Will your drifting get you where you want to go?
Leadership is uncomfortable. You can not lead well and maintain your comfort. Choosing our comfort will never get us to the place in life we aspire to be. The status quo is comfortable even when we know we are falling short. We procrastinate and stay comfortable. We avoid tough conversations and tough decisions in order to stay comfortable. When we do that, we drift towards mediocrity.
The truth is, we all face fears in life. Fear is not a bad thing. It is essential to survival in many ways. It is a signal that we need to look at the risks in front of us and make some choices. The problem occurs when we allow those fears to make too many of our decisions for us.
Very few people set out to be ruled by our fears. When fear rules our decision making, it is often a result of habit. Each time we choose to listen to the voices in our heads, it gets easier to listen to the voices again and again. Each small choice in those moments moves us closer to or further from becoming a Leader of Character. The quality of our work, our relationships and our character is determined by how we approach those fearful or uncomfortable moments.
To avoid drifting toward mediocrity, we need to identify what causes us to make those choices between Courage and cowardice. Moral drift often occurs due to inattention and rationalization. We excuse ourselves from exercising Courage and drift towards being a lesser version of ourselves.
Most people are not facing mortal or physical danger when physical Courage is needed. We are facing situations where we are called to exercise moral Courage, and we begin rationalizing.
● I’ve never done it this way before.
● I’m too young to speak up.
● Other people are doing it.
● People could disagree with me.
● It’s just this one time.
We need to stop and recognize when we are rationalizing. We need to pay attention to the fact that our small decisions will prepare us for the harder decisions later. We need to be intentional about who we are becoming.
Just like cowardice gets easier the more you do it - so does Courage. Nobody ever drifts towards excellence in anything in life. They become excellent by working intentionally towards it. Growth comes through acknowledging our fear or discomfort and taking action anyway.
So if you are feeling uncomfortable, recognize it as an opportunity to grow because of that discomfort. Avoiding it will halt your growth, and you will stay stagnant because of those choices.
But, if you decide to exercise Courage at that moment, you will stop the drift and actually be paddling towards the destination we want to attain - becoming a Leader of Character.
Questions:
● Are you drifting or paddling towards a better version of you?
● Will that drift get you where you want to go?
Here is a quick assessment that will take you 5 minutes to figure it out. Nobody will ever see your results but you.
Warning: If you are not going to be honest with yourself this is a worthless assessment.
To take the assessment use the QR code above or go to www.MYCHARACTERTEST.com
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