Quote Of The Week #113
Tag: Positivity
12 Ways Leaders Live Life To The Fullest
Leaders are generally very busy and have a tendency to spread themselves pretty thin.
They dabble in multiple activities but don’t take the time to relax and to smell the flowers.
While achieving their goals, it seems that they forget to live life to the fullest and can hardly make the difference between Monday, Friday or Saturday.
Wondering how leaders live their life to the fullest?
Living life to the fullest means that you go after what you want without letting fear get in the way.
1. Leaders focus on themselves
Leaders work towards their goals everyday, focus on themselves and not on others.
Leaders who live their life to the fullest focus their time and energy on things that matter.
In Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit Of Less, Greg Mckeown urges us to discipline ourselves, to be selective of the activities that you partake in.Â
2. Leaders give way to their imagination
Leaders don’t downsize their dreams.
Instead, they dream so big that it scares them.
They expect great things from themselves.
They are just convinced that they will succeed no matter what.
3. Leaders are self-assured
They don’t care what others think about them and don’t live by other people’s expectation.
In addition, they say yes to opportunities that they want, they don’t settle for less, for people or a job they don’t respect.
Furthermore, leaders don’t complain, make excuses, or procrastinate.
4. Leaders go after what they really want
Life is shorter than we think. Years go by in a blimp and leaders know that.Â
I can hardly remember what happened last year and the year before that.
All I know is that I didn’t do what I really wanted to do.
To go after what they really want, leaders:
- Maximize their potential
- Choose their job and activities carefully (if they can).
- Are selective of whom and what they give their energy to.
5. Leaders do something that they really enjoy everyday
If you like to read like I do, you can take time off at lunch or in the commute to read and to unwind.
Their life choices are not tied to monetary issues.
6. Leaders don’t take life too seriously
Leaders have huge responsibilities.
Paradoxically, they don’t take life too seriously.
Leaders learn to laugh at themselves and their circumstances.
They relax when they have to, and don’t succumb to negative emotions and behaviors.
For them, being positive is a state of mind but most importantly it’s a choice.
7. Leaders walk in their purpose
Leaders live life from the inside out: they know that how they think will demonstrate itself.
Therefore, Every little thing that they do had purpose.
They stick to their system of values and live in alignment with their purpose.
They have clear defined values and a personal mission statement that they live by.
8. Leaders are present
Leaders consider everyday to be a new day.
They don’t let life rule them, they stay present and don’t look back at the past failures.
9. Leaders are forgiving
They do not hold on to past hurts, memories and to people who degrade them.
10. Leaders are authentic
They are committed to grow.
They don’t want to live someone else’s life.
They don’t want to be surrounded by people they don’t like or respect.
11. Leaders are people persons
They enjoy alone time.
They surround themselves with people who push them to grow, to be better and to do better.
12. Leaders are curious
Leaders get out of their comfort zone.
They seek to know more and to upgrade their mindset.
Last Words Of Advice!
We all have an idea of the person we want to become in life.
Don’t wait to have everything 100% in place to behave like your ideal self.
Remember, it’s your life and you create your own life experiences.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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10 Ways Leaders Manifest Their Visions
Everyone has the ability to manifest their vision.Â
With that knowledge, leaders just don’t dream about their goals.
Against all odds, they are able to attract what they want.
They support their dreams with actions, put forth the time and energy towards their goals. They watch what they say to themselves about themselves.
Wondering how leaders attract what they want and need out of life?
We have all heard of the Law of Attraction.
It consists in bringing your deepest desires into reality by focusing your thoughts on them. To manifest your vision, you have to strongly believe that this is what you really want and this is your true purpose.
For example, you can manifest the perfect relationship or on the job you want by focusing positive thoughts and sending positive intentions its way.
1. Leaders are honest with themselves
Be honest with yourself because the truth will set you free.
Everything around is only a reflection of who you truly are. So be who you want go attract.
If you are not aware of your strengths and weaknesses, you will not achieve your goals.
If you are not an improved person you cannot expect the best of the best. You will only get the best for your level.
2. Leaders are grateful for what they have
They are always grateful for what they have no matter how small their possession.
They let go of control and are open to receive what is coming to them.Â
You can cultivate the habit of making a gratitude list. A simple list can be:
I am grateful for the clothes on my back.
I am grateful to be alive.
I am grateful for my serenity.
I am grateful for my health.
