Tag: Personal Leadership

Reason Why People Wait

Note:  I’m talking to the person in the mirror.  Please don’t take this personally.

The reason you wait is because you are afraid.  You are afraid because you are unsure of yourself.  You are unsure of yourself because:

  • You don’t have enough experience
  • You have been burned before
  • Your weaknesses may be exposed
  • You fear rejection
  • You fear failure
  • You may even fear success

Like I said, please don’t take this personally, I’m only talking to the person in the mirror.  Ya with me?

    Transform Yourself Tip

    The number one thing I learned about transforming myself?

    It’s probably not going to be what you expect.

    I mean, really, what does anyone expect would be required?

    Let’s be clear, what I share is what works for me.  In no way, shape or form, should anyone think I’m telling others what they should do. The person I’m talking to in this post is the one in the mirror.

    The number one way to transform yourself is to do a small group of interrelated tasks:

    1. Your transformational goal must be for others
    2. You must want to be transformed more than anything, ever
    3. You must prepare for criticism, as others search for your faults

    Do these three interrelated tasks, and stay humble.

    PS.  And by the way, you will also need to tap into a level of courage and determination you have never known before.

    Here’s Why I’m Right

    The title here will ruffle some feathers and simultaneously, get others to cheer.  Why?  Because, as the 1960’s psychedelic rock band The Doors summed up in one of their songs, “People are strange.”

    One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.  You get the point.

    So how does working seven days a week lend itself to balance?

    First, the big picture intent is to NOT work seven days a week.  When the early pioneering Americans had a vison to become farmers, they spent countless hours clearing the land.  We can’t even comprehend the hardships they endured.

    Every time I fly and look out the window, I imagine America, long before it was tamed – covered with trees and forests for as far as the eye can see.

    What I’m doing now, working seven days a week is this:

    • Working to become a world-class professional speaker
    • Establishing processes to teach our son “life’s big four”
    • Preparing a metaphorical “hurricane disaster plan”
    • Preparing for the responsibility that comes with aging parents
    • Figuring out how to become a speaker, author, mentor of choice
    • Working to hear, “Well done”

    The reason some succeed over others, is that successful people outwork the others.  This shouldn’t surprise anyone.  It’s a basic survival of the fittest, of the smartest, of the most creative, etc.

    So, in summary, I’m clearing a hostile land, cutting down trees, digging up roots, making piles to burn, removing boulders, caring for sick animals, hunting for food, building shelter from the seasonally harsh climate, dealing with the emotional loss of my home state or mother country, protecting my family from wild animals and unknown diseases.

    So really, if you don’t come from a lineage of hand-me-down success or riches, you have got to out work the competition.

    Don’t beleive me?  Try and do it any other way.

    A Reader Asks

    Received an email from a jungle jeff blog reader, seeking clarification on the “Don’t Bother” blog post from last week. The reader’s email challenged my thinking, in a good and healthy way.  By the way, thank you for that.

    Do you give obsessive diligent consideration to your work?

    Most people, myself included, probably rush to, “Of course!”

    May I audaciously suggest we (again, myself included) don’t do nearly as well as any of us think we do?   Huh?

    Exactly. Huge.  Here’s what I mean.

    This is simple, and also “dangerous”, because there is a human flaw in most of us. We are conditioned to judge others on what we see them do. It happens without even trying.

    What’s complex, and perhaps arguable (but I argue it isn’t), is that we overwhelmingly judge ourselves on our intentions.

    Huge difference here.

    You see, I perceive my approach to balance as better than anyone else I observe, and yet others….

    What others may think is that I preach balance, but lack balance, and therefore am a phony. This thought crosses my mind daily, “Am I a hypocrite?”

    Do you ever catch yourself privately asking, “Am I a hypocrite?”

    Tomorrow, maybe, I’ll dive a little deeper on this.