5 Ways To Push Yourself Beyond Your Own Limits

Sometimes you are your own worst enemy, particularly when it comes to success. Our potential is unlimited, but you can’t coast on that. It’s imperative that you take steps to develop your skills and take action in order to succeed. You can’t sit around and wait for it to happen to you, you have to push yourself beyond your own limits. There’s also a difference between your existing skills, the ones you have yet to develop, and the limitations you’ve placed on yourself due to fear and uncertainty. Do you have the ability to recognize a genuine limitation? Here are five ways to get rid of those self-imposed boundaries and push yourself beyond your own limits.

 

1. Walk The Road Less Traveled

 

Sometimes, in order to truly find yourself, you have to first lose yourself a little. A great example of this is the British explorer and author Levison Wood. The former British Army Major is best known for his walking expeditions. He walked through six countries, along the Nile River, pushing his body through deserts and swamps, the topography constantly changing (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-29062489). He pushed himself beyond his limits and in the process he educated himself. Wood could have made this same trip in a vehicle. That vehicle could have been fully stocked with all of the creature comforts he’d need to enjoy the adventure. What he was looking for was an experience, not a trip. 

 

The point is what he did was push the limits, he absolutely took the road less traveled. You don’t have to walk the length of the Nile River, but don’t be afraid to push yourself down the road less traveled. 

 

2. Embrace Failure

 

Failure is inevitable. It doesn’t matter how great you are at something, you will experience failure. Even the greatest athletes on the planet lose sometimes. American swimmer Michael Phelps didn’t win every gold medal that he competed for. Barcelona’s Lionel Messi has experienced major losses in both European and International competitions. Do you know what winners do? They dust themselves off and they go again. It’s the only way to push yourself beyond your limits. Or, you can give up and sulk about it. 

 

3. Take the Risk

 

Life is like a marathon, and in order to run the distance, you’re going to have to take some risks. Athletes push their bodies beyond their limits, you don’t have to do that. You do have to push yourself beyond your comfort zone, though. Think about it in terms of offense and defense. If you are facing a must-win game, are you going to set your team up to defend? Or, are you going to push to score? You might think a balance of the two is the best option, but sometimes you just have to take the risk. Forget comfort, embrace the pain and take a risk. 

 

4. Unleash the Beast

 

Desperation allows you to access part of yourself that you normally suppress. It makes sense when you think about how you step up when you’re suddenly under pressure. Your boss just moved the deadline forward and now you have to grind it out. Your beast is unleashed. You can tease your beast out by throwing yourself into challenges and adventures. When you get in touch with your inner beast, it’s easier to draw on it when you really need it. So, put yourself out there and go on an adventure that scares you. 

 

5. Remember There’s No Finish Line

 

When you achieve a goal, you’re not finished. That wasn’t the finish line. You just start a new race, there’s a new challenge. Like in a triathlon when you finish the swim, you’re not done, you have to hop on a bike, and after you finish that you need to run. Except in life, you keep going. Pushing yourself beyond your own limits is essentially an invitation for pain and failure. Failure isn’t the end of the world, though. It’s just a pit-stop in your long journey. 

 

6 Characteristics of Great Leaders

From around the world and across time, great leaders can give us example to realize our own potential. From politicians to captains of industry, from around the globe, from antiquity to today, this article will discuss leaders and the six great qualities that made them great.

 

1. Focus and Self-Control

 

Martin Luther King Jr. was a 20th century civil rights leader in the United States. At a time when disparaged racial groups were denied liberty equal to those around them, many considered anger and even conflict to be the only productive approach. In this atmosphere, King, a preacher, captured the attention of the country by preaching peace and non-violent protest. 

 

That isn’t to say that King never felt anger. While presenting a calm but charismatic face to the public, those who were closest to him say that King was every bit as made as more destructive leaders of the time.

 

King’s dedication and even anger gave him focus but it was his self-control that allowed him to spread a message of peace that resonated with a larger audience and eventual won the day.

