Category: Personal Development

How Can You Create a Successful Leadership Mentality?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, Communication Skills, emotional intelligence, Leadership Development, Personal Development

Enthusiasm Moves the World (Arthur Balfor)

If you are an individual seeking to make a positive difference in your environment, you have to admit that you have both climbed mountains and descended into deep valleys, sometimes questioning whether your attitude really does make a difference.

It does.

No matter what you may have been through in your life, in your career, you must realize that everything has served its purpose. Without these valuable experiences, you would be only half as knowledgeable, so instead of mourning and remaining paralyzed, transform your valuable lessons into powerful wisdom and use it not only to your personal advantage, but also to become a positive role model for others.

Your Enthusiasm will be Infectious, stimulating and attractive to others. They will love you for it. They will go for you, and with you. (Norman Vincent Peale)

However, make sure to keep a few important things in mind when creating a winning leadership mentality for yourself, including:

1. Successful leaders compete only against themselves, not against others. Most of all, successful leaders are gentle toward themselves, and toward others.

Life, and career, is no competition with people around you. Nor is it a competition with yourself, however ambitious and determined you are. Do not make your life a constant competition. Focus rather on practicing gentleness towards yourself and towards others, and make it a regular exercise to find a positive balance between challenging yourself, and letting yourself rest. It makes no sense to burn your candle at both ends. Real self-worth and passion comes from within, not from exhausting yourself either with too high personal expectations or trying to fulfill external expectations at all costs.

2. Successful Leaders do not give their personal power away to others.

If you are a good listener and an empathetic individual, you have to learn how to shield yourself against taking upon you the negative energies of others, or letting people manipulate you. Learn how to be assertive, but not aggressive, and how to be gentle in a sophisticated way, without taking upon you the energies of others, unless they truly are uplifting and positive. It is a positive trait in people to have two ears and one mouth, and to use them accordingly, but practice assertiveness in yourself and focus upon spreading your light instead of letting people and society around you to drain your energy. Find ways of getting rid of negativity quickly, either through surrounding yourself with positive, like-minded people, meditation, spending time in nature and so forth. If you notice that certain relationships always seem to bring up negativity, make sure to detach yourself as soon as possible and focus upon getting back on track as soon as possible.

Successful leaders live with the 3 E ́s: Empathy, Energy and Enthusiasm

3. Successful leaders stay in tune with their personal values.

Simple. Know your values and stick to them. Be assertive, confident, and focused. If you have forgotten about your real core values, make sure to find yourself back to them, and remind yourself about them each and every day. Find ways of reminding yourself, be it through a daily repetition of a mantra or simply waking up in the morning with a smiling soul, full of optimism, making sure that you will make the best of each and every day living according to your values, without harming yourself or others.

4. Successful leaders have a principle of staying true to themselves, but are also willing to help, and to support others.

Great leadership starts with knowing yourself. Even greater leadership allows for you to forget about serving your ego. All great leaders live with a meaning and purpose of serving a higher good, helping others, and serving others. A true, winning leadership mentality can shine only when it serves a higher purpose. Respect yourself and others by focusing upon being a role model of positive actions and optimism instead of finding fault either in yourself or in others. Remember also that your greatness requires the ability of being at peace with yourself. We all deserve leaders with healthy personal qualities so make sure to stay healthy and take care of yourself first.

5. Successful leaders develop their communication skills. Every day.

Every change-making leader is marked by outstanding communication skills. Excellent communication is demanding, especially if and when you work long hours and have great responsibilities. Therefore, make sure to learn how to save your energy through developing your communication, and negotiation skills. Powerful, respectful communication requires assertiveness, consciousness, an ability to tap into your personal source, and most of all, having the capability of truly listening to yourself, and to those you communicate with. Practice also on listen to what is left unsaid, and what you possibly can read between the lines. Online communication especially does include a number of challenges, which requires for you the capability of tuning extra carefully into what is being communicated. Successful negotiation, on the other hand, should always create a win-win situation.

Communication must be HOT. That is Honest, Open, and Two-Way (Dan Oswald)

6. Successful leaders are physically, mentally and spiritually in balance.

Physical, mental and spiritual balance requires continuous efforts, but to be truly successful in your career, and in your life, you have to be in shape. The more demanding your life is, the more you will have to work on maintaining this balance. What this includes, and signifies, is individual to each one of us. Listen to the signals your body is giving you, but also to your dreams, daydreams, thoughts and senses. You are the master of your own temple, so make sure to nurture it accordingly.

7. Successful leaders have trust, and are trustworthy.

When leaders tap into their higher consciousness, and operate on a level from the super-ego, rather than based upon fears stemming from the subconscious level, they open up to whole new levels of possibilities. Tapping into one’s intuition and therefore, having access to the abundance on the upper levels of consciousness creates completely different experiences, and offers increasingly prosperous outcomes in every action. To learn more about stepping into your intuition, I recommend reading The Intuitive Way: A Guide to Living from Inner Wisdom written by Penney Pierce.

From Powerless to “Leader” – Recognizing Victimizers & Victim mentality by Esperanza Montalvo:

Thank you for reading, listening, watching, liking and commenting. Thank you also for emancipating yourself in a positive way and becoming a positive role model, and a catalyst for improved communication and leadership.

