Greetings from the wireless zone in Albuquerque airport where I’m planted for a couple of hours waiting for my flight home. I flew over to New Mexico last night to speak at a school principals conference today at the fabulous Hyatt Tamaya Resort. I love doing work that takes me to such interesting places. I also love getting the opportunity to speak about things that I’m so passionate about.
This morning I spoke on “Courageous Leadership.” One of the things I shared was how the way you see yourself determines how others see you. If other people aren’t giving you the respect you’d like them to, then ask yourself, where are you failing to respect yourself fully? Respect from others begins with self-respect. Likewise, if others aren’t giving you the responsibilty you’d like, ask yourself, where are you failing to take responsibility? If others seem to let you down and break their promises with you, ask yourself, where are you failing to honor the promises you make to yourself? Where are you short changing yourself?
People who find themselves in positions of leadership aren’t put into those positions because they are well connected, lucky or charismatic. They are put into those positions because they have created an identity of being a person who can get things done, who can gain the trust of others, who can solve problems and get people to align around a common goal.
I know that you want others to think highly of you. Let’s face it, who doesn’t? So if you want to up the ante on how others think of you, then up the ante on how you think of yourself. Believe in your ability to achieve great things — whether in your relationships, in your job or in life — and refuse to settle for less than the best from yourself and you will find that commitment to yourself will filter down into every interaction you have with those around you and ultimately to the influence you have on those around you.
Don’t short change yourself by believing you are anything less than the magnificient, unique, one-of-a-kind person that you are. You have so much to offer the world and it would be such a shame to limit that by defining yourself as anything but the multi-talented person you truly are. Don’t let who you have been in the past determine who you are going to be in the future. Likewise don’t let other people’s opinions of you define who you are. You get to redefine who you are — for yourself and for others — anew every day, every moment of the day. You get to write your own story and create your own identity in the world. Create one that inspires you!
