Life Lesson

Though what you look at is important, it’s not nearly as important as what you see.

What do you see what you look at a problem or challenge?

What do you see when you look in the mirror?

What do you see when you look at someone struggling?

What do you see when you look back at life? Forward? The present?

We may not always get to decide what we look at. But what we see? That’s entirely up to us.

Stay Positive & It Pays To Look, But It Pays More To See

It pays to consider what you could have done to get to the point of becoming excited sooner.

Consider the last time your boss (or a colleague if you are the boss), came up with a new tactic to hit the business goals. You’re jazzed. It sounds smart and you’re excited to tackle it.

The common manager proceeds forward, but the aspiring leader? Don’t you think they should have been the one to come up with the tactic?

I won’t say becoming a remarkable leader is easy but one practice to getting there is to think about what will get you (and others) excited.

If you’re just checking your task list off, focusing on the mundane, the safe, the stuff that doesn’t excite, you’re hiding.

(To clarify: not that a leader quits that stuff just to do what is exciting but they carve time to ideate what will excite)

Stay Positive & Time Isn’t Given, It’s Made

People aren’t that complex.

If you’re holding a work meeting, I’d put money on you being able to make a decent guess at what people who show up are really showing up for.

If you’re bartending, you can take a guess at what guests are really coming in for the moment you see them walk through the door.

If you’re laying awake next to your significant other, you can feel what they are really in the relationship for.

The only action that separates you from helping others out is taking the moment to consider what they are really there for.

Stay Positive & Not Rocket Science (But Making Time And Being Intentional To Evaluate May Be)

Those who say there is a key to consistency are lying. Consistency is just that: show up. As scheduled. As promised. Again and again. It requires nothing more than a decision to do it.

When you do that, momentum follows. Consistency becomes easier. The work becomes better. The result becomes more rewarding.

If you want to build momentum, it starts with consistency.

Stay Positive & Consistency IS The Key

The signs and signals aren’t always positive.

The ideas aren’t game changers in the sense of a trajectory forward.

The examples aren’t of someone striking the lottery with an idea.

Signs of a remarkable leader often come from almost the opposite of what we’d expect.

A leader points out that something doesn’t work…even if that something has been done for awhile and others are bought in. It’s pointing out the ineffectiveness when they know doing so goes against the grain.

The idea may be self-inflicting. It may be about moving backward before being able to move forward.

The examples are of someone who has all the ideas that don’t win the lottery so someone else may be the one to get the one that does.

Stay Positive & Leaders Embrace The Discomfort

A relationship hack learned a long time ago: if there’s something you disagree on, you both share the number on a scale of 1-10 how important it is to you. The person with the higher number is the one who’s decision is selected. Reason being? Most disagreements are merely sourced from a misunderstanding of importance to someone else.

You can apply this methodology to other facets of life, too.

When your boss asks you to do something, it’s worth sharing how high it ranks in priority of other efforts you have underway. Their reaction of your ranking will be exactly what you need to help either prioritize it more, de-prioritize, or simply put, you’re aligned. Most frustrations in the work space are sourced from the difference in expectations. There can’t be a difference when you’re both vocal about the ranking.

The two punch strategy to alignment and eliminating resistance: Rate the importance and share that rating.

Stay Positive & Smoother Sailing Ahead

They’re the risky ones, but the ones that pay off.

The decision to wake up at 5 a.m. to workout is a valid decision to make in advance, even if you’re one that’s up at that time anyway.

The decision that impacts others may be best made in advance of their knowledge. Not always, but sometimes.

Here’s the thing we know about decisions. Once we decide, our brains come in for the assist on rationalizing it further.

Having that rationalization down-pat may just help communicate with the team once the decision impacts them.

The way a leader puts their mark on being remarkable is their ability to decide fast; and sometimes that just means deciding in advance.

Stay Positive & What Are You Doing Tomorrow?