 

 

What is Successful Change Leadership Really About?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change communication, Change Leadership, Leadership Development, Personal Development

The Greatest Leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things, but the leader who gets people to do the greatest things.

During our lives and in our careers, we get to know leaders with a wide range of characteristics, either from close or far distance. Although practical experience is a great teacher, leaders who inspire us from wide distance do often become more influential, and more significant, in our growth towards leadership excellence. This is especially true if you, as a continuously developing leader learn through observation, a developing and learning technique that can include anything possible for higher development, evolving, and learning.

In some contexts, change management is referred to as something related to IT project management, process creation and development, but change leadership is a much wider context, and change leadership always puts either individuals, groups of people, teams, or complete organizations at the core, thus making it a people-centered approach. In its farthest reaching context and meaning, change leadership signifies the capability of thinking out of the box, seeing the problems, potentials, and solutions, stretching far beyond to what may be common day practice, and focusing upon creating completely new solutions.

Ultimately, change always begins within an individual. Although we are all products of our environments, and our societies, we do always have the possibility to see what is necessary, to create what is necessary, and to lead change that is necessary. To lead change, you must always be willing to change yourself first. To lead change that is significant to your values, you must first see, and visualize what is important to you, and what changes you want to see, and to lead, in your personal life, and possibly, in the lives of others.

Organizational change is a separate theme. The best, and most valuable organizations, do include and let everyone in the organization be part of the organizational development, and the change process. They do even include (wisely!), their clients and other shareholders in the process through a number of methods. In today’s world, in fact no organization can afford not including their employees, stakeholders, and shareholders to become a part of the change process, or change communication process. Organizations, in fact, should listen very carefully to how employees and other significant stakeholders respond to, and what changes they would like to see in the organization.

Effective change leadership, depending upon your mission and vision, includes:

  • How you, as a change leader, perceive society, people, and organizations around you

What is your role, as an individual, a team member, a leader, and as “a part” of society? Are you ultimately happy with how things are, with your career, and with your life? Many people probably respond with a “no” to these two questions, while others are unsure, and others respond with a “yes”. If you responded with a no, or unsure, you know that something is not right, either in your career, or in your life in general.

  • Becoming aware, as a change leader, of the changes you need to make, or the changes you want to pursue, in one of the areas of your life (or, in the lives of others)

Awareness is at the core of your personal awakening process towards the fact that something has to change. You will not only recognize that something has to change, but also WHAT has to change. Before leading others in the change process, you MUST become and create that change in yourself, and in your personal life.

Leaders do not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk

True leaders never ask others to do something they are not capable of themselves. Let’s say, you want the whole world to become vegan, but you keep on eating meat yourself. Is there not a huge dilemma, and a problem? Before expecting anything from other people, make sure to fulfill the requirements you demand in your personal life, career, and leadership practices. The most annoying thing is seeing leaders (managers?) who criticize and demand others to deliver, without having the capability or requirements themselves.

  • Be authentic, and live according to your true values

Create and live the life you were meant to live. If you feel like you are in a rut in your current job, take the necessary steps to create the changes that you wish to see in your work environment. After all, we spend a significant part of our lives working, and everyone wants to do rewarding work. And, rewarding work includes much more than going to work and sitting around waiting for the monthly paycheck. There are other ways. Do not wait to fulfill your true dreams and desires until retirement. Instead, take the necessary steps in order to create the life you truly want, as soon as possible. True change leadership is about living according to your dreams and desires, and fulfilling the changes you wish to see in this world, and about making things happen, instead of waiting around, and building negative feelings inside you, and bad habits in your life due to the lack of satisfaction, and the lack of fulfillment, in one or several areas of your life.

Implement Change Powerfully and Successfully With Kotter’s Eight-Step Change Model:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QA7Mvu2QDE

Thank you for reading, commenting, liking, and especially for sharing. Remember, sharing is caring, and if you found this post useful, please increase the chances of effective change leadership through sharing this post. 

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Leadership is no Rocket Science – Or is it?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Creativity, Futurology, Leadership Development, Personal Development

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. The science of today is the technology of tomorrow. (Edward Teller)

As an avid leadership enthusiast, curious by nature, always eager to learn and to explore the known, and, the unknown, creative, intelligent, exploring, enthusiastic, developing, evolving, analytical and deep-thinking you may have learned that leadership is no rocket science, but in fact something that every single individual can develop within herself, or within himself.

Leadership skills can be learned and developed within any individual, but it requires more than repetition to become a leader. If you already make progress in your personal life and career through developing leadership skills within yourself, the effort is worthwhile. Not everyone has to, or wants to, become the next Prime Minister of his/her country, or an exceptionally well-known, difference-making leader. But, as long as you are capable of developing leadership skills in order to improve your life, expanding your knowledge, personal development is always in place, and useful.

I have written much about general leadership skills and qualities, but instead of repeating these over and over again, I would like to emphasize some leadership qualities that are not so commonly discussed in leadership reviews/ articles/ literature.

