Suspend Disbelief

Act as if your success is CERTAIN.

Instead of holding yourself back because you don't have 'hard proof' that you can make a giant leap forward, see if you can find evidence proving you can't.  Make that giant leap forward and act as if your success is guaranteed.  Then see which set of ideas you should believe in going forward.

Your current mindset may be flawed by doubt and skepticism.  That idea of making an exponential leap in your performance, life, etc--jumping from your present level of achievement to one several stages greater in one bold move--might be a foreign idea to you.  You might not be trained to think in that way.  You may have definite reservations about the possibility that you can make an exponential improvement at all, particularly with less effort and in a shortened time frame.

Experts generally agree that people typically only use about 10% of their true potential.  If we accept that argument, and even if there were no other resources to assist you, you would still be doing ten times better than you were previously.

Your doubts are not the product of accurate thinking, but habitual thinking.  Years ago you may have accepted flawed conclusions as correct, began to live your life as if those warped ideas about your potential were true, and ceased making some of the bold moves you may done as a child.  Find the faith you had in yourself before.

Put old inhibiting ideas to the test by going for your dream with everything you have.  For now, just suspend disbelief.  Suspend any disbelief you have in yourself.  You don't have to be convinced that you can succeed in making that giant leap forward, but you do need to stop believing the old ideas you may be carrying around about your personal limits.

Act as if you have complete faith.  Do what you'd do if you knew you were going to succeed.  Behave with total conviction.

Doubt is what does the most damage to anyone--don't give it any mental space.  Proceed boldly, as if you won't experience anything other than a successful leap forward.

If you must doubt something, DOUBT YOUR LIMITS.

Lead From The FRONT

Sounds obvious or logical, doesn’t it? 

Here’s a quote from one of the most legendary leaders that ever lived, GHANDI:

“You can’t change people.  You must be the change you wish to see in people.”

There is nothing more motivational to others than leading from the front.   You motivate others when you are out there and you do it yourself.  It’s more inspiring to others when you DO what you want them to do, first.

BE INSPIRING to others.

Your team would rather be inspired than fixed or corrected.  They would rather be inspired than anything else.

As a motivational practice, leading from the front has a bigger impact and lasts longer than any other practice.  It changes people more deeply and more completely than anything else you can do.

BE What You Want to See in Others

If you want your team to be more positive, be more positive.   If you want them to take pride in their work, take more pride in yours.  Show them how it’s done.  Want them to be on time?  Always be early…(and tell them why..tell them what punctuality means to you, not to them).

Remember the words of General George Patton, “There are three principals of leadership:

1)      Example

2)      Example

3)      Example”

Think Beyond What Common Sense Would Allow

Most of us 'fly' too close to the ground because too often we don't give ourselves permission to soar. 

Start focusing on possibilities, rather than limits or obstacles.  Making a 'quantum leap' means moving outside your mental boundaries.  If you rethink how you're thinking, you can multiply your performance potential.  You must let your desires guide you, instead of allowing yourself to be boxed in by perceived constraints.

Seeking a 'quantum leap' means going beyond the boundary of the probable.  It means achieving well beyond the obvious.  So don't limit your career desires to what you think you can 'have'....start going after what you 'want'.  This means you must give yourself permission to dream, to risk.  You must set yourself free.

A ten or twenty percent improvement isn't the idea--that would represent only incremental gains.  That might be an impressive performance in some situations,--if there were unusual obstacles or a very difficult set of circumstances.  But while such a goal might be challenging, it would not represent a quantum leap.  Instead of an additional 10 percent or so, a quantum leap produces a dramatic and multiplied gain, an exponential increase.  Quantum leaps are by definition rather astounding and unconvential.

True, there are limits, but you don't need to worry about them.  Your real limits are far beyond your artificial mental boundaries.  The real limits won't box you in, but the false ones you're carrying around in your mind are a self-imposed prison.

So how do you break out of that prison?  Through surrender.

You have to give up some of your old beliefs and sacrifice some of those 'sensible' thinking patterns.  So-called common sense can be a curse that puts a ceiling on how far you reach or how high you fly.
 
A quantum leap strategy is based upon Uncommon Sense.

Ignore Convention!!

