Throughout the
years people have tried to answer the question, “
What
is leadership?” John Maxwell, a well-known expert
on leadership and mentorship once explained what he though leadership
was, “Leadership is not something you do, it is something you
are.”
Maxwell understood the popular thought that
leadership was linked to actions. However, he believes that when you
ask “What is leadership?” you need to also think
about what a person is. You need to think about true leadership as a
state of being instead of state of action.
If you want to become a leader, or are
developing yourself to be a better leader, it is essential to
contemplate on the leader you would like to be for at least a few
minutes everyday.
When we consider what is leadership, we need
to focus on time for personal improvement. Most leaders of
organizations will say that they feel too burdened to spend a lot of
time on leadership improvement. It is important that we realize when a
person feels a certain way they are leaving the door open for the
control they have to walk away.
Once we believe that we don’t have
enough time for something, it obviously becomes habit to disregard self
improvement.
So, how do we control our beliefs to make
sure that we try to develop our leadership?
* If you are using time as an excuse, it is
important to ask yourself why you believe you don’t have time
to improve your leadership abilities. If you truly break down your day
into segments of time, you can find a few minutes here and there to
contemplate or develop those necessary skills.
* Once you realize that you are
contradicting yourself by actually finding time to develop your
leadership, you will find more and more gaps in your day to improve
yourself. Once you have disregarded your negative belief, you will
realize that you have great possibilities and potential to become the
leader you want to be. You will also notice that you will use your time
more wisely when you locate those little pockets of time that are spent
unwisely or unnecessarily.
* After you have developed the scenario in
your mind that you have time for leadership, you can ask yourself again
about your time constraints. However, this time around ask yourself
positively why you need time to develop your leadership abilities.
* Once you recognized the time that you
didn’t think you had, you will end up with a new daily
routine. You need to try your best to continue with your routine. It
may be a good idea to post your new schedule up somewhere that you will
see it often.
So, you ask, “What is
leadership?” In a nutshell, leaders are people who develop
the necessary skills to be a great person. They succeed from having
vision and belief that they CAN do things, not find excuses –
especially with time.
Discover more
about becoming a great leader at www.RaiseALeader.com