Although leadership, and being a leader (at least in your personal life), is no rocket science, you may want to tap into your personal leadership potential keeping in mind following potential facts:

– True Leaders Dare to be Extravagant

Be brave enough to explore, create, and make use of your extravagant ideas and thoughts. Many people will probably try to convince you the opposite, but do not listen to conservatives if you personally do believe in your concept, and the thing you would like to create, manifest, and materialize. Our world is full of conservatives who never like to try out anything new, so creativity and extravagant actions are more than welcome. A very good example is the multi-talented artist Lady Gaga, probably not accepted by everyone due to her extravagant style, but yet millions and millions of people do admire her, and do love her brave, creative style. And, did Pablo Picasso ask people what they thought about his paintings? This creative, artistic genius listened to his inner voice, developed as an artist throughout his career and created some of the most magnificent paintings mankind so far, has seen.

– True Leaders do not only think out of the box. They think like there is no box.

If, and when, we spend year after year working for a salary in a neat organization, fulfilling everyone else´s dreams but the one´s we have in our minds (regarding our personal lives), we in fact look for security instead of creating ourselves the way we truly want to. If this is the way you want to lead yourself and your life, OK, but is there not much more to life than fulfilling the needs of others, and living your life according to the expectations of others, including your employer? This is especially true if you are working in poor conditions, and if your personal input is not valued by your employer. Taking ownership and leading your own life is not always simple, especially if you are used to working for others. Nevertheless, taking ownership of your own life and your personal career signifies that you will have to rethink, re-evaluate, and reorganize your professional life in a way that suits you, and gives you the opportunity to create a whole new life, without any boxes or restrictions.

– True Leaders think, and act, into the future

Every day, try to find at least one hour, or even twenty minutes to meditate in order to create an empty space within your mind. In your meditation, focus upon forgetting everything that you were, what you currently are, and what kind of society you are living in. Give yourself this empty space every day, and notice how your thoughts and feelings start shifting, allowing for you to tap into new creative potential. Emptiness is the source of new creations, and in order to innovate yourself and the society you live in, you will have to learn how to unlearn useless patterns and behaviors of your life.

– True Leaders Expand their personal horizons by learning something new every day

Promise yourself to become, or to stay, curious in your life. Do not accept things as they come to you, especially if and when you notice that this specific something is draining your energies rather than adding value to your life. Instead, do something new every day, no matter how small or how insignificant this may seem. Creativity, and personal leadership, requires the ability to tap into new possibilities and to unlearn certain patterns and behaviors in your current life.

THINK: A Forum on the Future of Leadership:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjMTx4b6bLw

Thank you for reading, commenting, liking, sharing, and for unlearning certain behaviors and patterns that may not serve your personal growth and development as an individual and professional.

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Facts Every Leader Has To Know

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Coaching and Mentoring, Leadership Development, Personal Development
Businesswomen Meeting. Freedigitalphotos.net
Businesswomen Meeting. Freedigitalphotos.net

The Growth and Development of People is the Highest Calling of Leadership

(Harvey S. Firestone)

Leadership is not for the faint-hearty, nor is it for someone who wishes to achieve quick results with as little effort as possible. For true leadership to develop within ourselves, we have to be willing to develop, learn, and to stay humble within the process, no matter how experienced or well-know we may be. The bigger the responsibility of a leader, the more relevant do these qualities become in his/her work. Humility does not mean that a leader has to knee in front of his/her employees, but yet humility remains one of the greatest qualities within a leader, often something that has to be learned through experience.

What else do leaders have to know, beyond remaining humble? Does leadership require anything, or is it just a title someone earns thanks to relationships? Oh, please forget about my previous sentence – leaders are never corrupted!

Although, a good relationship has nothing to do with corruption, yet leaders do know that managing relations does include much more than simply choosing someone for a role e.g. because of personal relations, especially if the role in question is in the public sector. In private businesses, leaders can always pick what suits them best, no matter if another candidate would be a better match, or, more qualified for the role. Budget also plays a significant role these days, although leaders ought to keep in mind that recruiting qualified talent may become less expensive (and give more ROI) than recruiting someone with less qualifications.

Nevertheless, every leader must know, and execute the following in her/his leadership:

  1. A leader must know how to prevent, and to manage conflicts in any circumstance

Our world has enough conflicts, small and big, and the responsibility of leaders is to learn how to prevent, and how to manage conflicts. This begins with knowing how to prevent bullying in general, which is a huge problem in societies. In Finland alone, the amount of bullying in schools and at workplaces has led to severe a consequence which is unacceptable. Conflict prevention also includes the capability of preventing misbehavior, gossiping, and other harmful behaviors that cause long-lasting mental health problems and costs not only for the individual, but also for the organization in question and for the whole society.

2. The role of a leader is to coach, and to mentor, her/his employees, beyond other leadership duties and responsibilities

The responsibility of leaders cannot be underestimated. Nevertheless, organizations tend to hire and to recruit leaders who have no leadership education or whatsoever. Education alone is no guarantee for leadership excellence, yet, an educated leader has more understanding and knowledge about what leadership truly does signify. A leader who has spent time and effort in order to develop and to learn these skills within her/him, is more likely to be productive and generate desired results than a leader that has been recruited for other reasons, such as a lower salary request due to lack of skills, and education. A leader is someone whose responsibility includes coaching and mentoring her/his team in addition to other responsibilities.

3. Before leading others, know how to lead you.

Never take your leadership for granted, not even if you have led people for the past 10 or 20 years. A leader must always be capable of remaining enthusiastic, and if your leadership style is becoming tired and boring, you will have to ask for help. Even leaders need coaches and mentors to stay mentally and physically fit. In addition to REST, something that our contemporary society for some reasons seems to underestimate. How can you lead others if you personally are dead tired and exhausted, physically and mentally out of shape?

