Thursday, February 14, 2008

Why Listening to Yourself Can Get You in Trouble!

Much has been written on leadership throughout the years. A question that has always plagued me is; if I am going to improve, how can I do it by listening to myself? For years I would go to the book store, look at the books on the shelf and decide for myself what I should read. Occasionally someone would recommend a book or a CD to me. The problem was that the recommendations, either from me or others, were not having much of an affect on moving me toward my goals. At times it even had a detrimental affect, getting me in the bushes on some subjects, although interesting, having no significant impact on my future.

After many years of being on this planet (52 to be exact) I have come to realize that the best advice I could get is from people that have had more experience, life success (not just financially; long ago I have come to understand that money alone does not equal success), wisdom and a vested interest in me. Now I know some of you are thinking, can you really find anyone with more experience than a 52 year old? Well, I’m here to tell you that you can and age has very little to do with it. Wisdom and knowledge, particularly today, does not necessarily correlate with age.

Now before someone starts to disagree with me, I am not saying that you cannot develop wisdom and knowledge over time; the only question is how much time do you want to take? At my age, I don’t want to take much longer to get it. I might suggest that if you’re reading this and thinking, I’m done working or I’m not in a leadership position, I’m here to tell you we will all be called to lead at some time in our lives. It may come when you least expect it, such as, when many years ago you agreed to be an executor of someone’s Will or an aging parent is no longer in a position to take care of themselves and you have to make decisions for them…that’s leadership!

Are you going to be prepared? I have heard it said that we are in exponential times. If you don’t believe me, just jump over to youtube and watch "Did You Know."

Whether or not you’ve invested 8 minutes in this link, we all have to prepare ourselves. What I have found is that the Leadership Incorporated (ldrshpinc.com) has come up with a creative idea: information that comes to you on a regular basis to help you make better life decisions; you might even call it Life Leadership. I know someone is probably saying, “I read about three or four books a year, why do I have do more?” Think about it. That’s like saying you take three or four showers a year and expect to smell sweet every day. Learning has to take place on a consistent basis.

Imagine if you read a book every two weeks and listened to a CD a day. Call it home work. It’s great for your kids, why not for you? Remember, we’re in exponential times; you can keep up by investing just an hour a day toward your development. I can hear you now, “I DON”T HAVE AN HOUR A DAY!!!” Isn’t carving out an hour a day worth changing your life?

Give it a try. If you haven’t read a book in a while, read one. If you’re feeling brave, go on to www.leadevgrp.com and take a look. For the price of a latte a day, you too can have the information that may just rewrite your future.

Your friend signing off…Find out more about me. Google - Greg Rau

No comments: