Do you want to be a leader?

The easiest way to be a leader is to be yourself. 

Really, really, really yourself.

This video is pretty much all you need to know about leadership. I watch it a couple times a year to remind myself to focus on doing what I do best as often, unabashedly and consistently as possible, and to forget worrying. About anything.

As Derek Sivers describes in his voiceover, the only other job you have is to take care of the people who "get" what you're doing. Championing them keeps you all on the path. 

It can feel intimating in the beginning. Every re-watch has me cringing. You mean leaders are that bold? I have to believe it feels less uncomfortable when we each are doing what comes naturally to us.

Not everyone is a dancing guy, but you have something special only you can give. If you keep doing that, you'll lead by example. 

Maybe people are already following your lead, looking to you to establish the rhythm. 

Notice what people thank you for, what they do because you did it first. Realize you are already leader and take care of those first followers.

See what they see in you and why they need what you naturally do best. 

And by all means keep doing it!

"This kinda hits you across the face...

...but in a totally good way."

Response to my Instagram post yesterday was, in a word, dramatic.

My other favorite comment was "Wow! Ouch and Yup."

Leave it to author Elizabeth Gilbert, who made wanderlusters swoon with her novel, Eat Pray Love, and then got real about the ups and downs of creativity with, Big Magic, to drop this truth bomb. I've recommended the latter and her Magic Lessons podcast to several clients. 

Yesterday's quote-slap is from it.

For me, leaping comes in two varieties.

There is the immediate leap. I see a shiny opportunity and say yes immediately. Over the years this has developed into a gut instinct. When it feels right, I go, because I know if I stop to weigh my options I will get lost in my head about it. And nothing good (for me) comes from that.

The second is what Elizabeth Gilbert is talking about. I allow for three laps in my own head -- thinking, worrying, checking, re-checking, worrying some more, and wondering who else I should ask if this is a good idea -- before I get SO BORED with myself that I need to make a decision. 

I trust I know enough by this point that thinking any more won't help, and probably just means I'm scared. 

So, ask yourself, are you really collecting more information or are you just scared of the unknown? Are you waiting until you know what the final outcome will be -- if it will all work out and be worth it -- before you take one step? 

You're never gonna know unless you take that step, so decide:

How bored are you....with yourself? 

Schedule a free consultation and let's make this leap happen.