 

2. Integrity

 

Another great leader of American History was George Washington. A hero of the war that won America’s independence from Britain, Washington became America’s first president.

 

In a time full of great leadership, many of Washington’s contemporaries said that Washington’s greatest strength was his strong character. 

 

Some recent historians have since chosen to stress Washington’s faults, none argue that his strong decision-making abilities and integrity helped to forge Washington as a leader and America as a country.

 

3. Well-Rounded Interests

 

The small country of Prussia formed out of the dissolution of larger empires. As such, it was difficult for the country to make a name for itself in a rapidly changing Europe. Frederick the Great, a 17th century Prussian king, helped to shape the small nation, which would last as a world power until the early twentieth century.

 

Frederick is called “the Great,” but he is not remembered for his greatness as much as for his broad interests and even wider court. While his father was interested primarily in military matters, Frederick took interest in more cultural affairs and surrounded himself with knowledgeable ministers. By finding interests beyond his early education and making friends with a panel of experts, Frederick was able to shape the country into a cultural center of early-modern Europe.

 

4. Charisma

 

Ronald Reagan was an American president during most of the 1980s. A series of disastrous military conflicts abroad was well as a changing global economy left America reeling. The “Cold War” -- a series of escalations and proxy wars between America and the Soviet Union – had most Americans living in constant fear and confusion.

 

Like any politician, Reagan has his critics. However, the former actor’s charisma allowed him to strengthen America’s confidence in its goals providing a sense of national courage and motivation.

 

5. Dedication

 

Regularly appearing on the list of the greatest leaders of all time, Winston Churchill is remembered as being the Prime Minister of England during the second World War.

What fewer people know, however, is that Churchill first made a name for himself in British government in 1905 and continued in politics until 1955.

 

While Churchill has many of the leadership qualities that have been discussed in this article, it is dedication that allowed him to rise in power, to stay in power, and be widely supported and loved by his countrymen during a lifetime of political activity.

 

6. Innovation

 

Other than being great leaders, everyone on this list so far has one thing in common: they are dead.

 

Many of history’s great leaders have become our national heroes. However, we now live in a time just as dynamic as any before us. We have a whole pantheon of living heroes to look up to.

 

Most of today’s great leaders are characterized by an innovative and inventive spirit.

No matter where you live, or what your field of business, history and the living world around us offer many encouraging figures of great leadership.

 

6 Ways Leadership Skills Help You In Your Personal Life

Leadership skills are important for being a leader, but what about being a person? Many of the skills that are important for being a successful leader can also help you to live a healthier, happier, and more personally rewarding life. 

 

1. A More Organized Life

 

Being a leader requires great organizational skills. At work these are required to manage deadlines for your projects and for deliverables from your team, as well as to keep track of dates and responsibilities.

 

Of course, your personal life stands to benefit from these skills as well. It may or may not deal with things like deadlines and deliverables, but it may result in things like a cleaner house and car and a swifter and more organized mind and life.

 

2. Better Time Management

 

Similar to organizational skills, being a leader requires honed time management skills. At work time management skills are used to make sure that there is time for work, meetings, phone calls, and maybe even a bite to eat.

 

In your personal life, excellent time management skills can certainly help you fit more into the day. Once you have been rewired to be a little more mindful of when commitments begin and end and how long certain tasks take, you are likely to find more time in your off time.

 

3. More Effective Communication

 

Communication skills are some of the most important skills that a leader can possess. That definitely includes mediation skills. Being concise, charismatic, and diplomatic are all important for a leader but are also helpful for your personal life.

 

Whether it’s with your friends, your significant other, your children, or in an emergency, communication skills, especially mediation skills, can make a huge difference in your personal life. 

 

4. Social Mobility

 

Leadership skills and being in a leadership setting at work also contribute to social mobility. They open up new doors to new friends, groups, and social networks. These networks can help you to further develop your leadership skills, but they can also be a way for you to meet new people and have a good time.