4. Every Leader Needs a Coach, and a Mentor/Mentors

Leadership coaching, and mentoring, is no trend. Like some people want to hire a personal trainer for their physical well-being, leaders need coaches and mentors. If not for the benefit of learning, then at least for the benefit of exchanging ideas and thoughts, and in order to engage in dialogue. Too many leaders make the mistake of engaging too little in dialogue, and expanding their horizons through one-to-one, or group, coaching sessions. How can a leader expect to develop, grow, and learn if not through her/his experiences, co-workers, employees, but also with the help of a coach/mentor(s)?

5. A Leader Must Know How to Build, how to Grow, and how to Maintain and how to Develop a Team

One of the most important skills of a leader is to know how to build, how to grow, how to maintain, and how to develop a team. Depending upon the team, the life-cycle of a team is never forever lasting, and this is something that a good leader can live with. Good leaders know how to keep their team members on-board, but great leaders know when it is time to say goodbye, and when a team member is ready for new challenges/new responsibilities.

6. A True Leader is Always Ready to Take The Blame, but Knows How Important it is to Give Credit to the Team

Leaders are always ready to take the blame for failure, or when something has simply gone wrong. Instead of blaming individuals in their team they ask themselves why something went wrong, and how the specific issue could have been prevented in the first place. When the team succeeds, the true leader is always willing to give credit to team members. And, a leader is always willing to give extra credit to her/his team.

7. Leaders Must Have Passion and Share the Values of Their Business/Leadership Organization

No responsible leader would take upon her/himself a role without truly sharing the goals, the mission, the purpose, and the mission of an organization. True leaders know the importance of believing in, and having passion for, the role they have been assigned.

8. Leaders Must Know When it is Time to Move on Personally

No matter how difficult it may be for a leader to leave a role, or a team, a leader must be willing to move on personally, tap into new responsibilities and into unknown waters, at the latest when they feel that the role in question has nothing more to offer them. People, including leaders, no longer stay in the same roles/organizations throughout their careers. Those who do, are exceptions and rarities rather than commonalities. Even entrepreneurs, or serial-entrepreneurs, know the importance of knowing how to, and when to, develop themselves further and take upon them new responsibilities.

9. Junior Leaders Can Always Learn from Senior Leaders

Junior leaders, however enthusiastic and energetic, should always be open to learning and developing with the help of senior leaders. Sometimes, junior employees, and leaders, make the mistake of having the need to impose all their knowledge upon others, including senior leaders, without having understanding about what, and why, they in fact do have much to learn and to gain from people with more experience than them.

I am not young enough to know everything (Oscar Wilde)

 10. Senior Leaders Can Always Learn From Junior Leaders

Instead of getting upset or annoyed by besserwissers and “I know everything” attitudes among younger employees and leaders, senior leaders could try to tap into the mindset of their younger peers, learning certain things from the youth regardless of the fact that however fast technology is developing, seniors usually are very aware of their time. Technological awareness is more a question of personality rather than of age.

Awakening the Heart ~ by Thich Nhat Hanh ~ The Practice of Inner Transformation:

Thank you for reading, commenting, liking, sharing, and for listening to the wisdoms of Thich Nhat Hanh. Thank you also for developing leadership qualities in yourself, and thus becoming a change-maker in our society. 

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How Visionary Leaders Execute Strategy

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Leadership Development, Personal Development, Visionary Leadership

“Action without Vision is Only Passing Time, Vision without Action is Merely Daydreaming, but Vision with Action can Change the World”

(Nelson Mandela)

One of the most important qualities of successful leaders is to have vision – in other words, to possess the capability of envisioning a desired future. Vision, together with the capability of taking action and thus executing what a visionary leader has imagined in her/his mind, is according to some a missing piece in the puzzle of many leader´s minds. The lack of vision in leaders often results in actions that are neither benefiting leaders themselves, nor those around them.

No matter how important it is to take action, and work towards reaching goals, visionary leaders know when it is time to step back, pause and relax instead of making drastic moves that may either be harmful to themselves and their societies/surroundings, or result in leaders adjusting their sails according to current winds blowing, making their ships sail in any direction the wind may be taking them.

"Businessman with Brain Button". Freedigitalphotos.net
“Businessman with Brain Button”. Freedigitalphotos.net

“Business Man with Brain Button”. Freedigitalphotos.net

How then, do visionary leaders adjust the sails of their ships in a way that allows for them to navigate their ships in the right direction?

Visionary leaders do share many common attributes, including:

  • Visionary leaders live with purpose and meaning

All visionary leaders are on a mission in their lives. They have found purpose and meaning in everything they do, in the actions they take, and in the actions they are willing to take. Thus, the first step in becoming a visionary leader is to find that purpose and meaning in your life/career. What are you here for? What is your purpose, and what is your meaning? What are your aspirations? What are you willing to do, and how are you willing to spend your time fulfilling that purpose and meaning?

  • Visionary leaders focus upon holistic well-being

Visionary leaders know the importance of living their lives in a way that serves, and nurtures, both their bodies and minds. Overall well-being is at the core of leading a successful life, having a purposeful career and for living the purpose and meaning of your life. This includes nurturing your body and mind in ways that serve and benefit you and others through rest, physical activity, meditation, healthy food and healthy living habits. A healthy lifestyle, thus, is essential for all visionary leaders.

