We’ve talked about how to make leadership growth a daily habit. If you do, even your worst days will move you closer to your goal.

Starting is fun, exciting, and holds endless possibilities. You imagine what life will belike when you have your degree or when you lose 20 pounds. You set your goal, you get going… and then reality sets in.

It’s hard.

No, really hard.

And we slowly go back to the way things were, until the next time we feel motivated.

Then we hit the repeat button.

It’s time for you to HONESTLY answer one important question. So far in your life, have you ever heard of someone who attempted to achieve a big goal, and got it totally right the first time? I know of only one—out of the thousands of people I’ve worked with. (It was my grandpa. He smoked a couple of packs of cigarettes a day. Then he saw research that proved it was bad for him. So he stopped the next day, and never smoked again.)

I’ve helped literally thousands and thousands of people in their leadership journey. It’s what I do, and I love it. With all of that experience, and only one exception, and tell you with confidence: No one gets it right the first time!

So, we stop trying. And that is a huge mistake.

We decide we are going to change, but we don’t end up doing it when it gets hard.

In Kouzes and Posner’s book, Learning Leadership, they give a really good illustration of this. There are twelve frogs on a log, and seven decided to jump into the pond. How many frogs remain on the log? The answer is still twelve. See, there’s a difference between DECIDING TO JUMP and actually TAKING THE LEAP.

Here’s a quick list to guide you on some things you can do daily as you start your leadership journey:

It’s hard to change because:

Your current way of doing things is embedded in your brain

• Actions speak louder than words. Our actions have been “talking” for decades, and we keep going back to our bad habits. But it doesn’t have to be like that in the future! See How to Break a Bad Habit and Replace It With a Good One by James Clear.

But You will feel great when you finish your task:
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‍You become proud of yourself in a good way!

• If you make a VERY SMALL change then stick with it, day by day, it will be far easier to make your next positive change. Why? Because you brain tells itself, “Hmm, maybe I can change after all.”
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• Once your brain gets used to changing for the better, it starts to look for other positive improvements. And you will feel even better.

If you are in the habit of starting, but not finishing, plan to start less things and start much smaller. Instead of saying, “I’m going to plan out my goals everyday this week,” say, “I’m going make certain I get this one thing accomplished this week…” then block a little time each day to work on it.

Start with a block of 15 minutes, put your cell phone in the other room, and get after it!!!

Much love, I’m out!

Dr. Rob

rob@leadertribe.com

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