I am grateful for my team and business.
After writing your list, read it everyday and change your mindset instantly.
3. Leaders value their imagination
Leaders are naturally dreamers.
They allow themselves to dream big.
They use their imagination for their benefit.
Indeed, your imagination is the best tool that you have at your disposal that nobody can take away from you.
Leaders use their imaginations all the time to escape, to motivate their team and to build products, companies.Â
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. - Albert Einstein Click To Tweet4. Leaders live as if their dreams have come through
Because the universe conspires with you on what you want to attract, they act up as if they have already achieved their required level if success.
They fake it until they make it. For example, they will dress for the position they want to have.
5. Leaders focus on their goals
Leaders place their focus on the essentials.
Furthermore, they focus on themselves and don’t compete with others.
They understand that whatever they put their attention on is what is going to grow.
They have a vision or dream board that help them see things more clearly.
They tend to place them in the area that you can always see and visualize yourself in that situation.
6. Leaders believe in intuition
They trust their intuition.
They listen to their feelings and do whatever resonates with them.
If they have negative vibes about a situation, they immediately take a step back and analyze the situation.
7. Leaders monitor their thoughts
They meditate and actively monitor their thoughts.
When a thought comes through that bring up negative emotions, they are instantly aware. Then they fight their negative voice in their head or sleep to give their mind a rest or exercise to get rid of cortisol.Â
In addition, leaders constantly elevate their own mood. To make themselves feel better, they use positive words of affirmation.
To elevate your mood, you can read books that comfort you and make you feel better about yourself.
You can carefully choose your activities, music and TV shows, screen what you put in your mind because it programs you.Â
8. Leaders live a life of abundance
They are conscious of their personal power and are at peace with themselves.
Furthermore, they walk with integrity, don’t harm anyone and mind their actions. They believe that what they put out is what they will come back to them.Â
They are conceived that they will succeed. They are cognizant that something great is on its way.
They don’t set your thoughts on want is missing or on want others want from them.
They are not easily offended or don’t think that they are victims of their circumstances.
9. Leaders know that words have power
They are conscious of the power of their words and choose their words carefully.
Indeed, if you say, “I’m so tired” you will eventually be exhausted for the whole day. If you say, “I’m stressed out” you will definitively be overwhelmed by stress.
To manifest what you really want, start saying and doing how you want to feel and what you want to do.
10. Leaders are altruistic
They care for people other than themselves.
The process of caring for others take them out of their negative space and environment.
For instance, they help their team and people in their communities.Â
Last Words Of Advice!
When things are not going your way or you are not achieving your goals, know that you can always turn things around, improve your mindset, achieve your purpose and find your peace.
Fight negativity. Show yourself some love.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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How To Successfully Identify & Deal With Your Emotional Triggers : 8 Proven Strategies That Leaders Use
Triggers? Everybody has them whether we want to admit or not, whether we know they exist or not.
Triggers are natural and there for self preservation purposes.
However, they show up anywhere at an inopportune time.
They make us react in appropriate ways, get us out of character and acting like a child again.
It is therefore detrimental for leaders to identify and control their triggers so that they cannot be controlled by them or someone.
Wondering how leaders identify and control their triggers?
What are TRIGGERS?
A trigger can be a person, a place, an object or an event.
Trauma is a major cause of triggers. Triggers are made of:
- Situations that threaten your well being.
- Conflicts in core values. Differences in ideas, beliefs and point of views.
- Powerlessness from physical or emotional abuse.
For example, we can be triggered when:
- We want to make a logical & rational point in serious conversation.
- We are in a safe place and having fun with friends and family.
- We are alone in a peaceful room.
- We think about the past or the future.
Triggers just like intuition are nor good or bad: they have the ability to transform us into children again but they also warn us that something around us is wrong.
Furthermore, triggers allow us to become more self-aware and to discover the true meaning behind your actions.Â
In addition, triggers can be stimulated internally or externally. They generally manifest themselves into:
- Eating disorders,
- Tears, fear or sadness,
- Anger, rage or other emotional outburst,
- Cold sweat and heart palpitations,
- Inability to speak (out).
How to identify your TRIGGERS?
The problem with triggers is that they don’t allow us to achieve our purpose and get what we want out of life.
Triggers set you off path. They make you wonder “What the hell was I thinking?”, “I can’t believe I just did that!!!”.