Ignore Conventional Approaches

Get passionate about trying something different!

Ordinarily we achieve conventional growth because we think along conventional lines.  We experience reasonable performance gains because we rely on reasonable approaches.  We find ways to make modest improvements in our level of success because we go looking for nothing more.

Last time we talked about making a Quantum Leap—Quantum leaps require you to abandon the status quo.  Instead of once again trying what you have always done, maybe with even more intensity and determination, ignore the usual.

Quantum leaps require an abrupt change in behavior.  You must do something new!

The tendency, when you stall out or begin to level off in your performance, is to go back to the basics and ‘do what you do best.’  But doing what you do best can also be the worst thing you can do.  It really doesn’t matter how well you can do something if it’s the wrong thing to do.

To make a quantum leap, you’ve got to break out of the rut you’ve been running in.  Second-guess your own routines.  Overcome the addiction to your old methodologies.  Set a new pattern.

Quantum leaps come when you seek the elegant solution.  So look for an approach characterized by simplicity, precision, efficiency, neatness.  It won’t be as complex or time-consuming as your present struggle.  Overall, it will be less demanding of your energies and emotions.  And it probably will not be familiar to you!

Quantum leaps call for a fresh perspective, a bold move, a path of less resistance.  There is a way you can do more with less (struggle).

Make The QUANTUM LEAP

Change Your Personal Rules For Success

Many people operate with a mindset that success must come one step at a time, we must move systematically from our present level of achievement to the next.  From that stage we can work toward the next higher level—gradual progress.  But your life simply doesn’t have to operate that way.  Instead of accepting present circumstances or being content with gradual improvement, go for a Breakthrough---Make a QUANTUM LEAP!

Leveraging your personal effectiveness by an order of magnitude—making a QUANTUM LEAP—is not a commonplace idea.  You shouldn’t be surprised to hear that unconventional success calls for unconventional approaches.

Quantum leaps require paradoxical behavior.  Unusual moves.  Actions that on the surface often seem to contradict common sense.

As humans, though, we ordinarily go with the obvious.  We fall into the habit of relying on behaviors that seem to have worked best for us over the years.  When we take an approach that seems to be very serviceable, and which enables us to perform well and succeed, we become very attached to it.  We don’t readily relinquish that habit pattern.  In fact, there’s a tendency to follow our favorite approach more and more often, such that we get better at handling things that particular way.

This structured thinking with a certain approach results in our overdependence on the strategies and tactics it involves.  We resist new maneuvers because they make us feel clumsy, awkward, and more at risk.

But if you want to accelerate your rate of achievement rapidly, you MUST search out and vigorously employ new behaviors.  New attitudes.  You MUST be willing to break out of your routines in order to make that QUANTUM LEAP.

The things that worked for you in the past could very likely lose their serviceability.  Even if your usual approach still holds promise for maintaining your PRESENT level of performance and growth, it may not help much if you want to hit far greater achievement levels.

Your historically most dependable behaviors can become the major obstacles to your future success.  It’s possible for them to cripple your progress.  They may stand as personal boundary lines that limit what you can accomplish with your life.

Breakthroughs demand a radical departure from some of your regular habits.  You can choose a different course of action and make the QUANTUM LEAP!!  Tomorrow we’ll talk about approaches and strategies involved to employ new behaviors and make that LEAP.

 

VISION is everything

"The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious."
                            --John Sculley (Former CEO, Pepsi)

Vision is everything for leadership success. It LEADS you.  It gives you your spark and fuels the fire within--it sparks the fire for others to follow.  Without vision you won't be moving forward--at best you'll be travelling in circles.

Getting a Handle on VISION and Making It a Part of Your Life:

1) Vision Starts Within
One cannot create a vision for someone else.  If you lack vision, look inside yourself.  (Look for what could be)  Look to your calling if you have one, and if you don't--consider working together with someone whose vision resonates with you

2) Vision Draws on Your History
It grows from your past and the history of the people around you.  Many leaders cite key events in their past that were instrumental in creating their vision.

3) Vision  Meets Others' Needs
True vision is far-reaching, and if it has real value, it does more than just include others--it adds value to others.  If you have a vision that doesn't serve others, it's probably too small.

