It is said there are three kinds of people: (1) People who make things happen; (2) People who watch things happen; and (3) People who say, “Duh, What happened”. In which group are you? Don’t laugh. This is a serious question!
The goal of a leader is not to be better than anyone else but to be everything she is capable of being. The universe has blessed each of us with a panorama of different skills, aptitudes and gifts. Do you really use the treasures you have been given? Before you quickly say “yes”, please know that most people squander their gifts! The greatest accomplishment of life is to live a life consistent with our potential. Ashley Montagu, a world-renowned anthropologist and the author of Elephant Man and The Natural Superiority of Women put it this way:
The deepest human defeat suffered by human beings is constituted by the difference between what one was capable of becoming and what one has in fact become.
Where are you? In your life, have you become everything that you are capable of becoming? If not, why not? Oh, I know, there are a thousand excuses, but why? Really!
Leaders don’t worry about being better than others; they want to be better than themselves! This rule applies to leaders throughout the world. This is not some faddish idea. It is a truth known for thousands of years. Please consider and reflect upon the following ancient Hindustani proverb:
There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.
Leaders know that life is a matter of choice not chance. By our thoughts, actions and deeds we can choose principle over convenience, joy over despair and success over failure. Our life is not predetermined, not by hardship, not by deprivation, not by anything. It is up to us. We can be anything we want to be. The question is: what do we have the courage to be? Elaine Maxwell offered one answer to this question:
My will shall shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny.
You hold the key to your destiny!