  • Visionary leaders engage in, and align daily activities according to their vision

Visionary leaders know how to combine their purpose and meaning with holistic well-being, engaging in activities that enable them to realize their vision. In order to make your vision come true, you therefore have to be capable of imagining, creating, and letting go of activities and habits that do not serve your vision.

  • Visionary leaders live with a purpose of serving others

True visionary leadership can only be executed with the purpose of helping and serving others/society. How is your visionary leadership benefiting those around you, or society in general?

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” (John F. Kennedy)

  • Visionary leaders co-operate and team up with others

Visionary leaders realize the importance of co-operation and teamwork, and understand that visions can only become reality with the help and support from a strong team, people who share the leader´s vision, or a team with many visionary leaders sharing the same vision, a willingness to co-operate, create, and find ways of making their vision come true.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” (African Proverb)

  • Visionary Leaders have the courage to rise above their fears

Visionary leadership requires having courage. Courage is not lack of fear, but rather the ability to act upon the things you believe in despite of, and through transformation of fears into a space of compassion, love, and passion.

  • Visionary Leaders are connected to source

In visionary leadership, being connected to source means everything. The stronger your connection to your inner wisdom and intuition is, the easier it gets to actually express and live your vision to those around you. Visionary leaders also know how to create a bridge between their heart and mind, enabling them to freely engage with themselves and with their environments in a deep, almost mystic way.

Leadership: Do You Have What It Takes? | THE RABBIT HOLE with Deepak Chopra:

Thank you for reading, commenting, liking and sharing. Thank you also for tapping into your potential of becoming a visionary leader, or, for supporting visionary leadership.

 

Why Your Leadership ALWAYS Matters

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Inspirational Leadership, Leadership Development, Personal Development
"Businessman and Businesswoman". Freedigitalphotos.net
“Businessman and Businesswoman”. Freedigitalphotos.net

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. Dare to lead. (Warren G. Bennis)

As we all know, there are many differences between leadership and management. Management withholds the capability of managing tasks, while leadership, and leaders, focus upon the bigger picture, including a) the capacity of leading oneself, b) the ability to lead others c) the capability of inspiring and creating whole new possibilities through leading oneself, and other people.

“Business Collage, Innovative Concept”. Freedigitalphotos.net

The difference between merely managing, or having the capacity to both manage tasks and lead people, can be demanding for anyone, wherefore true, inspiring leadership always does require inspiration, dedication, a positive mind-set, a capability to handle complex issues with optimism, passion, purpose, and vision. Management, and leadership skills, can always be trained and developed, but true, inspiring, long-lasting, changing leadership with an impact upon one´s personal life, other individuals, and society, is possible only through dedicated, long-term work and an aspiration, together with a willingness to work towards reaching a greater purpose and goal, to make a positive impact and create positive change in the environment/in a society.

As a leader with vision, your efforts have to be aligned with your whole life, and in the way you communicate, and express your life mission to other people, and society.

Your leadership does not come from position or title, but rather from a strong sense and willingness to make a positive impact, to improve society, and to help other individuals realizing why their contribution is essential, and needed, too. True leaders do not need a position or title to create change, or to make an impact, although the best of leaders will definitely create a position for themselves through dedication and hard work.

We are all humane, and leaders especially ought to, and tend to, remain easily approachable and humane. Nevertheless, even leaders need rest and sleep, and a life lived to its fullest will make its marks. However, how we grow and mature is up to us, and since spirit is stronger than our physical bodies, a determined mind will always prosper, regardless of physical age.

Your leadership will always matter. When having moments of doubt, please remind yourself about the fact that your actions and that the results of your communication and leadership are not always visible. People will not always clap their hands, or freely express their enthusiasm towards what you are doing. Let go of your doubts, and let your leadership shine – your actions and leadership do make a difference, at all times.

I want to share with you a conversation between two leadership personalities, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, and Tony Robbins, the work of both that has inspired not only me personally, but millions of other people worldwide:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXpBW4w9ZnY

Thank you for reading, commenting, liking and for sharing this post, and for reflecting upon the messages within this article. 

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How Do Leaders Transform Intentions into Reality?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Health, Leadership Development, Personal Development, Transformational Leadership, Wellness

Intention leads to behaviors which lead to habits which lead to personality development which leads to destiny. (Jack Kornfield) 

Are you dealing with difficulties in one or several areas of your life? Do you sometimes, or often, feel that you have no control or power over how circumstances or things unfold, and how the course of events occurs in your life?

If you responded with a yes to one of these questions, please continue reading this post. If your life is exactly how you want it to be, you may still want to read this, and reflect upon the message.

To help you realize your true goals, achieve them, and to transform your current life situation into a more rewarding and fulfilling journey, I will share with you a few rather simple techniques/ways of creating the life that you truly deserve, a life filled with creativity, courage, inspiration, joy and passion.

  • Acceptance and awareness

Acceptance and awareness are the first steps towards creating change in your life situation. Before being capable of creating change in the situation, you will have to become aware of it. Without awareness, there is not enough understanding, and therefore no action. Learn methods of increasing your personal awareness level. Then, accept how things are, no matter how difficult or unpleasant the situation is.

