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2024: CHAINS…ROPES…OH MY!

As we venture in our journey of life, there are somethings that happen that are meant to set us free, while others are there to anchor us to the world we live in.

Like a ship that is docked, it has ropes that keep it tied to the pier. That way it does not drift away in the night. When the ship is ready to set sail the lines are cast off and soon, it is on a path to places over the horizon on a course set by the ship’s captain.

The anchor is attached to a chain and when the ship is ready to temporarily stop, it drops anchor. When it is time to move on, hoist the anchor, and soon back on course to places over the horizon.
Do you see a pattern there? If not, that’s ok. I am going to explain it anyway.

Ships are built to head to the high seas. Ships are built to withstand rough seas. Ships are built to not only move from point A to point B but are also built to stay afloat, to stay above water.
As a Self-Leader you are also built to keep moving. You are NOT built to stay docked at any port for too long. You are also not built to stay anchored anywhere for too long. What does that mean?
It means that you are built to continue to grow, to develop, to become better than you are now.

While all this might sound like something I have said over and over before, it is because I have said it over and over. I believe in what I say. I stand by what I say. I have this passion for people to step up and be the leaders they know they can be and are. I stick to my passion because the message I share is that important.

Over the decades I have been on this planet, I have witnessed good and bad. Good things, Bad Things. Good People and Bad People. Though it would be easy to say that I have seen just about all there is to see when it comes to Good and Bad. I promise you I have only seen the tip of the iceberg. Of what I have witnessed, rest assured it still surprises me to the levels of Good and Bad people can and do go to.

That’s ok, I know that as a human being I am capable of going to those extremes. I opt out of that. No one is, no matter how much they try to kid themselves, no one is perfect. I am not perfect.
Sure, people can claim they live a pious life but are they really? A pious person would never verbally proclaim their piety for a truly pious person lets their actions and behaviors do all the talking for them.

On the other hand, there are individuals that revel in their unabashed devious behavior. The boasting and bragging of their deceit are certainly not something to be proud of or to be used as a tool to make others fear them. The pious and the deceitful have one thing in common.

They have their chains and ropes tying them down. Tying them down to live the braggadocios life they have chosen to use as a facade to mask their inability to cast off their lines and hoist their anchor to live a life they can freely choose to live. While some may argue that the pious or the deceitful are living the life they choose but at what cost? This argument can quickly become a circular argument thus, I offer this advice or words of warning:

As we venture in our journey of life, while there is no set time to cast off the ropes and hoist your anchor. You will know when the time comes. Only you will know when the time comes to set yourself free, especially when there are others trying to anchor you down or keep you tied to the dock in the name of keeping you safe. The world is not a safe harbor. The world we live in has rough seas as well as smooth swells all of which you are more than capable of handling.
Get to work!

Thank you,
David Guerra, MA, MBA

I invite you to follow me on social media:
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Accountability blog Change Choice Leadership Leadership Principles Morality

BELL CURVE OF SELF-ESTEEM

This week’s BELL CURVE focuses on QUALITY OF LIFE and YOUR SELF-ESTEEM

This week we take a look at how the QUALITY of YOUR LIFE is directly impacted by the type of people you choose to surround yourself with. It is that simple; hang out with low quality, low self-esteem individuals and soon you will find yourself wallowing not only in their misery but your nonsense and wonder why. Then you will start looking for people to blame as to why you found yourself in the situation of your life spiraling down the drain and out of control.

On the opposite side of the bell curve, find yourself amount HIGH self-esteem and you too will be out there doing better, feeling better, because you are better.

Remember, AVERAGE is OK but ABOVE AVERAGE is BEST!

-David

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Accountability blog Change Choice communication Daily Challenge Decisionmaking Inspiration Leadership MBWA Mentor Morale Motivation positive Walking Leader

Self-Leadership – Finding The Time

Being a leader involves a different type of commitment and dedication. The difference comes from being a a committed and dedicated leader 24/7/365. That’s non-negotiable.

Being a leader is your other full time job. It is going to take up that much time. That is one reason most people feel they are ready to do what it takes to be a leader until it is time to step up and be the leader.

image of clock face

It is nothing against who they are as individuals, nor is it a strike against their knowledge, skills, wisdom and character. Far from it. Those that recognize that at this moment they are not ready to lead are great leaders in the making.

Once underway, there are people that know they cannot hack the toll leadership takes on the individual. Yet, there are those that decide to fake it and never make it are not even worthy of qualifying as a bad manager. The individuals that would rather continue faking it soon become “micro-managers” thus fail to give respect to those they are supposed to be leading. They will soon find themselves without true and genuine followers. Then what good are they?

What does finding the time have to do with knowing when to play your hand or when to fold’em?
Everything. If the individual is not prepared to find the time to work on her skillset or his soft-skills will amount nothing more than a hill of beans.

But there are only 24 hours in a day and eight of them are already spent sleeping!

True, but what about the other 16 hours? Eight of those sixteen are for working and working with the people you leading. That leaves eight hours for personal matters. Matters such as spending time with the family, hobbies, and personal development. All that and dinner, too?

You have to. You have no choice.

One thing to remember you and I and all us one thing in common. We all have the same 24 hours. Believe it or not every Doctor, Lawyer, Computer Engineer, Graphic Designer, Photographer, Janitor, Teacher, Bus Driver, and Student, all have those same 24 hours.

What does all that mean?

It means that while we are all unique individuals were are all, also the same. We have that same amount of time. Yet, there are plenty of people finding the time within those 24 hours to work on the commitment, dedication needed to become a better leader.

As you can see, it will be difficult but you have to find the time to be better. You have to use that time to grow both personally and professionally. In upcoming blog posts I will take a deeper dive into how to properly use your new found time.

As always if you have any comments, questions, remarks or concerns please email me at [email protected]

Thank you,
David Guerra

P.S. I invite you to follow me on Twitter: @daveguerra • visit my website: www.daveguerra.com