 

6. Self-Confidence

 

Solid leadership skills can make you a more confident person. Being more confident improves all areas of your life, including professional and personal and also encourages risk taking which can promote great success and goal achievement.

 

While taking risks can be scary, knowing your self-worth can help you take advantage of risks that pay off. Risks that you may not have taken if you hadn’t proven yourself by achieving and maintaining a successful leadership role.

 

7. Less Stress

 

Having leadership skills at work and practicing them in your personal life can greatly reduce your stress levels. Leadership skills are very transferable. They make you important to your company and they help to make you marketable to other companies if something goes wrong where you are. Having this job security results in less stress and means you can devote more time and more of yourself to your family and social life. 

Utilizing your leadership skills in your personal life helps to make you more organized, manage your time better, lead your family effectively and promotes self-confidence and all of these things result in less stress overall. 

 

Final Thoughts

 

Communication, time management, and organization are some of the most significant skills for a good leader. These skills don’t stop being important when you leave the office or the field, however. Once you return home, these skills can carry their own weight. They can also lead to other benefits including confidence and social mobility.

 

These skills aren’t exclusive to those who occupy leadership positions, however. Just as you can begin to learn these skills before you get the promotion, you can begin to use these skills in your daily life no matter what your occupation is.

 

Are You A Leader Or A Follower?

It’s a question that is often asked with the implication that there is only one real answer. Either you are a leader, or you are worthless, fit only to be shepherded by the strong, intelligent, and brave.

 

Before we continue, it is important that you know that this is not the case. Leaders are important, but so are followers. After all, where would leaders be without followers? The world needs leaders, but it also needs followers. It’s also okay to start a follower with the aim of becoming a leader, or to be a leader today and a follower tomorrow.

 

Whatever the case, it’s probably easier to break the question up into questions that address the qualities of leadership. This article won’t tell you whether you are a leader or a follower, but it will help you to answer the question reliably for yourself.

 

Are You Confident With The Situation?

 

Confidence is important to leadership, both confidence in yourself to lead and confidence in yourself to handle the situation. If you aren’t sure that you can lead or aren’t familiar with the type of situation that you are faced with, you probably aren’t the best person to lead in that situation. 

 

Passing up a leadership position in this situation will protect you from making a critical error in a leadership position but it will also protect the team by allowing a better prepared person to step forward, increasing the team’s chances of success.

 

You also should have confidence in your team. Without a good team, the project will likely fail. If you don’t see much chance of success, do you want to be a leader or a follower when the ship goes down? Sometimes the decision to be a leader or a follower is based more on the situation than it is on your ability.

 

How Do You Handle Pressure?

 

When faced with great responsibility, some people rise to the occasion and others collapse under the pressure. Knowing which one you are can help you decide not whether you are right for the position but whether the position is right for you.

 

It is also important to consider what kind of position you are looking at. Some leadership positions mean that you are truly at the top of the heap, while other leadership positions mean that you are in charge of a team but are also answering directly to someone else. The latter kind is often more stressful.

 

Leadership 101

Our society encourages everyone to be a leader. You can’t just be a leader, however. Being a leader takes experience and skills. Reading articles can’t give you everything that you need to be a leader, but it can help you understand what it takes to make yourself a great leader.

 

Give Yourself Time

 

As was mentioned above, waking up and trying to become a leader is not a good idea. This is true for a number of reasons, namely that you aren’t likely to become a good leader. Being a leader requires experience and an understanding of the work that is required of the “followers” in order for a leader to be effective.

 

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t allow yourself aspirations to leadership. A desire to become a leader while you are in a “following” position. Aspirations to leadership can make you a better follower, and approaching your following role from the position of someone who wants to be a leader can make you a more effective leader when your time comes.

 

Starting from a following position is also important in that followers are more likely to respect a leader who started out as a follower. Leaders who start off as leaders are often seen as being unprepared, naïve, or privileged.