For leaders triggers can cost you your character, your credibility, your team and your money.
That is why leaders have to become aware of themselves and the systems of beliefs that are driving their behavior.
There are a few strategies leaders can adopt to identify their triggers. While you are being triggered …
1. … Pause
When you are feeling heightened emotions, pause and analyze the situation.
Where am I? What am I doing? What was said? What is the meaning of this?
3. … Be still
Learn to be still in situation of turmoil.
Feel your emotions but don’t get stuck in them.
You don’t need to react but you need to learn to respond.
2. … Gain perspective
Acknowledge whether that trigger is positive or negative.
Does it help you to make positive or negative choices? Is it serving you
If it is not, it is time to let of go or turn it around to achieve a better life.
How to control your TRIGGERS?
Triggers of managed appropriately can intuitively guide us and warn us when something is wrong or too toxic for us.
Undisciplined triggers ruin great relationships, can hurt you physically and mysteriously hijack your life.
1. Traumas are real
Everything that you see in someone is only a mere reflection of yourself.
For instance, you don’t like being ignored at work because your parents ignored you growing up.
So now, you have to examine yourself first.
Then, take responsibility for your life, traumas and for your emotions.
2. Don’t take things personally
Understand that everyone has their own insecurities.
If they trigger you even purposefully, don’t take it personally.
You cannot control people nor are you responsible for their mental and emotional health.
3. Learn to changeÂ
Not because you have been acting the same way for the last 20 years that you cannot change.
Change is possible. Change is good.
Don’t do the same thing every time you are being triggered or being triggered all the time is the right choice.
4. Be more present
Be more present to help you exercise continuous self-awareness.
This will help you monitor your thoughts and behaviors in challenging or regular situations.
By being present you stop experiencing your last threat.
5. Be more compassionateÂ
Be compassionate with yourself.
Appreciate your peace and don’t allow anyone to control you.
You are only human and cannot be in control of your entire self 24/7.
However, forgive yourself and always do your best.
6. Remember to exercise
Exercising keeps your mind clean and puts in control of your own body.
This way, when you are triggered, you can feel the symptoms acting out throughout your body.
You will then have enough control to acknowledge and minimize these symptoms.
7. Write down your emotions and your triggers
Make a list of the things that trigger you. This way, you will know which personality type or environment to avoid.
Write down your triggers and the reasons and histories around them. Then change the story and take back control. Why do they exist? Where do they come from?
8. Learn from your experiences
When you are triggered, remember that you are not defined by your last experience and that controlling your trigger is a learning process.
Acknowledge that the opinion of others don’t matter.
Allow your experiences to make you a better and optimized version of yourself.
You will do better next time FOR SURE!
Last Words Of Advice!
You attract what you think.
Therefore, take care of your mind so that you can live an optimized and meaningful life.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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The Importance Of Forgiveness In Leadership
When you are a leader, you go head first into battle, experience joy, success, hurt, failure and disappointment.
Contrary to popular belief, being prone to forgiveness does not make you a weak leader or doesn’t mean that you have forgotten.
Forgiving someone who has harmed you is some way is difficult because you might think that you are giving them a pass, that you are being weak, you are giving in too easily, giving them your power, you don’t love or respect yourself.
Actually, by not forgiving they are holding power over you because nursing negative emotions is only harming you.
Wondering how important is forgiveness in leadership and how to forgive?
The benefits of forgiveness
Forgiveness is a powerful and efficient tool.
Forgiveness is an often overlooked, undervalued gift but it requires strength, character, emotional intelligence and self awareness. Forgiveness is an active process.
It allows you to reach a state of inner calm to put negative memories at rest and get rid of negative emotions. Indeed, after forgiving, you feel re-energized, empowered, free and present.
In addition, forgiveness helps to resolve conflicts, move forward, promote creativity, build trust and relationships.
Forgiving leaders encourage risk taking, authenticity, collaboration and dissenting voices in the workplace.
Lack of forgiveness in the workplace can heavily affect employee morale, retention, productivity, satisfaction, innovation and cohesion. It can create a toxic workplace.
How to forgive?
People have different values and motives in life. They would not hesitate to hurt you to get what they want, to shift blame and judge. To forgive:
Avoid shifting blame. Take accountability for your actions and take back control of your emotions. When you forgive, you are no longer a victim nor do you become a persecutor.
