Negative People

This can be really hard. We all have friends, family or coworkers who are negative and always seem to pull us down when we least expect it. We have to get better at ignoring them. We are only capable of doing what we believe we can do and negativity causes us to aim low. The more negative people you find around you, the lower you will aim.

This life is going to be difficult enough without them. We are going to have challenges and difficulties and problems, but we don't want to add to these because of the people in our life. If you look around and realize you may be one of the negative people, work on changing your outlook. Coach, don't criticize. Motivate, don't complain. Come up with new ideas, don't point out how everything won't work. Figure out what can still be done, don't point out what you already did.

 If people are unable or unwilling to be more positive, then you need to cut them out of your life. This can be really difficult as it may mean spending less time with family, quitting a job or moving on from someone you care about. The negative people only serve to hold you back. Once you find more positive people, you will see how their attitudes and behaviors help to lift you up.

There will be times in this life where we have to make some difficult choices...what's important to you?

Lead or Manage

Leader---A leader moves forward, showing others the way. They don't take charge; others follow because they have faith the leader knows where they should go. This is a big picture person, they see things others don't or can't see. A leader is not afraid to take risks and chances because they know this is the only way to continue to move forward. They may motivate and encourage others, but their main goal is movement towards their desired outcome. The day to day operations don't matter as much to them as long as these activities aren't holding them back.

Manager---A manager focuses on the day to day activities and makes sure the people are doing what they should. Managers schedule and grade and are more concerned with what is happening now. Good managers will also coach and motivate, but see this as a way to get the work of today done in a better way. Managers focus on making sure things are running as smoothly as possible and will often be the ones tapped to make tweaks and changes to the operations in hopes to improve them. People don't follow managers, but in many cases, will respect them as the authority in their day to day interactions.

In almost all situations, it isn't possible to be both a leader and a manger at the same time. Yes, both of these positions are important, but they take different mindsets to accomplish. Great companies have both, but the world is full of managers, while leaders are much more scarce. All of us are capable of doing either...both take work, but leading is much more difficult than managing. Leading takes more time, a lot more courage and the ability to focus on where we should go. The world needs more leaders...where do you want to take us?