Many inexperienced leaders fail to sufficiently convey a vision to the subordinates they lead. If you are not skilled in telling everyone which direction to head you'll have confusion. Worse yet, you'll have a situation where people start creating their own direction. For some leaders their deficiency comes not from a lack of communication but from not having a vision themselves.

Vision is what determines what an organization is going to try to accomplish. Without a clear vision the organization will be pulled in many different directions. Some of these directions will cancel each other out, so even though much work will be done, very little is actually accomplished.

It is much easier to lead if you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and your ideas are good. Even if you don't have a tremendous amount of skill as a leader, having a clear vision can help you through your shortcomings. People want to follow someone with a plan. By having a clear vision of what you want to accomplish, you will attract followers and people who want to align themselves with your vision. Individuals realize that on of the cornerstones of success is a clear vision. For this reason they want to align themselves with someone who articulates a vision--they want to join in the success.

In fact a poor leader with a great vision, will achieve more than a great leader with an ill-conceived plan. Success covers a huge number of failures. If you are successful, people will tend to forget many mistakes you make as a leader. If you are ineffective people are less likely to overlook your deficiencies in vision. People want to follow someone who will lead them to success. If you appear to be able to do this, people will want to follow you. If you have a track record of success, people will want to follow you. If you have a track record of failure, people will want to distance themselves from you in order to avoid your failures in the future.

If you are pushing people toward shared success, they will tend to stick with you because they are succeeding. In some cases they may even start mimicking some of your poor leadership habits thinking they are part of the reason for your success. Many people mistake success for good leadership skills. That is because people want to follow people with whom they can be successful.

Obviously good leadership skills are very important. It is much better to lead with a solid vision and skillful leadership expertise. Just make sure that as you develop your leadership skills, you don't overlook the skills that will let you develop a vision that makes it worth it for followers to follow you.

 

This really is a reflection of my life approach after a couple major life shaping events. To put this in perspective allow me to share a little about those events. First I had a young man that worked for me in the military, he was 19. After a tour in Iraq he returned home to his new wife and within a matter of weeks died of massive heart failure. The next event was the soon after discovery that my father had terminal cancer. We had been estranged for years but we found new hope after his diagnosis and I cared for him full time the remaining 13 months he was with us. These two events put how short life is into focus and serves as my motivation……Live like you are dying.

Fill your bucket. I used to say have a to-do list. However the movie the “bucklist” really sums it up. Everyone has to have a bucklist no matter how happy, healthy and blessed you are. It should be what drives you to have larger then life long and short term goals. If you empty the bucket that’s even better….just fill it up with more dreams!

Live with gratitude, I wrote about this in detail in a previous article. But find the time to give thanks, be grateful and love more then yourself. There is no bigger high, greater gift or feeling of accomplishment then giving back. Be grateful for the color of the sky, the smell of flowers in spring, your kids, family and health. The list goes on and on.

Write you obituary. If you want to really put things in perspective think about what will be said when you pass vs. what you want to be said. I know so many people that would really struggle with this if they knew their obituary was going to be read tomorrow. My thought is this: “I want my obituary to read loving husband, great father, friend to all”. Not be famous or accomplished in a worldly way; but rather by the ones that love and miss you most. What would yours read today?

Last I subscribe to this: “I don’t want to be remembered by thousands in public for being famous. I want to be remembered be one anonymously for changing their lives”. I have to close by giving credit to Tim McGraw for a great theme song in life. It has served me well as a way to live life and was the theme of my retirement from the military. So go fill your bucket, give thanks, write your obituary everyday and “Live Like You Are Dying”!

Creating an attitude of gratitude is one of the easiest steps we can take to improve our lives. The happiness that we create for ourselves by showing our appreciation has far-reaching effects, both for ourselves and for those we come into contact with. The potential for gratitude to spread beyond those people also increases significantly – it can be highly contagious. There are so many different ways that we can express an attitude of gratitude. Here are just a few:

Say “thank you”. This is the most basic and well-known way to show appreciation to others. Saying “thank you” is a great way to express your gratitude and can be done in several different forms. You can say it in person, over the phone, in a note, or in an email. Using this when it’s least expected can have significant results in lifting someone’s spirits. For example, a quick note to your child’s teacher thanking her for her hard work and patience might give her the boost of energy that she needs right when she needs it most. You may never know what effect this has had on her, but it will have an effect.

Stop complaining about your life. Even as tough as life can be sometimes, remember that there is always someone that has things worse than you do. Constant complaining about what is wrong in your life will keep you focused on that. The opposite is true as well – focusing on what is right in your life will keep you focused on that. Focusing on the negative will bring you down while focusing on the positive will lift you up.