- Acknowledge what has happened, be compassionate with yourself and give yourself time to recover.
- Own and learn from your mistakes before you make them again.
- Â Remember that you cannot control the behavior of others and you can only control yours.
In the words of Don Miguel Ruiz in The Four Agreements, don’t take it personally. It is hard to cope when someone’s anger is directed at you. However, their bad behavior has nothing to do with you but everything to do with their insecurities or they are doing the best with the tools that they have.
See an opportunity to grow and see this as a challenge.
Understand that all situations can be resolved. Do what you can, if you can, to repair the situation. If you need to talk it through, have an honest conversation.
- Envision what will happen to your emotions, mind, self esteem if you don’t forgive.
As a leader, encourage forgiveness in the workplace and be a model for forgiveness.
- Don’t let this negative event or negative emotion define you.
Focus on the positive. When we are pushed in a negative situation we can only see the person in a negative light.
- Create new positive memories. Leave the past in the past.
- Be grateful for that experience.
Last Words Of Advice!
The hardest thing is self forgiveness. Our inner voice is most critical of our decisions, actions and thoughts.
If you are the one who has hurt someone else:
- Be honest with yourself
- Forgive yourself.
- Remember that what goes around comes around.
- Think of how you would want to be treated in that moment and if you would have wanted a second chance.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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How To Create A Positive Work Environment?
Employees are the heartbeat of the company.
They are the ones that keep your company running and they must feel good coming to work.
Therefore, leaders have to build a positive work environment to ensure the mental, emotional and physical well-being of their employees.
Wondering how to build a positive work environment?
What is a healthy & positive work environment?
Workplace culture defines the work environment.
Workplace culture determines the standards, ethics, code of conduct, mission statement and the level of toxicity in the workplace.
In addition, it is unique. It is created by the leaders and is maintained by everyone else.
That is why leaders have to be positive, ethical and mindful of their behavior and of the information that they put out.
A healthy and positive work environment is where people:
- Needs are met and perform at their best.
- Feel good about themselves and safe enough to express themselves.
- Are clean and hygienic, mentally and physically cared for.
- Are subjected to little to no stress.
- Are understood and their voices are heard.
- Are able to collaborate with others.
- Are respected for their contributions and not systemically punished for their mistakes.
The benefits of a healthy & positive workplace?
Creating a healthy work environment increases productivity, motivation and benefits.
Creating a healthy workplace significantly reduces absenteeism and employee turnover.
A healthy and positive workplace helps you boost morale, attract and retain the best talents.
How to create a healthy & positive workplace?
1. Keep work fun
Having fun at work increases productivity because it makes work easier. To keep work fun, leaders must:
- Understand that shame and fear are not sustainable motivators.
- Simplify policies and procedures.Â
- Eliminate drama and remove office politics.
- Create activities outside of work.
- Allow flexible working hours.
- Provide an environment where people can work out, eat healthy and relax.
- Don’t give people more work load than they can carry.
2. Be a positive leader
If your team sees you having fun at work, they will most likely start to have fun as well. If you are a positive leader, they will most likely start being positive.
Positive leaders are optimistic, promote trust and transparency, encourage change, creativity and innovation.
They build quality relationships with the people they work with, regardless of their personalities.
Furthermore, positive leaders are sensitive to all cultures and ethnical backgrounds. They understand that diversity makes their strength.
In the long run, positive leaders acquire a positive reputation. Gaining a positive reputation increases the value of a company, improves employee loyalty and job satisfaction.
3. Empower your team
Empowering your team is all about giving them the resources they need to succeed. To empower your team:
- Identify what motivates them and place them in the area of their strengths.
- Make sure your team has a healthy work life balance.
- Encourage team building activities.
- Provide additional training for those who lack confidence and competencies.
- Allow your team to take breaks throughout the day to recharge their batteries, to relax and to think.
- Give people their dues. Acknowledge when someone is doing good by privately or publicly complementing them. Also, be honest when an employee is underperforming.
- Treat your employees with fairness and respect. Don’t play favorites or openly disregard someone just so you could feel better about yourself.
- Support your team throughout difficult situations. When an issue arises, be compassionate and be a problem solver. For example, if someone on your team perpetually misses a deadline, find out why they are underperforming.
4. Encourage positive behaviors
In the workplace, negativity often upstages positivity. Leaders must take on the responsibility to bring positive behaviors in the forefront. To do so:
- Reward those with an exemplary behavior.
