delegate, communicate, inspire and motivate for example. That is how a leader inspires trust and respect.

The difference between a leader and a boss

A boss or executive is a person in charge of people due to hierarchical powers. He/she is supposed to lead and motivate them to work towards a common objective. However, we all know bosses who expect respect due to their position and want people to obey what they say. But respect needs to be gained; and is in fact achieved with the leadership skills mentioned. That is why we also know people we consider leaders although they do not hold an executive position.

Not every #boss is a leader nor is every #leader a boss. #leadership Click To Tweet

We all can and should be leaders

We do not all aspire to an executive position. Still, developing leadership skills will allow us to lead the life we want and help us in our interpersonal (and, remembering the said about walking dogs, our animal) relations.

Lead your life

Living means making decisions. Every day we decide what time to get up, what to eat, how to dress, to return a call, do the washing and so on. But if we want to lead the life we aspire to, we need not only limit ourselves to decide about small issues. It is necessary it make important decisions consciously.

Leading ourselves means taking care of and self-motivating ourselves, looking for inspiration, learning and personal development. This can mean including routines beneficial to our well-being into our life. It can also be taking time for activities which help us inspire ourselves, learn and discover new things. It can be working towards our dreams and achieving the goals we set ourselves. Likewise it means inspiring those around us.

Living means making #decisions. Dare to make important ones and #lead your #life actively. #leadership Click To Tweet

Learning lies beyond the comfort zone

The more we broaden our comfort zone, the less we will fear new situations. As well, we will discover more opportunities, be it on professional or personal level. How will you enjoy a theatre play if you do not go to any? How will you know if you like sushi or not if you do not try it?

But trying new things is not limited to the personal sphere. At work we also learn new tasks and take on new responsibilities. If you think about it, there are things you did not know you were capable of doing or were good at. Until you do not take the opportunity and try you will not know what you are capable of doing. In addition, the more you dare to try new things, the more capable you will feel of trying others and the more your self-esteem will increase.

Do you think a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush? #Learning lies beyond our #comfortzone. #leadership Click To Tweet

Decide your priorities

When you ask somebody if they know what is most important in their life and if they know their priorities, they will probably say yes. Still, how many of us do give enough weight to our priorities day to day; that is, consciously decide to take time for what is important? How many of us have ever taken time to write down these priorities? If you have never done so, I invite you to do it.

Putting them down on paper will help you become more aware of all that is important to you. Consequently, it will be easier to adapt your habits, agenda and activities to dedicate more time to those priorities.

Live according to your priorities

Once your priorities are on paper, I invite you to consider with which important aspects of your life you are satisfied and which require more attention. Then think what you can do to improve the neglected aspects. What do you want to dedicate more time to? Which habits and activities can you include in your life? Which things can you stop doing or do less because they rest time to the important or are not beneficial for your well-being?

Set yourself goals

In order to secure more time for those aspects important for your life and well-being, it can be a good idea to set goals and plan related activities. Ask yourself why a certain aspect is important to you. This will give you a good reason to dedicate time to it. Then consider what means to you that you are paying enough attention to that priority. Is it for example doing a certain activity once a month, a week, a day? In order for a wish to become a goal it needs to be measure, realistic and achievable.

Let us say for example you like culture but have not gone to a museum, theatre or concert in ages. In order to feel that you dedicate enough time to that interest, how often should you do a cultural activity? Depending on that, might it be a good idea to reserve a day per week, month or every certain months for it? Then add to your task list looking for exhibitions, plays or concerts you are interested in. Depending on the case, buy the tickets or reserve a day in your agenda for going.

That means that in order to nurture an important aspect we need to:

• Translate our priorities into goals and activities.
• Have a “why”, that is a good reason to pay attention to a priority and related goals.
• Decide how much time we want to dedicate in order to feel satisfied.
• Depending on the type of goal, define the aim so the result is measurable. So, how does reaching our goal look like?
• Consciously include into our routine, that is our task list and agenda tasks and activities related to our priorities.

Do live like a candle in the wind or #lead your #life? Know your #priorities and live according to them. #leadership Click To Tweet

Motivate yourself

Leading our life also means motivating ourselves. Motivating ourselves to go to work and do it with enthusiasm, to achieve our goals, to nurture our well-being etc.

On one hand, motivation is a matter of attitude. If we go to work thinking that it is an obligation and we do not feel like it, it will be difficult to motivate ourselves to give our best. Ideally you will have a job you like. But even if this is not the case you can at least become aware of your negative attitude. Then remind yourself why you have that job. You have decided to take that position and keep it for a reason, even if just to earn money. Whilst this is your income channel, do not ruin it with a negative attitude that will harm your performance as well as your mood.

On the other hand we can motivate ourselves celebrating achievements. Why not congratulate yourself for example for a project you have managed to close or for the time you have taken to nurture your well-being? You can also reward yourself for achievements with things you like. Pamper yourself with a massage, a walk, a shopping session, a weekend getaway or whatever you like and makes you happy.

A #leader inspires and motivates. Be your own leader and provide yourself with #inspiration and #motivation. #leadership Click To Tweet

Be a leader for those around you

Taking the lead of our life has a secondary effect. If we know what is important to us, what we want to achieve and work towards it, those surrounding us will notice. What is more, it might inspire them to follow our example.

This reminds me of a recent conversation on the fact that consumption of books and magazines has decreased. If you want your children to discover the pleasure of reading, it will be easier if they see that it is something their parents enjoy. By the same token, they will more probably enjoy learning when they see that you like to do so.

Another important leadership quality is assertiveness. That means daring to share our opinion and defend our point of view politely but firmly. This will gain us respect from people we relate with.

If we want to influence positively the people around us, it will certainly be easier if we lead by example. You would like your partner to better look after himself/herself? Consider whether you are really taking good care of yourself. You would like your kids to discover their passions? Then help them try new experiences and hobbies. You want them to be happy? Then work on your own happiness and help them become self-sufficient and assertive human beings.

#Leading by example is the easiest way to #inspire and #influence others. #leadership Click To Tweet

Are you a leader?

Do you live life as if your destiny is already written and you cannot influence it? Do you let yourself be led by events? Or have you taken the lead of your life in order for it to be as you want?[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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