TRUE OR FALSE ?

Many people believe that leaders are born and not made because they think that talent cannot be learned.

Unlike the inherent musical aptitude of Mozart, for example, who was playing minuets at the age of five, leadership can be learned because skill alone does not make a leader, behavior does.

People follow leaders because they trust and respect them, not simply because of their expertise.

Leadership Characteristics

Leaders do not demand brilliance, they help craft brilliance; they guide, not rule.

In order to bring the best out of her team, a leader should demonstrate the very characteristics she wants in her team. In other words, lead by example.
So what characteristics makes an effective and respected leader? She should be:

• honest
  
• competent
  
• innovative
  
• decisive
  
• inspiring
  
• passionate
  
• positive
  
• fair
  
• open-minded
  
• courageous
  
• imaginative
  
• humble (she may know it all, but she’s not a know-it-all)
  
• verbally persuasive

Developing Leadership Skills

If you don’t yet possess all these qualities, rest assured that as you earn the trust and respect from those in your team, you will feel more confident, courageous, decisive, etc. This symbiotic relationship allows those you are leading to feel part of a team, rather than mere worker bees who must be seen and not heard.
In 2008 the British government proposed an initiative where young people would swear an oath of allegiance to ‘Queen and Country’ to increase national loyalty. The initiative was dropped because you can’t force people into loyalty; you must earn it. This proposal said more about the weak leadership of the country rather than the lack of loyalty from its citizens. Good leadership is often more about serving than leading.

A leader makes things happen by:

• Having a goal and a plan (as motivational speaker Harvey Mackay once said, “A dream is just a dream, but a goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.”)
  
• Putting together a good team
  
• Inspiring and encouraging each team member to give their absolute best

As a leader you must possess a good measure of self-awareness so that you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses, and can therefore build a symbiotic team that is mutually beneficial.

Importance of Fun Learning

As we all know from experience, the things we tend to remember are the things that interest us. People learn better through experiential learning and games. The best way to build leadership skills is to make it both fun and instructive, and the best way to do that is by playing leadership games. From simple ones where the task is less important than the experience, to more specific ones where the task is the experience, the most important thing is to make sure the challenge is enjoyable.

An example of a simple leadership game is The Survival Game, which is common in leadership training seminars. Each team is given a survival scenario (like plane crash or shipwreck) and must come up with ten items necessary for survival. In a leadership game like this, the leader exercises her skill in ensuring a group consensus.

More complex games might include Clinton Swaine’s Play To Win, a three-day seminar that teaches people to solve real-world problems with real-world tools within a game format. The skills you learn here will translate to your real-world business. Swaine’s leadership game is based on Plato’s reflection that “you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation”.

Jack Canfield, another popular motivational speaker and author, describes his Come As You Will Be game, in which you throw a party where all the guests dress, talk and act as the person they want to be in five years’ time. This game saturates your subconscious with images and, more importantly, feelings of your success by strengthening positive neural pathways to your brain. What’s real in your mind is real in your life.

So if you see yourself as a leader, start by learning leadership behavior through self-awareness, observing successful leaders, and participating in leadership games to develop your skills.

Author's Bio - Martyna Bizdra

Deeply interested in philosophy, personal development. She loves this earth and the strength in people. We’ve got one planet to live on, as one race and one family, with respect for the differences of cultures. As one ecosystem we need to change NOW. And there is no better way to start than from within. United we can and will achieve even the most difficult goals.

For more information please visit http://www.successupermarket.com/blog

What Not To Do/be

Most of the articles in HealthMoneySuccess.com are how to articles that teaches you how to set things right but today I will be writing on things that you should avoid instead of doing.

So here goes the 50 ways to make yourself miserable.

50 Ways To Make Yourself Miserable

1. Compare yourself frequently with others.
2. Belittle yourself.
3. Don’t believe in dreams.  You believe dreams will only happen when you are sleeping.
4. Say yes to everybody and everything.
5. Work in a job you hate.
6. Complain about everything.
7. Complain about everything to your friends.
8. Suspicious of everything.
9. Counting your troubles.
10. Harbor negative thoughts.
11. Trying to please everyone and let everyone walk all over you.
12. Constantly thinking about the past.
13. Constantly thinking about the future.
14. Focusing on what you lack.
15. Focusing on what you don’t want.
16. Need others to validate you constantly.
17. Think of everything that can possibly go wrong in your life.
    
18. Get jealous easily.
19. Envious of others and is never grateful of what you have instead.
20. Imitating others due to lack of self confidence.
21. Lacking self esteem and cause others to dislike you.
22. Think the world revolves around you.
23. Judging others.
24. Absorbing all the bad news in the papers daily.
25. Eating junk food.
26. Exercising is your worst nightmare.
27. Believe that things can only go your way.
28. Do not accept others opinion.
29. Lack of sleep.
30. Lack of goals.
31. Worry consistently about the sky is falling.
32. Plan but never take action.
33. Fail to plan.
34. Feel that people around you are all jerks.
35. Thinking there is no purpose in living.
36. Being the “If Man”. If my father is  the president, then I will be successful. If ____ then I will be _____. (fill in the blanks)
37. Lottery is the only way to success.
38. Trying to control everything that you can’t control.
39. Expect to be appreciated.
40. Expect others to be grateful to you.
41. Never forget about criticism.
42. Hate people around you to be successful.
43. Shirk responsibilities.
44. Receive and never give.
45. Do things that are easy.
46. Overworking.
47. Never forgive.
48. Never give your best effort in things you do.
49. Perfectionism.
50. Choosing to be miserable.

Parting Words

These are 50 ways that can definitely make ourselves miserable and are you committing any mistakes in the list above?

Author's Bio - Vincent

He always believe that the normal education system does not teach people on how to live the life they want. The school does not teach you life skills that are needed in order to prosper in life. Instead, We are taught to be an expert on solving algebra equations yet not taught on how to manage our own finances, dealing with procrastination, dealing with anger, networking or directing ourselves to success. All we know is to study hard, get a good job and work through out our life. You will wonder what have you done in your whole life when you are old if we had followed the normal education stream.

Vincent decided to change all these and started www.HealthMoneySuccess.com to teach people on personal development and the life skills that they need in order to prosper in their life.

For more information, please visit http://www.healthmoneysuccess.com