You’re more prepared than you think

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Changing the outside world begins with changes inside you.

We change before we change others.

Sometimes we change from the outside-in. Once, when I was a young man, I was fired. That event radically changed me and the course of my life.

Other times, change emerges from the inside-out. Dissatisfaction drives inside-out change. Dissatisfaction lies behind dreams.

Reality Check:

Dissatisfaction and dreams don’t create change agents.

Change agents are dissatisfied – Big hairy deal! Everyone I know is dissatisfied with stuff in their lives. Dissatisfaction doesn’t make them change agents.

Change agents dream – Big hairy deal! Everyone I know dreams. Dreams don’t produce agents of change.

Change agents build on changes in their own lives.

Think back to graduation, marriage, births, new jobs, divorce, near death experiences, books, people, failures, education, and other events that changed you. You’re standing on a platform of personal change that empowers your leadership.

  • Failures teach you thing to avoid, modify or improve.
  • Successes teach you things to repeat and improve.

One more “SMALL” thing.

Lean toward not away from doing. Dissatisfaction and dreams won’t take you anywhere. The final and essential component of authentic leadership is action.

Natural desires to avoid discomfort hinder success. Run toward not away from dissatisfaction. Play in the mud but remain positive. Embrace a can-do orientation even while seeing the worst.

You’re dissatisfied right now. So what?

You’re wishing for something better. Big deal!

How have your experiences prepared you to do something about your dissatisfactions and dreams? You are more capable and more prepared than you think. Do something now and adjust as you go.

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How has your past prepared you to do something today?

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Adapted from: Becoming an Authentic Leader

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