Something has been weighing heavy on my heart lately and I felt that I needed to get it off my chest. I hope that whoever reads on will find this post more motivating than insulting. I'm not referring to anyone in general, just a general message to all those ambitious people out there.
A lot of people have dreams and ambitions, some people are lucky enough to know what they want from a young age and other are still soul searching for the one thing that they will find joy in doing. Whatever the situation I'm sure that no one wakes up in the morning and says, "I want to be a failure". Question is, how are you going to be the person you want to be?
As it is, there are so many lessons in life that books can't teach you. Respect needs to earned not demanded and trust needs to gained. Nothing is a given. We all need to pay our dues in life and staying ahead is a constant and demanding task. All of us want to be managers or leaders but how many of us actually has what it takes? And if you think you're lacking, what are you doing to change this?
The above couldn't be more true. More often than not, we lose the plot somewhere between hard work and success. We forget what it was like to start at the beginning, we lose the human aspect of our person and in the end, its lonely at the top because we lost so many people along the way.
For me, I try my utmost best to be the kind of manager that I would like to follow. This means that when I think about the leader I want to be, I imagine that this same person would be my leader or manager. I'd imagine that I would be more than happy to have a manager that inspires me, that has my back and encourages me to always grow and learn- and this is who I try to be in my work life. I think that every morning, each of us has a choice to make, to inspire someone, to guide them, to encourage them or to simply make them smile. You have a choice to be strangers in the workplace or a support network where the possibilities are endless. You don't need to be a manager to make a difference, make the difference and people will see that you are a leader anyway.
Now I'm by no means perfect and I am still learning everyday but I am not afraid to say I made a mistake and apologize if I have to. I also believe that I have yet to harness or unleash my full potential and perhaps it will happen soon and maybe it will happen later but it's OK! I'm merely trying to get by just like everyone. I haven't cracked the code nor have I got it all figured out but I hope that in each waking day, I have inspired someone, guided them, encouraged them or simply made them smile. No grand gestures but tiny little moments for us both to remember.
Thanks to those who have so far given me the opportunity to "share" my wisdom- it's been a pleasure and I hope you haven't been misguided thus far.
Happy and Zen Friday everyone!
"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure"
- Colin Powell