  • Breath

Breathing serves as the basic mechanism for us human beings to live, and despite of its importance and its effect upon all our internal and external activity, many people take their breathing for granted and have learned a false way of breathing, meaning that many people, due to a number of reasons, breathe superficially and in a false way. The best way to drastically and quickly improve your health, life, and well-being, is to become aware and conscious about your breathing. Learn how to breathe correctly, and how to influence all your actions and your life in general through breathing. This can be done in a number of ways, and athletes of all kinds especially know the importance of correct breathing before, during, and after an exercise.

  • Divine timing

There is a time for everything, and realizing this especially when things seem extremely challenging will help you keep calm and developing your patience. Many times, not getting what you want may be a great blessing in your life, because divinity has something else in store for you. However, you also have to be ready to take action and not wait your whole life for divine timing to jump in and make things happen for you. It will, of course, but do not sit around at home waiting, letting your life pass by. Instead, get out of your shell and get involved in activities and with people who enlighten your day.

  • Energy

Life is energy. You are energy. Your thoughts, and everything you vibrate and send out to your surrounding and into the Universe, are energy. Make sure to balance your energies, let your energies be positive, thoughtful and always inspiring, because what you radiate into your surroundings will definitely create your reality, and come back to you. Your energies are powerful, so make sure to use them wisely in order to serve both your personal purpose, and the purpose and well-being of others.

  • Focus

In a world filled with distractions, it is easy to get lost if you are not focused. Therefore, learn how to focus in all your activities. Be present in every situation, and focus upon the present moment.

  • Imagination

Everything you can imagine can become a reality. Use your imagination wisely, and do not fear to express your creativity.

  • Law of attraction

You attract what you are, not what you want. Therefore, if you want to attract what you want, you have to become what you want.

  • Meditation

Meditation is the best way to embark upon the journey of transforming your positive intentions into reality, not only because of all the health-factors that regular meditation brings with it, including the facts that regular, daily meditation helps you to improve your breathing, helps you increase your awareness and therefore also consciousness, not to forget about how meditation improves your mental and physical well-being. What could be a better way of improving your life in a drastic way, with quick results when practiced on a regular basis?

  • Nutrients

How you nurture your mind is important, but how you nurture your physical body is equally important. What, when and how you eat and drink do affect your well-being holistically. Together with meditation, focusing upon your eating and drinking habits will help you transform your body, thoughts, and mind, and therefore, your whole life.

  • Positive affirmations

Make it a daily habit to practice optimistic thinking and focusing upon positive affirmations, or mantras, in your life. Inspiration is no rocket-science, and keeping yourself inspired can be done through small habits in your daily life.

  • Repetition

Achieving your true desires, nature, and goals requires for you to repeat, and live your intentions on a regular basis = always. If you cannot change your whole life immediately, start doing so by implementing small changes into your daily habits and way of living. Repeat these at all times, until your new habits have become a way of life. It may seem difficult at first, because we often want to experience quick results, but in order to make huge life changes it is necessary for you to be prepared doing some long-term work, and focus upon making the changes you wish to see in your life, and in your daily habits, permanent ways of living rather than a one-week-cure every now and then.

What Are The Benefits of Meditation:

 

Thank you for reading, commenting, liking and sharing. Thank you also for creating the life you want, and for improving and transforming not only the way you live your life, but also creating and contributing to positive changes in your environment.

Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it. (Warren Bennis). 

 

Dear Coach, Facilitator, and Mentor

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Coaching, Continuous Learning, higher education, Leadership Development, Personal Development, Wisdom
White-fronted Scops Owls. Freedigitalphotos.net
White-fronted Scops Owls. Freedigitalphotos.net

I am writing this letter to provide you with guidance and support on your exciting, upcoming, life-long learning and development journey as a coach, facilitator and mentor in your continuously evolving identity work with individuals and people who you will meet, exchange ideas and thoughts, interact and communicate with.

However important theoretical knowledge is I would like to pinpoint the fact that your role as a knowledge worker includes a number of factors that you might want to put an emphasis upon especially. After all, the greatest asset of someone involved in human/humanitarian work, is the ability, interest, and willingness to be involved with other social beings, who all have their personal beliefs, value systems, and minds. Becoming, and being a coach, facilitator and mentor is a calling, and although not comparable with the profession of a doctor or a psychiatrist, your work can greatly affect and influence those around you. Therefore, and because you have chosen to work with minds, there are certain aspects in your work that you should especially keep in mind.  These include:

  • Acceptance

Your role as a coach, facilitator and mentor (one of these, or all combined), is not to force change in other individuals. Rather, your role is to accept people and individuals as they are. Depending upon the coaching/facilitating situation, and/or the group of individuals/people you are working with, you will have to tailor your work accordingly. There are differences between coaching, facilitation and mentoring situations/sessions, but you will always have to accept people as they are and not force change in them. Rather, seek to be a role model through your own behavior and through setting an example, and let individuals find in themselves the power to become who they were meant to be.

  • Balance

You will have to be in balance with yourself in order to create balance in your learning/teaching environment. Focus upon being in balance, and notice how you can affect your environment through the expansion of your personal energies.

  • Communication

Your work is all about communication, and about developing these skills in other individuals, including not only public speaking, but also non-verbal communication and listening skills. As a coach and mentor, you will have to develop your personal communication skills in order to create and get to desired results.

