Category Archives: Leadership

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Wow Am I Blessed!

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Can you imagine my surprise (and happiness) when my wonderful trainer, Dan, brought me into the office and showed me this! And then said it was for me – at first I thought it was something he had won but then I saw my name! This is, perhaps, the most meaningful gift I’ve ever received because this is from the one person who went through all the trials and tribulations with me to get me through all my endurance events. It was because of him that I could truly embody what he says I embody and inspire.

Dan has changed my life in so many ways in the two years I’ve been working with him now. He is always upbeat and supportive and never ever lets any of us down. He even went to the New York City Marathon when I had decided not to go due to Superstorm Sandy. But he gave me the courage to prepare for that event and to know that I could do it if I had gone. Just in case you missed the whole story, he did definitely get something out of it – he got engaged to a wonderful woman who is the perfect match for him. 302890_4413659232773_1324206015_n

He then supported me and trained me to build the muscle, courage and fearlessness to do two 50 milers and two 100 milers in the space of a few short months. I’m no easy person to deal with when I’m not stressed out for a big event that will fulfill a 15 year dream so you can imagine how much fun he had seeing me 3 times a week during that entire period. Yet, he was always there encouraging me and telling me I could do it.

Then he showed up in the middle of the night for my first 100 mile  event and cheered me on in a way I’ve never been supported before.

He is such a good, honest and wholesome man that I often feel as if I don’t deserve to have him as my trainer or friend. And then when I realize he’s stuck with me, I thank God for all my great and wonderful blessings and he is pretty close to number 1 on that list of blessings.

He even created this saying and it has brought tears to my eyes several times since I received this beautiful gift. His words mean more than anything and could have just stood alone but when you combine them with the beauty of this statue, there is nothing better.

Here’s what he wrote!

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Thank you Dan!

dan

 

 

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The Mirror of Your Mind

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Still working on your Success List? Having problems, perhaps, figuring out what you want to be or what qualities you want to embrace? Take a look at this system and see if it will help you with your planning. January should be a month of preparation. Ideally December should be that month but everyone is so busy with the holidays (although this should be a part of the holidays) that they don’t have time for anything else. So, continue to use January to figure out where you are and where you want to go.

One of the best ways to take a look at the things in your life that you wish to change this to look at others around you. Try this exercise. Write down a list of 3 to 5 people depending on how much time you have that are in your life right now. Next to each name list of qualities that you like about that person, and the qualities that you don’t like about that person. Another way to do this is to list 3 to 5 people that you don’t like that are in your life right now. And on a separate list you can list 3 to 5 other people that are in your life that you do like.

Regardless of how you decide to do it you now have a list of qualities that you can take a look at. How many of these qualities are qualities that you see in yourself ones who really hone in and force yourself to take a deep look at yourself.

People come into your life for a reason. Once you identify the qualities about these people you’ve attracted you can either work to eliminate the bad qualities in yourself that these people are mirror and; or you can work to even augment the good qualities that you see in yourself.

Remember that we are in control of our lives. We’re in control of how we behave, what our attitudes are like, what our thoughts reflect, and most of all what other people see in us. So use the reflection of others in your life to help you mould who you want to be. in fact this is a good way to create a checklist for yourself. Use this checklist in the daily weekly or monthly basis to see where you’ve come in your goals of improving certain qualities in your life. You may not have to develop qualities. You may just have to refine them and it’s a lot easier there already and you but you just have to make their manifestation better.

I write this from experience because it happened to me more than one time. Often a new person will come into my life and it’s a person that I’m not ecstatic exactly ecstatic with. When I write down a list of persons qualities and then I’m very honest with myself, I see myself as if I’m looking in a mirror. however this is been the most important time of my life because it gives me the opportunity to examine qualities that other people see in me, and change the things I want people to see. What’s funny is as soon as you adequately change or modify those qualities that person begins to fade from your life. If you look back over your life you can see how this is probably been the case with you if you’ve paid attention to what that person supposed to mean in your life.

Just as a reminder list 3 to 5 people in your life and write down the good qualities in the bad qualities you see in them. Take a deep look at yourself and determine if these are qualities that you have. If they are to choose to keep them what you want to change. Start working on yourself and then repeat the process and perhaps 3 to 6 months. See enough either that person is no longer in your life or perhaps that person is changed as well.

