By Michael Gidlewski,

Are you the leader of your life, or a spectator sitting in the bleachers?

Every day, moment by moment, we choose to lead or follow. To live the life of your dreams, you need to be an active participant in the journey, not a passive observer stranded on a rock of indecision. You must be your own, personal leader.

Many people are looking to take shortcuts to success and fulfillment. They aren’t willing to embark on the necessary journey required to become the best version of themselves.

For those who are, some don’t know where to find that single step, where their journey of a thousand miles begins. Make no mistake: The quest commences when we start telling the truth about ourselves.

Introspection enables us to take a giant leap forward along the path to the best version of ourselves.

Are the boundaries that I’ve set for myself in my business life and social life real or imagined? What’s stopping me from reaching higher, going further? Why has my fear of change held me back, and what could I have achieved if I didn’t hesitate?

In order to make changes at work or home, we, as Mahatma Ghandi once said, must be the change we want to see in the world.

The Tao Te Ching, a classic Chinese text that is fundamental to self-mastery, captured the essence of our need to accept change, both personal and environmental. It states that “whatever is flexible and flowing will tend to grow; whatever is rigid and blocked will wither and die.”

Once we change our thought processes and realize that most of our limitations are figments of our imagination, we become personal leaders.

The people in this world who are autonomous (who do what they want to do), competent (who do what they want to do very well), and related (who are connected with other important people in their life) are all personal leaders.

As we grow older, our vision often narrows and becomes restricted. We are preoccupied with daily affairs that hem us in and make us shortsighted. We fail to see the abundant opportunities that exist around us.

Before you can begin to develop your own personal leadership, you must recapture that childlike enthusiasm for life, for its abundances, for its opportunities. Winning behavior and successful living are learned processes.

Are you still willing to learn? Don’t be an old dog, and allow yourself to learn new tricks.

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Michael Gidlewski is President of West Chester-based Achievement Unlimited, West Chester as well as a corporate coach and motivational speaker. He works with motivated business owners, entrepreneurs and consultants to clearly define the elements of what they dearly want their lives to look like then helps them connect all the moving parts that make up those visions to consistent action and habits. Michael can be reach at 610-793-6609 or via email at michael@achievable.com.

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Top photo credit: Shortcutting Prohibited via photopin (license)