Sonata Arctica
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Taking The Lead
Sonata Arctica, a popular musician, once sang a song titled: Taking The Lead. If I may ask, are you truly taking the lead in every area of your life? How would it be to always be in charge? When I say being in charge, I don't mean being in control of somebody else, but being in control and staying ahead in every area of your own life as an individual. Your ability to take action and apply the speed of change based on the vital information you have—that can transform your life, family, career, and the environment in which you live in—is what brings about taking the lead as a leader.
Taking the lead is about being proactive and not reactive. It is your ability to spot an opportunity and take full advantage of it before the window of that opportunity closes. We live in a society where lots of people are reactive. They wait for someone else to invent or innovate before they make a move. No wonder our world today is full of imitators who copy what someone else has done. Leaders that take the lead are continuously reinventing themselves—ever thinking of how to get ahead of themselves, not others. They are not in competition with anyone, rather they compete with themselves.
To take the lead, you should note the following:
Desire: Achieving greatness in life begins with a desire. How passionate, inspired and desirous are you about your dream. In fact, do you have a dream? That reminds me of Martin Luther King Jr, who said: I have a dream—and that dream motivated him to accomplish a formidable mark on earth. Whatever you truly desire, you go for it. It is the level of your desire and passion about something that will instigate you to begin to take some steps toward realizing it. So, taking the lead begins with the desire to achieve something.
Take responsibility: Leaders who take the LEAD are RESPONSIBLE. According to Linda Coleman, "One of the single most important words in the English language is R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y—your ability to respond. Why? Most of the problems we experience in life are because we fail to take responsibility." Majority of our life's problems are centered on our inability to take responsible actions in a timely fashion. Taking personal responsibility is about acknowledging the fact that you are responsible for every outcomes of your life—good or bad. Responsible leaders who take the lead do not play blame game. Someone may ask: Am I responsible for being born in a poor family or born maimed? Absolutely not! But you are responsible for what happens afterward. You either decide to be bound by your circumstance or take the bull by the horn.
Talent: Have you considered the abundant potentials—gifts and talents in you. What are you doing with it—just lying dormant? There is a seed of greatness in each of us. Every human being born into this world has his or her own unique, natural, God-given talents and abilities. Those unique, natural talents are the core of who we are. Those talents never change. They don't go away. It doesn't matter if you're born into a dysfunctional family or with a silver spoon in your mouth. You never lose those talents, but you can surely lose sight of them and in so doing, you cheat yourself. It is in building your life around your talents that you can only find real fulfillment in life. And you can only build your life around your talents when you start taking the lead by discovering and deploying those talents to use. Build your expertise around your talents by taking the lead in those areas.
Be a change agent: To be a change agent and spread the gospel of change, you must first be changed yourself. Like Mahatma Ghandi rightly said, be the change you want to see. Leaders who take the lead are change makers. They carry change within, and explode without. To describe the portrait of an effective leader, Dr. John Maxwell, a leadership expert, noted that Outward reform begins with inward renewal. In other words, the leader must experience personal change before he or she can implement public change. He concluded that, leaders make an impact the same way an atomic bomb does—they implode before they explode. You want to take the lead? Begin today by exercising personal changes in your life that will affect both personal and public transformation. Conduct a self-audit and evaluation of yourself, and then spot areas that need personal adjustment and change in your life.
Put God First: Be influenced by the Almighty. Ever before you engage in any project, pray and seek his direction. Don't make God a spare tyre, after you have made up your mind on what to do. I call Him the Ocean Divider—He knows the end from the beginning, and He is the greatest teacher of all times that knows all the secrets to life and all that pertains to Taking the Lead in every area of your life, career, business, finances—just name it.
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* Ten (10) C's of Personal Power.
* Unleashing Your Potential.
http://www.elvisukpaka.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=50
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You may also want to join "Elvis Leadership Forum" on Facebook, (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=261942700222) where we discuss interesting topics on Leadership Like:
* What is Leadership?
* Is it better to Lead than to manage?
* Are Leaders Born or Made?
* Do you consider yourself a leader or a follower?
Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/what-every-leader-wants-in-a-follower-1359246.html#ixzz13gltNWyo
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About the Author
Elvis is a Leadership expert. He is the Nigerian foremost Certified Life Coach, from The Life Coach Institute, USA. To gain access to more of Elvis tested wisdom and insight, on how to achieve peak performance - and leadership - that gets the NEEDED results, go to http://www.elvisukpaka.com, to signup for his Peak Performance Leadership Newsletter. You can reach Elvis directly via Email: elvis@elvisukpaka.com or Phone: 234-802-367-1070.
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