Focus on what you have, not what you don’t have. This is very closely related to not complaining about your life. Being grateful for what you do have keeps you in a positive place, whereas focusing on what you don’t have keeps you in a negative place. Focusing on what you do have, regardless of how little or how much that may be, is a great expression of gratitude.

Model your attitude. Modeling your attitude of gratitude is a great way to spread it to others. We’ve all heard the Golden Rule to “treat others the way you want to be treated”. Showing your appreciation to others shows them that you like to be treated this way too. An attitude of gratitude can be quite infectious!

Be satisfied with simple things and be mindful of little things. Being grateful for the little things in our lives is just as important (if not, more so) than being grateful for the big things. Our lives are filled with little things every day that we can be grateful for. What about that front row parking spot you found when you were running late? Or the beautiful weather outside? How about the store clerk that went out of her way to help you? This may take a little practice, but there are many little things throughout the day that we can be grateful for if we take the time to notice them.

Give to someone else. This is the best way to spread your gratitude of attitude. There are so many different ways to give to someone else. You could volunteer your time to help those less fortunate or give you time to children by mentoring them. The possibilities are endless but could make a huge difference in someone’s life without you evening knowing it. If they in turn give to someone else, the cycle could continue without end.

Keep a gratitude journal. Let’s just be honest here: there are some days when it is hard to find anything to be grateful for. Keeping a gratitude journal can help with that. There are preprinted journals so you can just fill in the blanks or you can make your own. The important thing is to find at least 5 things each day to be grateful for, no matter how big or small those things are. A gratitude journal can serve two purposes: it will help you stop and remember what you are grateful for or it can serve as inspiration on days when you find it difficult to find anything to be grateful for by reading over past days.

Practice random acts of kindness. This can be one of the most fun and rewarding ways to live a life of gratitude, especially when it’s done anonymously. Surprise someone with something unexpected. You may never know what it meant to them but it will likely make their day. Try putting a note in your child’s lunch or bringing treats to the office to share. Even a small gesture can mean so much to someone.

Living a life of gratitude is one of the easiest ways to live a happier life. It takes very little effort to show someone you appreciate them but will mean so much to them. There are so many ways to make gratitude a part of our life and to spread that attitude to others. Make today the day you start living a life of gratitude and spread your light to the rest of the world!

"Donate more to charitable causes and increase your own income at the same time..." says Victor Brett

Enriching the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves is a function that charitable organisations perform across the world and in some cases under extreme conditions. However, in order to maintain any level of service there has to be a constant and uninterrupted flow of donations. Maintaining a supply demand equilibrium of need to donations is an enormously complex task which requires meticulous planning. Even then it is fraught with difficulties. The associated costs of implementing any plan to increase donations eats into the funds being collected/donated.

A simple idea does away with all these unwanted costs... the supply management fraternity will call it a "Lean" concept without any fat. The costs of launching appeals and collection being the fat referred to in this instance. Here are the bare bones of the 90/10 rule:-

1)Decide on a figures which you can or are able to donate every year.
2)Donate that figures or amount to your preferred charity every year.
3)Then focus on increasing that amount.
4)Working to increase that amount will automatically increase your income.

This is how the idea works in practice.?

For this illustration, we have adopted a 90/10 rule. However, your rule can be 85/15, 70/30 or whatever goal you set yourself. (90/10... 10% being the figure which you have earmarked for donation to charities every year)

Using the above referred 90/10 rule, your charitable donation element is 10% of your annual income. Assuming an initial income level of $100,000 per year. Your pre-agreed donation; according to the 90/10 rule, is $10,000 per year. In order to increase that 10%, you need to increase your income... you could streamline your business by reducing and eliminating waste.. alternatively, you could improve your offer and increase sales revenue thereby improve your underlying profit.. As a direct result your annual income has now increased to $150,000 for the purposes of this illustration. The charitable element based on your new income level is now $15,000.

The chosen charity has gained another $5,000 in donations. The table 1.0 below shows how you as a contributor have benefited from this simple philosophy:-

Gross Income 10% for Charities Net Annual Income

$100,000 $10,000 $90,000
$150,000 $15,000 $135,000

Table 1.0

Increasing your 10% by $5,000, you have helped yourself because your 90% has now increased from $90,000 to a whopping $135,000. There is a net improvement of $45,000. This figure of $45,000 increase in your income is a testimony to the statement ... if you help others the almighty helps you many times over.

I say this.... Please please 'Preach' this idea to more and more people.