Leadership.
It’s an increasingly fluid concept due to most people in authority getting there through sheer force, and social media creating a space where influencers reign through group-think.
We all know people who shamelessly impose their will to display “leadership” traits. The whole act comes off as needy, unnatural, and straight up annoying.
It’s as if the heavens bestowed the clown with the largest, loudest, and fastest-running mouth the power to delegate work to us less fortunate fellows.
So the question is, how do you avoid being…that?
How do you stop being a fake and become the leader who naturally gains the respect of others?
It’s simple.
You hold yourself to a higher standard.
You look in the mirror and ask yourself, “How can I be a better man (or woman) than I am today?”
That question is what will start it all. But now that I think about it, you should probably rephrase it.
“How can we be better men and women than we are today?”
That’s what you should ask instead. Because the decision you’re about to make will affect much more than just you.
Sure, we like to think we live in a bubble. We like the idea of acting in secret while we assume no one else is affected.
But that’s not how it works.
And if you don’t believe me…
- Go lose 40 pounds.
- Give your all to that team project at work.
- Claw your way out of a hole and come out alive on the other side.
That’s what I did. And I promise you, I wasn’t the only one who changed.
I had tried to fit in for years, and even now the idea of finding a place I belong sounds wonderful, but just like now, I couldn’t do it then.
So instead of fitting into a place I belonged, I stopped looking for it altogether.
That’s when I set goals for myself, I learned more about what I believed, and if others didn’t accept me for who I was, I realized it was okay.
All I had to do was demand more of myself, and soon, I had to run from leadership positions—simply because I couldn’t spread myself too thin.
For me, becoming a leader was no longer a problem. Determining which positions to take was the real dilemma.
But it’s not like you have to run yourself into the ground with all this. Most times, it only takes some extra effort. And if you make that effort, you’ll realize that the small things bring huge results.
Those little changes will help you accomplish feats the old you never thought was possible. And people will look at you like you’re a different person afterwards.
But if you still don’t believe me, think about it yourself.
Whenever you had a leader you truly respected, what were they like?
- Was it the boss you barely knew, who called you by name and asked about your hospitalized aunt—two weeks after you casually mentioned her status?
- Was it the teammate you hated and envied? The one you knew was clearly overrated…until you saw him put up shots an hour after a practice that left you and your other teammates crawling out the gym.
- Or maybe it was the parent you resented as a kid. The one who never wanted to spend time with you. The one you later learned had worked towards a degree that kept you and your family out of tough times.
Those were the leaders I came to respect, and they all had that one thing in common: They all had a desire to go beyond the norm, not just for themselves, but for the good of everyone in their lives.
They’re the reason I believe the best way to get whatever you want is to become the type of person who gets it.
Yet people overlook this point all the time:
- The low-wage worker barely affords his new leased vehicle, but the wealthy man buys the luxury car since it’s relatively cheap.
- Foolish students fly through exams to prove themselves to less-than-concerned classmates, but the “genius” who prepared days before finishes faster with a higher grade.
- Guys search for tricks to get girls on the internet, but they never become the kind of man who attracts a good woman.
People try to become leaders by showing off or flattering others. They mimic what they think a leader should do instead of observing the people others hold in high regard.
But in order to earn the status that comes with the responsibility of leadership, you now know what really needs to happen.
The answer to how you become a leader is simple, straightforward, easy-peasy…
It’s the execution that’s hard.
It’s not something most people will ever want to do.
But hey, that’s what we have leaders for.
-Drew
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