Winning Leadership Qualities

Tell me a leader who rejects every suggestion his team gives because he is afraid they cannot make it and I will tell you someone who is not fit to be a leader.

Let me quote John Maxwell on how he views positive attitude. In his book, Developing the Leaders around You, he says, “A positive attitude is one of the most valuables assets a person can have in life.” It can help you achieve things that may seem impossible to happen.

As a leader, you will need more than a miracle to make certain things happen. As long as you have the right attitude of looking at things, and on how they have to be done, you can eliminate the miracle wishing part.

Most of the time, we become discouraged by how difficult the problems we face are. What we do not know is that it is not really the problems that are difficult to deal with but our attitude towards them. Yes, they may be tough at times and may take a lot of time to solve, but as long as we view them as obstacles that will hinder our way towards our goal, we can never really arrive at the right solution.

Why don’t we see these problems as challenges…as something to spice our journey up? Not all roads to success are smooth. Often, there are bumps and humps. If we miss our turn, we might get lost and end up starting all over again.

See the big picture. Look beyond the problem. A positive leader will not dwell on a difficult situation and be discouraged by it, but will believe that he can and he ought to surpass it in order to reach his goals. With positive attitude, he never accepts defeat. Instead, he fights the noble battle until the very end.

Believing that you can make something happen is not at all a small thing when you put faith in yourself and believe that you can do it. What the mind says, the body will follow. It is a chain reaction.

When people see that their leader believes and strives hard for accomplishing a task, they will do the same. Imagine, if a single believer can make something happen, then how much more things can a team of believers bring out?

Bringing Out the Positive Person in You

Ok, so you always see the glass half-empty. But you know what? Even if half of the water spills on the floor, it still contains water…and it is half full! Now how can you still see the good things in everything…even if you are pessimistic all the time? The answers lie below.

1.   Keep your mind focused on important things. Set goals and priorities for what you think and do. Visualize practicing your actions and the results you expect from them. Develop an effective strategy for dealing with problems. Concentrate on things that need to be taken seriously; but at the same time, take time to relax and enjoy.

2.   Keep a list of your goals and actions. Familiarize yourself with things you want to accomplish and with the ways you must undertake to complete them. When you are aware of these things, your body will immediately carry out the actions you need to execute in making these things happen.

3.   Be detached from the outcome. Life is often compared to a Ferris wheel, or a ball, or anything that is round, because of the fact that sometimes we are on the top, and sometimes at the bottom. This only means that there will be times in our lives when some things would not turn out according to what we want them to be. Nevertheless, face them. Do not be annoyed if you do not get what you desire. Do not be discouraged. Do not become too attached to the probable results, but just do your best in everything.

4.   Balance your desires. We live in a place of opposites and differences – happiness and sadness, pleasure and pain, tears and laughter, love and hate. This is how the cycle of life goes. We can never have all the good things in life at the same time. In wealth, there will always be people who will not be fortunate enough. Measure and moderation is the primary key.

5.   Be realistic. Make sure that what you want is something possible. Hoping for something to happen, which would never really materialize in real life, will only bring you disappointment. Success cannot be gained overnight…but it can be gained no matter what. Believe and have faith.

6.   Associate with positive people. In classrooms, work places, or simply anywhere you go where there are groups of people, look for optimistic ones. Associate, hang out, and discuss matters with them. They can help you build self-confidence and self-esteem.

7.   Ask questions. Asking or seeking for guidance can bring no harm. It does not equate to dumbness and ignorance; rather, it is associated with seeking more information and understanding matters clearly, which is good for you as a leader since you need to learn more things in guiding your people. Remember, with more knowledge, there is also more power.

8.   Count your blessings. Focus on what you have rather than what you don’t have. Positive outcomes emerge when we know we are abundant of this life’s blessings. On the other hand, absence of desires will only bring discontentment and disappointment that will only waste our time. So be thankful and appreciative of all the blessings that life has to offer.

9.   Kiss your worries goodbye. At the end of everyday, before going to sleep, there is no need to keep bad experiences and unhappy moments that had happened during the day. Let them go, throw them out of the window, and kiss them goodbye. Dream sweetly. As a new day unfolds, new hope arises. Keep believing.