Follow The Leader

Did you ever play the game follow the leader when you were younger? Perhaps you still play it without even knowing it. Leadership, I think is one of the most important characteristics required for creating an extraordinary life and living up to your true potential.

Leadership is not what most people think it is. It is not a skill and it is not a role, but it is a decision. True leaders are followed automatically. They do not exert effort or try to be followed. It just happens spontaneously. Leadership is infectious. Not only does it inspire people to action it also draws people to ‘it’. The main reason why you would want to become a leader is to have the ability to lead yourself. Leading your own life and steering your own course - being able to decide and take command of every life situation. Now hat is true leadership!

Followers wait for things to happen. They wait for others to decide for them and if things go wrong at least they can say that it was someone else’s fault. These people will always have someone to blame. They will always have a scapegoat. The problem, however is that they will always feel like their lives are out of control because, it is. They are not responsible for their own lives.

When you are a leader you don’t have to wait for anyone or anything outside yourself before you do what you want and go for what you desire. Leaders simply lead the way by being decisive. Leadership is a state of mind and it is something that you assume by making a decision. Either you have a plan for your life or life has a plan for you. You either take charge and make it happen or you can wait for life to give you the ‘have to’s’. Leading yourself enables you to not wait for life to give you the reasons before you make the decision or make the shift. You have the power because you’ve assumed your power to be a leader. Leaders are able to inspire and motivate and being able to inspire and motivate yourself will probably be the greatest shaper of what you become and what you make of your life.

You will find that as you start to ‘lead your own life’ you will automatically attract people to you that will support your endeavors and help you accomplish what you set out to do. Leaders are magnetic and have the power to draw people to them because they make things happen. Ann Landers once said that there are only three types of people: those who make things happen, those who wait for things to happen and those who said ‘what happened?’

Which one are you?
Which one do you want to be?

Remember that leaderships starts by having the desire to be in control and then simply deciding that you will lead and not follow the ‘affairs of your life.’ You can assume this incredible privilege to be a leader by starting to think of yourself as that. Think of, and dwell upon the idea of yourself as someone who makes things happen; as someone who leads and directs their own life. Affirm to yourself ‘I am a leader, I will lead not follow.’ Do it often until it becomes part of who you are and how you define yourself (to yourself). Become the conductor of the symphony of your life. Life is moving and time will most certainly pass. You can either ‘go with the flow’ or put both oars in the water and start rowing your own boat and create the life you want instead of the one that just shows up.

The ability to lead and direct your own life empowers you to be in charge of your life and direct your own course. Being a leader means that you have the ability to lead yourself and lead your own life.

This article is published with the permission of the author, Deon Du Plessis. He is the founder of The Self Improvement Gym, and author of (in)action, a groundbreaking new action guide on eliminating procrastination. For more of his in-depth insights into personal development and access to his free self improvement library visit The Self Improvement – Gym.com

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