  • Creativity

Life is not about finding yourself, it is about creating you. Creativity is the lifeblood of everything, so nurture, develop and make use of your creative potential and allow for others to express their creativity as well. There are many ways of communicating and expressing creativity – just let your imagination flow freely and do not be afraid of creating completely new paths through audio, visualization, or kinesthetic learning and development solutions.

  • Development

As a coach/facilitator/mentor, you will not only deal with continuous personal development and learning, but most importantly, develop individuals and people who you work with. You will also learn to understand that development occurs at all times, although you may not always see the results immediately. Sometimes, it will take years to create and to get to the results that you seek to see through your work, but learn how to use certain types of tools for receiving feedback and making sure that at least some development is noticeable within a specific time frame.

  • Empathy and emotional intelligence

Empathy is part of emotional intelligence, but emotional intelligence stretches far beyond simply being empathetic. Your life work with human beings and individuals is all about social interaction and communication that require being emotionally intelligent. Developing emotional intelligence in your personal life and in other individuals is an essential factor in achieving success through your work.

  • Identity

As a coach, facilitator, and mentor you will get in acquaintance not only with your personal identity, but also with the identities of those who you work with. Teaching is identity work.

  • Improvisation

Improvisation, drama and theatrics are developing, learning, and teaching methods that allow creativity and imagination to expand. Improvisation is also sought-after, especially in unexpected circumstances and situations. If you have no materials to work with, improvisation allows you to create learning situations using your/your student´s minds and physical bodies to create completely new learning situations.

  • Journal/Learning Diary

If not already, learn how to journal and write down your (learning) experiences, and teach the same to those you work with. A journal/learning diary may be expressed in many forms/ways. It may be very personal, or shared in public with others. It may be expressed in a number of ways, through creative writing, poems, audio, or video. Make it a regular habit, if not daily, then at least on a weekly or monthly basis.

  • Memoir

Write a memoir about your life, and about your experiences. You can combine your journal/learning diary with your memoir, and keep it only for yourself unless you are/will be ready to publish it officially at some stage in your life. Writing/keeping a journal is a great way of learning/developing, and who will most benefit from your personal learning and development, if not you yourself, as well as your students.

  • Negotiation skills

Negotiation skills are essential in all areas of life, and business. Also in coaching and developing yourself, and other individuals. Be prepared to learn more about, and develop negotiation skills because you will need these in every aspect of your life, not least in coaching/mentoring situations.

  • Objectivity and open-mindedness

Being objective is perhaps one of the most difficult skills a human being can ever possess, since all our actions are based upon our personal beliefs, and value systems. As a coach/facilitator/mentor, however, you will have to develop objectivity and be open-minded.

  • Perseverance and persuasion

Coaching, facilitating, mentoring, and life in general, are all about learning how to persevere and to persuade. However, as already once mentioned, do not force your ideas upon other people. Rather, be a role model and allow them to tap into their greatest potential through acceptance, encouragement, and allowance.

  • Spirituality

Working with your personal mind, tapping into, and working with other individual´s minds requires for you to be spiritually open-minded and constantly open to spiritual development. Do not fear about creating and developing spiritual connections with people whom you work with.

  • Tolerance

During your career, your will have to experience, and deal with a number of situations, requiring for you to be tolerant with how things, and people, behave and unfold. However much acceptance and tolerance you will have to develop in yourself, you also will have to learn how to draw boundaries and protect yourself from certain kinds of behavior. You will also have to learn how to develop a thick skin, unless you have developed this in yourself. Be tolerant, yes, but make sure to know how to act in challenging situations.

  • Uniqueness

You are a unique individual, working with other unique individuals/personalities. Always have respect for your uniqueness, but also respect the uniqueness of others.

  • Vision

As a coach, facilitator, mentor, or all of these, you will have to have vision in the work you do, and help other individuals tap into their vision in creating their futures.

  • Wisdom

It may take a lifetime to develop true wisdom, something that only experience can teach us. However, seek to develop wisdom in yourself and in your students because wisdom allows us to raise our vibrations and evolve into human beings with a higher spiritual consciousness.

 

How Do Inspiring Leaders Create Change?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Inspirational Leadership, Leadership Development, Personal Development

The time is always right to do what is right. -Martin Luther King Jr. 

How many truly inspiring leaders do you know? People who have contributed to creating waves of change through vision, action and continuous selfless efforts in improving circumstances, people and societies.

What differentiates inspiring leaders different from other people? Are they truly so different from others? Perhaps yes, but most probably not. Anyone can be an inspiring leader – it is a question about willingness and readiness to accept joy, inspiration, and positive thoughts, leading to positive actions, creating a positive environment and seeing how your personal world starts changing, leading to positive changes in your environment as well.

Being positive in a negative situation is not naive. It is leadership. -Ralph Marston

Being, and becoming an inspiring leader is something that you have to work upon every day, until it becomes a habit and a way of life. Everyone, even the most inspiring leaders, has weak moments, which is of course humane. Inspiring leaders know how to cope with feelings of fear and discomfort through acceptance and an ability to transform these lower-frequency energies into higher energy vibrations that lead to positive results.