4) Vision Helps You Gather Resources
Vision attracts, challenges, and unites people, bringing resources and funding.  The greater the vision the larger following you can attract and if it's a challenging one, the harder people will fight to achieve it.

Where Does VISION Come From?

There are several aspects that you'll reflect upon or 'listen to' to find the successful vision for you:

1)  Your Inner Voice--vision starts within you.  Do you know your life's mission?   What stirs your heart? If what you're pursuing in life doesn't come from a  desire within--from the very depths of who you are (and believe)--you will not be able to accomplish it.

2) Discontent--Inspiration for great ideas comes from noticing what does NOT work.  Discontent with the status quo is a great catalyst for vision.  No great leader in history has ever fought to prevent change.

3) Advisement--Look to someone who is ahead of you in the leadership journey for sound advice.  Finding a mentor can help you lead others to greatness.  Do you have an advisor who can help you sharpen your vision?

How Can I Improve my VISION?

1) Measure Yourself--Measure how well you are carrying out your vision.  Speak with several key people who know you, asking them to state what they think your vision is--If they can articulate it then you're probably living it.

2) Write It Down--If you've thought about your vision but never put it in writing, take the time to do it today.  Writing it will clarify your thinking and provide direction.  Is this worthy of all my time and energy for life?

3) Passion--What's in your gut?---If you haven't done a lot of work on your vision, spend time over weeks or months to do so.  Evaluate what you are very passionate about.  What makes you dream?  What gives you energy or drive?  What would you like to see change in the world around you? What do you see that isn't--but could be?  IMPACT.

Work with a mentor or any other additional/impactful resources to solidify your vision and plan your life's work.

Discipline Yourself First

How many times have you or someone else you may know fallen off the path to achievement or success?  Perhaps whatever reason or excuse you attribute this to has taken you 'captive' and you can't seem to gain your own personal power back?  Or maybe these reasons/excuses have become a self-fulfilling prophecy?   Leadership, and success, require a very fundamental trait that's not a 'natural ability', in-born, or an innate talent--it's called SELF-DISCIPLINE.  No one achieves and sustains success without it, and no one reaches their maximum potential without it.

If you want to develop your leadership asset of self-discipline, and continue your path to success,  follow these ACTION STEPS:

1) Develop and Follow Your Priorities

If you only do what you must when you're in the mood or when it's convenient, you're not going to be successful.  You need to have a Plan.  If you can determine what's really a priority and release yourself from everything else, it's a lot easier to follow through on what's important.

2) Make a Disciplined Lifestyle Your Goal

To be successful, self-discipline can't be a one-time event.  It has to become a lifestyle.  One of the best ways to do that is to develop systems and routines, especially in areas crucial to your long-term growth and success.

3) Challenge Your Excuses

To develop a lifestyle of discipline, one of your first tasks must be to challenge and eliminate any tendency to make excuses.  If you have several reasons why you can't be self-disciplined, realize they are just a bunch of excuses--all of which need to be challenged if you want to go to the next level as a leader.

4) Remove Rewards until the Job Is Done

I think this one speaks for itself.

5) Stay Focused on Results

Whenever you concentrate on on the difficulty of the work instead of its rewards or results, you're likely to become discouraged.  Dwell on it too long and you'll develop self-pity instead of self-discipline.  The next time you're facing a must-do task and you're thinking of doing what's convenient instead of paying the price, change your focus.  Count the benefits of doing what's right, and then dive in!

                          Ways to Improve Your Self-Discipline

• Sort out your priorities - Think about 2 or 3 areas of your life that are most important to you.  Write them down, along with the disciplines you must develop to keep growing and improving in those areas.  Develop a plan to make those disciplines a daily or weekly part of your life.
• List the Reasons - Take time to write out the benefits of practicing those disciplines you listed.  Post the benefits where you'll see them daily.  On the days when you don't want to follow through, re-read your list.
• Get Rid of Excuses - Write down every reason why you might not be able to follow through with your disciplines.  Read through them.  You need to dismiss them as the excuses that they are.  Even if a reason seems legitimate, find a solution to overcome it.  Don't leave yourself any reason to quit. 

Remember, only with discipline do you have the power to achieve your dreams.