- Incorporate a code of conduct and policies that promote positive behaviors.
- Call out bad behaviors or behaviors that don’t meet your standards.
- Celebrate success as soon as it happens. This suggestion seems obvious. Who wouldn’t want to celebrate success? I once worked for a company whose higher ups would bully anyone who seemed confident, content with themselves.
- Don’t condone workplace bullying.
- Don’t shut down people who are expressing joy or who are celebrating success.
5. Hone your communication skills
Leaders who want to build a positive and healthy workplace must effectively and regularly communicate with their team so they can clearly reach their goals and achieve their vision.
Leaders with a positive work environment share their visions with their team, make sure that every employee connect and align with the vision.
Then, they encourage positive discussions, debates and brainstorming. They all people to say what is on their mind or to challenge the status quo without fear of retribution.
6. Help your employees grow into leaders
When it comes to healthy workplaces, there is no such thing as competing with your employees. If you help your employees grow, you will grow too.
7. Hire the right people for the right job
During the hiring process, it is critical to respect people, identify and hire the people who will fit into the company culture and who will add value to the company culture.
Last Words Of Advice!
If your team doesn’t see you taking continuous action and investing in their well-being, they will not implement your vision or strategies.
Commit to making your workplace a healthy environment!
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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The Importance Of Creativity In Leadership
Organizations often face challenges that cannot be handle the traditional way.
Leaders quickly realize that creativity is the skill that will remove challenges, increase the success rate and will optimistically carry their organization into the future.
Wondering how to boost your creativity?
What is creativity?
Creativity doesn’t belong to the select few.
Creativity is the process of producing something out of nothing, of combining older ideas, of bringing imagination and ideas into reality.
Creativity is intelligence having fun. - Albert Einstein Click To TweetThe benefits of creativity in leadership
In leadership, creativity is the mindset that improves workplace culture. Leaders who are creative:
- Are self-aware, authentic and passionate.
- Are solution-oriented and insightful.
- Are walking inspirations and are confident about their abilities.
- Make easy connections and see possibilities where there aren’t any.
- Understand that the world has changed and is changing.
- Think outside the box and challenge the status quo.
- Need motivation and autonomy.Â
How to boost your creativity?
Creativity is harder than we think but plays an important role in job satisfaction. There are a few ways that you can boost your creativity.Â
1. Take time off to restore yourself
Restoring yourself means that you know who you are and that you understand that society can erode your authentic self. Taking time off will help you to:
- Get out of your boring routine.
- Let your imagination run wild.
- Practice meditation, sleep and rest your mind.
- Prepare yourself for your next move.
- Exercise. Exercising will help you clear your mind and energize you.
- Put some distance between your personal project and your thoughts.
- Organize your day and work at hours where your creativity is the highest.
- Enjoy solitude. Solitude allows introspection and introspection triggers creativity.
2. Change your habits
It is good to change your way of doing things from time to time. In order to renew your though pattern:
- Go somewhere or try something new.
- Try things without fear or shame.
- Say yes to different opportunities more often.
- Expose yourself to things that inspire you and gain more experience.
- Build up new good habits. Building new habits will allow your body to go on autopilot while your mind is free to wander.
For leaders to become original, they would have to know what has already been created.
3. Don’t avoid failures
Failure happens to everyone and is inevitable.
Therefore, take more risks and learn the rules so you can break them.
In addition, laugh at yourself and welcome constructive criticism.
Fail as much as you can and fail early because even when you fail, you can always start over and the lessons learned will make you smarter.
4. Follow your passions and talents
Your passions and talents come easy to you, can be sustained on long periods of time and will fuel your creativity.
Your passion will inspire someone else to be creative. To identify your passions and talents:
- Explore every single one of your interests and natural inclinations.Â
- Remember your dreams, strengths and passions as a child.
- Analyze the reasons why you are interested in certain activities.
- Take strengths and weaknesses assessment tests.
5. Work on your skills
Acquiring expertise in your area of interest will be swift and will liberate your mind so that your creativity can takeover.
A writer who has never learnt to read or write cannot express his creativity.
A fashion designer who hasn’t learnt different sowing techniques cannot attain their highest potential.Â
A leader who has never learnt to communicate efficiently will have a hard time sharing their ideas.
