Quotes of the Day - On Leading Self
I recently finished reading a great book The Ant and the Elephant by the renowned business strategist and Olympian, Vince Poscente.
This empowering story cleverly introduced Adir the ant and Elgo the elephant who represent the dynamic relationship between conscious and subconscious thought whining us. Like two teammates who must work together to realize a common goal, Adir (our overly conscious hero) and Elgo (Adir’s stubborn and instinctual subconscious partner) must work as a single creature in order to reach the Oasis, their vision of paradise in the African savannah. By harnessing the power of the subconscious is an experience commonly fraught with frustration. Elgo, the subconscious mind, often wander towards a path that he was familiar, a path that he learned from several generations of elephant learning, which includes many fears, habits and attitudes that obstruct their goals for making progress toward the Oasis.
Fortunately, Adir got a big help from a wise owl, Brio, who delivered essentially what Mr. Poscente later summarized as the 5 Cs to grow the leadership for the self:
1. Clarify the Vision.
Internalize a vision that you can believe in and zero in on a goal that has a depth of meaning. Make sure the journey has to be worth taking. Sometimes the journey may feel dangerous and risky, but the important thing is to make fear your friend, not your master. Be aware that you don’t know what you don’t know and open your mind to discover possibilities that may not be obvious at the time.
2. Commitment.
Commit to the vision and cultivating positive dominant thoughts. Shift beliefs, attitudes and truths so they are in alignment with your vision. Realizing that our established beliefs, attitudes and truths can be deeply held and can only be changed by a dedicated, focus effort. Change will happen only gradually, so the key is to consistently cultivating positive thoughts to combat the frustrations that come with the unknowns.
3. Consistency.
Consistently execute on the vision and focus on performance. Experience the goal as though it were happening right now. Realizing that what you envision is a reality, albeit one that hasn’t happed yet. Show your gratitude consistently.
4. Confidence.
Frustration will lead to negative thoughts. Negative thoughts add fuel to more negativity. This negativity can be a pattern that destroys confidence. Strengthen confidence by breaking negative patterns. Replace negativity with positive, confident thoughts. Try to recognize yourself when the negative thoughts grow stronger, playing out the pattern of negativity, interrupt this though by saying ”Thank you, but that is not part of my vision. My vision is …” Experience the vision in detail.
5. Control.
Unforeseen circumstances will arise. Expect the unexpected. Practice responses to the unforeseen events that may arise. Anticipate your response to challenges. Mentally experience handling these stressful situations with ease.
An entrepreneur must be able to motivate others to go along with him/her to the destination similar to the ant trying to convince an elephant to change its way. Applying the 5 C’s principles above allows an entrepreneur to adjust his/her own behavior as a means to motivate others. The power within, aligned with the power of the many, is equivalent to a tiny ant guiding a mighty elephant.
Many other good quotes are also introduced in this book.
- “Life should be a fulfilling journey, not just a struggle to survive.
- “Before you can become a great leader to others, you first must understand yourself.”
- “Without conflict there is no growth, and the most challenging conflict is within ourselves.”
- “Extraordinary steps produce extraordinary results.”
- “Being committed to a task means, in effect, being committed to the process of commitment.”
- “The chain of negativity is a pattern…As you learn to recognize negative patterns, you will interrupt them earlier and earlier.”
- “We live in a world of instant gratification, but we need to fight that pressure and remember that the worthiest goals take time and energy.”
A poem whose author is unknown puts it best:
Hold On to Your Dream
There is inside you all of the potential
to be whatever you want to be -
all of the energy to do
whatever you want to doImagine yourself as you would like to be,
doing what you want to do,
each day, taking one step
toward your dream.
And though at times it may seem
too difficult to continue,
hold on to your dream.
One morning you will awake to find that
you are the person you dreamed of -
doing what you wanted to do -
Simply because you had the courage
to believe in your potential
and to hold on to your dream