Terrie

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The Major Attributes of Initiative and Leadership

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We talked about this in November but here’s another of Napoleon Hill’s works where he describes the 10 attributes of Initiative and Leadership. They help elaborate on the Qualities of Leadership discussed in November with different wording. Take them in and use them to build your talents.

1. Know definitely what you want (your definite major purpose)

2. Build a practical plan or plans for the achievement of that which you want, making use of the counsel and advice of your Master Mind Group.

3. Surround yourself with an organization made up of men who h ave the knowledge and experience essential for carrying out your Definite Aim.

4. Have sufficient faith in yourself and in your plans to see your aim a finished reality even before you begin to carry out your plans.

5. Do not become discouraged no matter what obstacles you meet. If one plan fails to work substitute other plans until you have found one that will work.

6. Do no guessing but get the facts as the basis for all your plans.

7. Do not be influenced by others to abandon your plans or your aim.

8. Have no set hours of labor. The leader must devote to his task whatever hours are necessary for success.

9. Concentrate upon one thing at a time as you cannot dissipate thought and energy and still be efficient.

10. Whenever possible relegate to others the responsibility of details, but have a system for checking your subordinates to see that these details are accurately attended to. Hold yourself accountable at all times for carrying out all of your plans, bearing in mind that if subordinates fail, it is is you yourself who has failed.

What’s happened in your life in the past month? How has your life changed as a result of our review of the quailities of leadership.

Terrie

 

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Leadership – Interacting With Others

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Qualities of Leadership – Interacting With & For Others

* The capacity to take criticism without resentment.

* Willingness to accept full responsibility for the mistakes of subordinates.

* The habit of recognizing the merits and abilities of others.

* The habit of assuming full responsibility for any job or task undertaken.

 * Patience with subordinates and associates.

 For today, I picked the qualities of leadership that had to do with working with others.

 The first quality listed is the ability to take criticism without resentment. This is NOT easy at all. It takes cultivating. It takes realizing that the criticism is something that can be used to grow and be used to get closer to your definite major purpose.

 It’s so hard not to believe that the criticism is not directed against you as a person and doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.

 You have to learn to take the information given and use it to whatever advantage you can come up with. This may be one of the toughest leadership qualities you have to develop. But work on it.

 The other qualities listed have to do with working with others while protecting them and standing up for them. This is where you have to develop understanding of others and cultivate patience when working with them. I guess being in the Navy helped me with these qualities. The Captain of the ship always was responsible for what went down no matter whose fault it was. You cannot blame others when you’re a leader. You just accept things the way they are and look at what happened in the light of what can be improved.

 It’s human nature to want to pass the buck and put blame where it’s due. But you cannot do that and be a true leader.  This will help you stop talking about people and keep you concentrated on your work, your definite major purpose.

 Look at your life, your interactions, see how these principles apply to you.

 Let us know what you discover.

 Terrie



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Leadership – Going The Extra Mile

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Going The Extra Mile

This is one of the most important qualities of leadership for sure. It’s even more important to think about in this day and time.

How often do you feel you go the extra mile? What does “going the extra mile” mean to you? Even more importantly, what feelings did just reading that phrase generate inside of you? I mention that because even though I think that I do go the extra mile when I was writing this question to you I felt butterflies in my stomach! And I’ve done this for many years. So, there is obviously something in my past or inner soul that is stirred by this thought. Perhaps it’s the commitment that’s required because of making that statement in public. I don’t really know. I’ll have to work on it. I confess all this because I know that you might be feeling anxiety at having to even think about going the extra mile. Please, though, don’t let that stop you.

You can read about people who are successful and how they all went the extra mile. What that means is different for each person but it certainly does involve “stretching”.

To succeed you just HAVE to stretch. We’ve talked about stretching when we’ve talked about tithing. If you were having trouble stretching with tithing, you may not be ready to become a leader. Again I’m not trying to aggravate or irritate anyone but you have to be able to do what’s needed. Maybe you have to work longer or maybe you have to reach out to people in your community and help them.

A key element in going the extra mile is doing it without complaining. There is a great element of entitlement in this day and a feeling that things should be “free” or that an individual is “owed” something. You’ll have to examine your theories about that too.

When was the last time you went beyond what was expected of you? Was it something that you were able to do without even being asked? Was it something you were expected to do but you did it faster, more quickly, more thoroughly?

Tell us about it and about the thoughts and feelings you experience when writing about this.

Terrie