Inspiring leaders will do what it takes to: 

  1. Continuously develop themselves and their self-knowledge

Inspiring leaders know both their strengths and their weaknesses, and are willing not only to accept these but also capable of admitting that they do have weaknesses. Being conscious and knowing yourself are the basics for continuous personal development. Sometimes personal development is taking two steps forward and one step back, but as long as you keep going you will develop.

2. Empower themselves and people around them

Inspiring leaders know how to empower others, but most importantly – they know how to empower themselves. A leader has to be confident enough to feel and be personally empowered before knowing how to empower others.

The best leaders gain power by giving it away. 

3. Embrace failure

Failures are a part of success. The most successful of leaders may have failed a zillion times, but they always get up and continue their work. Failure is a great teacher, and inspiring leaders accept failures as important lessons on their path to greatness and success.

Failure is not the opposite of success. It is part of success. 

4. Stay in motion

No matter how slow a process sometimes may seem, or how long it may take to achieve a goal(s), inspirational leaders always stay active and in motion. Even inspiring leaders have moments of lost inspiration, but nevertheless they stay in motion working towards reaching their goals and working towards results, knowing that inspiration will follow them on their journey.

5. Co-operate and partner up with others

Inspiring leaders sometimes work alone, but they also know the importance of cooperation, partnering up with others and investing into teamwork. People are at the core of all action for inspiring leaders because they know that without other people, they would be alone in this world. People make a difference. People are important. 

6. Listen more than they speak

Inspiring leaders listen more than they speak. Listening to others demonstrates that you are interested in learning more about what a person has to say, and to offer. Listening to oneself is also important. 

When you talk, you only repeat what you already know. If you listen, you may learn something new. -The Dalai Lama

7. Develop their emotional intelligence

Inspiring leaders either are emotionally intelligent, or they want to be. Emotional intelligence is something we can all develop in ourselves, and emotional intelligence can be more important than IQ when it comes to succeeding in life.

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. -Aristotle

8. Let others lead and succeed

Inspiring leaders are all about developing and growing leadership around them, and they enjoy seeing other people succeed. They know how to work in a team and understand the importance of shared leadership.

9. See the potential in others

Inspiring leaders see the potential in other individuals and know how to get results together with, and with the help of others. Inspiring leaders know that everyone has his/her unique strengths that are essential in contributing and in creating results.

10. Understand that change is a continuous, universal process

Truly inspiring leaders are willing to live their passion, inspiration, and dreams, passing them on to people around them. Inspiring leaders will always find their way to other people’s hearts.

  1. Grow throughout life, realizing that inspiring leadership is a life-long journey rather than a short-term trend.

Inspiring leadership brings with it, and creates, long-lasting changes in people and in societies. Being an inspiring leader is about giving more than you expect back, being willing to help others, serving and valuing people around you. Inspiring leadership is authentic, being and expressing who you truly are, caring, daring, and deep. Inspiring leadership does not care about age, gender or other external qualities, but rather focuses upon internal factors that, when correctly channeled, have the capacity of creating and establishing long-term inspiration in the external world.

May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears. -Nelson Mandela

Author ́s note: I first wrote and published this post on my website and on LinkedIn on August 26th, 2015 (four years ago today). Today, I made some minor adjustments to the post. This post has been one of my most read and shared posts on LinkedIn (316 reshares on LinkedIn), at the time when LinkedIn still featured articles in different categories. This article/post was featured in the Leadership & Management category. Anne-Maria Yritys, August 26th 2019. 

 

Release YOUR Inner Power

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Empowering Women, Female Leadership, Personal Development

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Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t. (Steve Maraboli)

Who is in charge of your life? Is it you, or is it someone else?

Take a piece of paper, a pencil, and spend some time drawing a sketch of your life in silence, without any external distractions. Or, go for a walk, do anything that allows you to reflect upon the way you lead your personal, and business life.

What are your circumstances? What is happening in your life? Who is part of your life? How do you spend your days? How do you spend your time? Who do you spend you time with? How do you treat yourself? How do you allow others to treat you, not only as a woman, or a businesswoman, but as an individual.

Are you living up to your true potential? Or do you let yourself become influenced by other people, their opinions, and e.g. news and media?

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style. (Maya Angelou)

Just think about it. We are constantly being influenced by people, news, and media. In these days of the digital era, many of us are constantly online, networking on social media. Do you control your online presence, or are you being swept away by external disruptions?

Are you on the right track in life, or controlled by external circumstances?

So many questions! And who has the answers?

Only YOU have the correct answers for your life. No one else. Not your family, your friends, your coworkers, your boss, the government, the news and media. No, no, no, do not let everyone else dictate what is right for you, what choices you should be making regarding your present life, or your future.

You are the one who is in charge of your life destiny.

You are not here just to please others.

You are here to fulfill your life´s purpose, and to bring peace into the world. To travel the best possible road of your life, to develop yourself and your surrounding by being a wonderful example to other people.

Keep this in mind, every single day of your life. Do not let people and news/media surrounding you let you down. Instead, focus on positive energies, in yourself and in others.

Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it. (W. Peterson)

Be a Leader: How To Be A Powerful Woman on YouTube:

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Thank you for being in charge of, and taking charge of, your life. Allow yourself to release the power within you.

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Thank you also for reading and commenting this article. Thank you also for liking and sharing, especially if this post provided you with valuable content and information.

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