Fast track to leadership

For years there has been an ongoing debate on whether leaders are born or bred - one I'm sure will continue for time to come so I won't get into it. One thing I have learned by experience is that whether you are a born or bred leader is that there is a fast track to leadership. Everyone, including me, likes a fast track - so let's go on...

Be Educated

Sometime ago I heard, or was it read, a very interesting and profound statement - though I cannot remember who said it, I cannot forget what it said to me.

If I recall correctly, it was:

"An educated man is only an educated man,

an educated woman is an educated family."

It seems pretty harsh (& almost unkind) to say...wait a minute, before you "switch off", let's dissect (read between the words) &  hopefully digest it for our good...



It said at least 5 things to me:

Think and act on these...

When I had tea with one of my mentors a few months ago, we were talking about making impact in life i.e. letting our light shine where we are.

She then shared this quote attributed to Madeleine Albright which I'd never heard before:

“There’s a special place in Hell for women who don’t help each other.”

I found this quote interesting - not that I agree with it because I know the Bible tells us about those who will go to hell. The point is we must realize how important it is to help others...the quote gives us food for thought and hopefully action.

The alternate way of looking at this is holding onto one of my favourite quotes:

“A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.”

Purpose to "light" other candles around you - and what a brighter and better world we will all have to enjoy.

Care enough to share your flame...

Start today...

God makes three requests of His children:

Do the best you can, where you are, with what you have, now.

(African American proverb) 

For me, this is timeless proverb is a great way and place to start this is year. I recommend that you join me and make God's 3 requests your

resolutions for life.

Whatever (and all) you do this year, please use all that God has blessed you with to do what He has asked you to and start today. Just as money loses value over time, so does the impact you could make - it can lose value too if wrongly timed. Now is the best time...to do what you have been called to. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us (Prov 27:1); Today is the "present" - make it a gift...

Start today to do the best you can... 

Be Excited

It's almost the end of this year...we should all Be Excited...

Well, I know that the year may not have turned out the way you planned but the fact is you are still here which means that the best is still yet to come. I like to remind people that their past and present put together are nothing compared to their future - that thought alone should make and keep you excited.

Ann Landers put this so nicely: "Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies." Think about it: for those who drive, have you ever been able to go forward "safely" while looking in your rear-view mirror? I haven't.

The only time it makes sense to use your rear-view mirror is when parked in a garage or a spot where going forward is not possible. In such cases, you only go backwards in order to go forward - that's also how we should live our lives. We all need to look-back on the past year to identify areas for improvement or development but looking back and reliving past glories or "sorries" will not take us forward. In other words: "if you are still talking about what you did yesterday, you haven't done much today."* No one can rewrite the past but we can all create a glorious future and that is enough to be excited about.

Get ready to go forward: a great & exciting year awaits us!

Sources:
*Author unknown

Aspire to inspire...

I've said it more than once: there is more to your life than just your own life.

As long as we respire, we must all aspire to inspire others before we expire. 

Besides the personal satisfaction of living for more than yourself and making a difference where you are, "if your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."* As you plan for 2012:

Aspire to inspire others ...

With 30 days to go to the end of this year,

I've started considering possible resolutions -

this is one for sure...

Reference:
*John Quincy Adams

Empower others...

...purposely and purposefully

“The beauty of empowering others is that

your own power is not diminished in the process.”

~Barbara Colorose

To add to that, empowering others puts you in a unique position:

You are a valuable resource to more people than you may ever know.

Bottom line:

You are valuable - do things of value for and to others...empower them.