6. Keep on open mind
When you want to be creative, it becomes critical to keep an open mind for whatever you do:
- Have an insatiable level of curiosity.
- Listen to the ideas that come to you.
- Read books, listen to music, watch shows that will inspire you and that do not necessarily pertain to your are of interest.
- Learn new skills. Learning new skills will give you the opportunity to explore.
- Remove fear or other negative emotions that may block your thinking process.
7. Write down whatever comes to your mind
Ideas come to you at impromptu moments. It becomes handy to keep a notebook with you at all times so you can write them down as soon as possible.
To jumpstart your imagination, you can try brainstorming techniques or stare at a blank canvas as long as you need it. Blank canvas can be intimidating because there is an unlimited amount of outcomes.
When you are writing down your ideas, remember that there are no good or bad idea, just an unlimited number of ideas.
8. Monitor your surroundings
To get inspiration, you must surround yourself with creative people or with people from different backgrounds who hold different opinions.
You can also sit in public and observe the movement of people.
Last Words Of Advice!
It is one thing to be creative and another to maintain the creative process. You must learn yourself well and stay confident in your ability to create.
To maintain your creativity, first share your vision and ideas across your organization. Then, encourage others to come to you with ideas.
Is your organization doing enough to increase the creativity within the company?
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level By Mark Divine
Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level by Mark Divine provides methods and strategies to:
- Develop an unbeatable mind.
- Deal with harsh realities.
- Increase your personal power.
- Improve your thought pattern and find your positive focus.
- Master and outperform yourself.
- Train your team.
An Unbeatable Mind?
A person with an unbeatable mind is always original, cultivates excellence, seeks to magnify his or her potential and hates mediocrity.
In addition, an unbeatable mind follows universal laws and truths, is resilient, has great character and leadership qualities.
Furthermore, an unbeatable mind avoids group-thinking, procrastination and inaction.
According to Divine, it is imperative that you gain mental control, acquire mental toughness and develop leadership qualities.
How to find your positive focus and gain mental control?
Spending time alone and in silence, quieting your mind is discouraged in Western society.
We are rarely, if ever, encouraged to spend time in silence or get to know the depth of our character. - Mark Divine Click To Tweet
People are therefore prone to negative thinking. However, negativity destroys performance and brings down your energy.
In order to find a positive focus and gain mental control:
- Be aware of your negativity. To become self-ware, practice silence, define your passion, principles and purpose.
- Prohibit the negative self-talk.
- Focus on positive self-talk or affirmations. Add positive imagery and feelings to those affirmations.
- Find a mantra or an affirmation that will run in the background of your mind.
How to gain mental toughness?
Mental toughness is sustaining positive focus on one task, on the one thing that keeps you going.
Mental toughness helps you concentrate on your tasks for long periods of time without any distractions.
To develop mental toughness:
- Practice concentration on a daily basis.
- Understand that your overall success depends on every single choice that you make.
- Acknowledge that the small choices lead you towards excellence and shape your life the most.
- Educate yourself on how stress works, how you react to it and learn to eliminate it from your life.
Develop the disciplines of a Warrior
According to Mark Divine, Warriors are those who have achieved mental control and mental toughness.
They have learnt to discipline their mind so they can focus on the things that matter most, maintain positive focus when they need it most, avoid being distracted by negative emotions and negative beliefs.
Since the Warrior is committed to mastering himself or herself, he or she has mastered the following disciplines:
- Simplicity. They have learnt to detach themselves from material things that they don’t need.
- Dedication. They apply themselves daily but don’t take themselves too seriously.
- Authenticity. They are honest with themselves.
- Service. They build up their character.
Warriors with unbeatable minds:
- Develop a strong plan and discipline.
- Commit daily to the plan.
- Are mindful of their decisions.
- Stay in the present moment.
- Maintain their energy and their positive focus.
- Fulfill their purpose.
- Make change happen.
- Step up their game and take action.
- Lead themselves and work with an unbeatable team.
- Do what is best for their team.
- Align their team with their vision and purpose.
Review
Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level by Mark Divine is a great guide for being and maintaining positivity no matter what.
Mark Divine gives sound and practical advice, using his 20 years of experience as a Navy Seal.
Mark Divine applies what he learnt with the NAVY to his regular life and work. He teaches you how to:
- Discipline yourself and manage your emotions.
- Reject mediocrity.
- Build up your resilience.
- get the life and career you want.
Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level is useful for leaders, corporate teams and all those who want to condition their mind, body and soul.
I definitively loved the military aspect, principles and parallels in the book. However, because of his experience, some of his analogies are extreme and unrelatable.
Let me know below what you think about this book!
Favorite quote(s)
Consistency is the omnipotent force behind change.
We are rarely, if ever, encouraged to spend time in silence or get to know the depth of our character.
Negativity destroys performance in the short term and precludes success and happiness in the long term.
Lack of meaning and purpose is a major cause of despair and despondency in the world.
Ratings 4/5
Author
Mark Divine
Mark Divine is a retired Navy SEAL Commander and founder of the leadership development program Unbeatable Mind.
Mark Divine is also the author of Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level.
Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges By Amy Cuddy
Presence is an indicator of success and an “incredible powerful state”.
Presence is hard to define and is subjective.
However, it can be understood with verbal and non verbal cues.
It can be predicted by your “confidence, comfort level, and passionate enthusiasm”.
What is Presence?
Presence, as I mean it throughout these pages, is the state of being attuned to and able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values, and potential. Click To Tweet
With presence, you can be yourself, be honest with yourself, be in the moment, connect with others, represent yourself well, and reveal the abilities you truly have.
What are the benefits of achieving Presence?
Presence allows you to listen, to hear other people out and to be heard in return.
Presence establishes trust and creates influence.
Presence aligns your beliefs with yourself.
Where does Presence come from?
It comes from believing your own stories and from being authentic.
When we don’t believe in our own stories, we will have a hard time convincing others, we will come off as inauthentic and consequently lose confidence in ourselves.
To identify your boldest and most authentic self:
- Write down who you think you are.
- Speak the truth to yourself.
- Believe in your truth.
- Believe that your truth will be conveyed properly.
What obstructs Presence?
There are a few conditions that can destroy your Presence:
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Impostorism
Impostorism makes you question your abilities and makes you worry about what other people think about you.
This condition is not unique to highly achieving women and is independent from the number of achievements received in life.
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Stereotypes
Not conforming to stereotypes or to social expectations make achieving Presence difficult.
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Powerlessness
Powerlessness makes you self-conscious, perturbs your self-image, and blocks your authenticity and your abilities.
How to acquire Presence?
Personal power is power to—the ability to control our own states and behaviors. Amy Cuddy in Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges Click To Tweet
You gain Presence by developing personal power.
Personal power is essential, removes fear, quiets inhibitions, protects you against your negative emotions, allows you to forgive easier and fluctuates in time.
In addition, your personal power makes you fearless, gives your more freedom, and makes you less susceptible to external pressures.
However, it can be acquired using different tactics. For example, you can use breathing techniques and power poses to trigger personal power.
When we have personal power, we tend to remain calm, to have more control and to expand ourselves in order to take place.
Review
Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Amy Cuddy revolves mainly about managing your nonverbal cues to induce Presence, identifying your best authentic self, nurturing your boldest self, and creating personal power.
In Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges, Amy Cuddy:
- Aims to help people with imposter syndrome, who are in difficult challenges, who feel powerless and distracted.
- Gives advice on how to handle conflict, how to stay optimistic, to act confident, even when you don’t feel confident, until you become confident.
- Wants people to gain more control over their lives.
- Uses stories from people around the world who have seen her TED Talk to inspire and convey her message.
I have to say, I enjoyed the topic of personal power the most. Often, we see leaders who are afraid of going against the grain, try to fit in and to please their team, only to find out that it’s an impossible task.
Some lead using their social power, leveraging salary for work but lack influence and personal power.
Needless to say, their success will depend highly on how they carry themselves, on their verbal and non verbal cues.
Let me know below what you think about this book!
Favorite quote(s)
Presence stems from believing in and trusting yourself—your real, honest feelings, values, and abilities.
Presence, as I mean it throughout these pages, is the state of being attuned to and able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values, and potential.
A truly confident person does not require arrogance, which is nothing more than a smoke screen for insecurity. A confident person—knowing and believing in her identity—carries tools, not weapons. A confident person does not need to one-up anyone else. A confident person can be present to others, hear their perspectives, and integrate those views in ways that create value for everyone.
Power makes us approach. Powerlessness makes us avoid.
The feeling that arises from personal power is not the desire to have control; it’s the effortless feeling of being in control—lucid, calm, and not dependent on the behavior of others.
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