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LEADERSHIP IS A PROCESS OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE, WHICH MAXIMISES THE EFFORTS OF OTHERS TOWARDS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF A SHARED GOAL.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Positive Leadership: Encouraged vs Discouraged


Events do not cause what we feel, but what we tell ourselves about these events does cause what we feel. 

Many people may seem to be unmotivated but they are really discouraged.  Perhaps they have come to believe that, no matter what they do, the results will not be there, so what is the use?  They should remember that discouragement is more a result of what they are telling themselves as opposed to being about the event itself.

Discouragement is a style of thinking which focuses on end results and a self-counselling of our fears. Encouragement is a style of thinking that focuses more on the process and on possibilities.

Try and avoid talking to yourself about results and fears (again, never counsel your fears) as opposed to process and strengths.  Develop a "go to script" for pressure situations: "Trust," "Read and React," "No judgment. With these phrases you are having audible, observable thoughts that encourage yourself. 

How do you talk to you?  Do you discourage you?  Do you say that this undertaking cannot be done?  Do you say, "I have to win?"  Or do you encourage yourself step by step?  Do you talk yourself through the process?

Here are two of the best encouragement phrases:
  • ‘The bamboo encouragement principle’ - If you water bamboo one, two, three years, you get nothing.  But then the fourth year, the bamboo grows nine feet in six weeks.
  • 'Keep planting grass; don’t pull weeds'  - Paying attention to the weeds is counselling your fears.  Planting grass is encouraging your strengths.

Your greatest enemy when under pressure is mental fatigue and discouragement.  But if you can keep from growing weary, in doing well in due season, you will reap if you faint not.  Keep on fighting weary until finding renewed energy.  Talk to you, out loud if you have to, saying, "Keep planting grass; don’t pull weeds."  Or "Keep watering the bamboo."  Or maybe "I am just too stubborn to give up, so weary I hear you knocking, but you can’t come in."   Whatever you do, just keep on keeping on.

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