 

Do Your Research

 

Working towards leadership should also involve studying leadership. This can come in many forms. Sometimes this means studying leadership styles or methods. There are a number of different established leadership styles and methods, but more on that later. No matter which leadership style you select for yourself or for your situation, knowing what other people have found to work can be important.

 

Many people also study great leaders from fields like politics, the military, or business. This can be a good way to learn about leadership techniques, but everyone has their own, and it is important not to try to lead as someone else would. Instead lead like you would.

 

Listen

 

Learning about leading comes from experience and from research but it also comes from listening. Learning from people in leadership positions that you have direct access to can help you to get the most out of your time as a follower.

 

Once you are a leader, however, your time listening isn’t over. Of course, you can continue to learn from other leaders, but the best leaders also listen to their own followers. “Followers” don’t get their fair shake in most societies, but the truth is that they do a great deal of work and their problems can really slow them down and have a negative impact on productivity. If you can listen to your team about their problems and how you can be a better leader for them, you will have a more productive team.

 

Find A Leadership Style

 

As mentioned above, there are any number of different leadership styles.

Which leadership style you use should be based on your personality, on the collective personality of your team, and on the goal that you have on hand.

 

This variety can mean that sometimes a leadership style that you have studied fervently or become comfortable with in one situation may not be effective or appropriate in another.

 

Put Your Team First

 

Finally, great leaders should think of their teams first.

 

Because of the emphasis placed on the importance and prestige of leadership, many people focus more on climbing the ladder than they do on completing their objective. This makes for ineffective leaders, but it also leads to ineffective teams. Of course, the leaders of ineffective have a harder time climbing that ladder.

 

Your greatest goal should be the success of your team, and the success of your team will make you more successful as a leader.

 

No article can tell you everything that you need to know about leadership, but hopefully this article has helped you to understand what some of these necessary skills and experiences are.

 

Leadership: It’s Not All About You

Do you have leadership potential? Are you a leader or a follower?

 

The way that people talk about leadership, you’d think it was all about you. Sure, there are some traits that you should develop to be a better leader and, sure, experience and education help. The truth is, however, leadership isn’t all about you. 

By definition, a leader works with a group of other people, and leadership is very much about them. You also came into your leadership position in a very specific context to do a very specific thing. Who you work with, who you work for, and what you are working towards are all aspects of leadership that you might not be able to change. 

 

There are lots of good resources about how you can develop into a better leader, but this article is going to be about the external aspects of leadership.

Company History

 

You are a leader within the context of a company that has its own history. Technology is changing the ways that many businesses do things, and it’s making it easier for new businesses to spring up. As a result, you might be the first person to have held your position at your company. In this case, people are going to expect things from you, and those expectations will likely impact your leadership style.

 

On the other hand, most people who come to occupy leadership positions are promoted into positions that were previously held by someone else. Your predecessor’s style of leadership and success or failure in that position may give you a boost as you take over, or it may serve as an obstacle that you will need to overcome as you put your own name on the desk.

 

Company Personnel

 

As was mentioned in the introduction, being a leader means that you won’t be working in isolation, you will have a team. That team will have their own quirks, their own strengths, and their own weaknesses.

 

Many of the strengths of a good leader involve getting the most out of your team by inspiring them, by helping them to work together, and by orchestrating them so that their strengths have the most possible impact on the team, while their weaknesses have the least impact. However, your control over who you have on your team may be very limited.

 

Company Policy

 

There are many different leadership styles and many different leadership positions. The two don’t often fit together – at least, not at first.

 

Depending on what task you are given for you and your team to achieve, you might not be able to be the kind of leader that you always wanted to be.

 

Sometimes the leadership style that you prefer or are used to don’t fit the current objective and you will have to tweak your approach a little to make it work. Whatever your preferred approach is, be sure to tweak it rather than abandon it. The best leaders are leaders that are confident in their own abilities and their own direction, and trying to make yourself into something that you aren’t will never work.

 

Being a good leader requires great personal strength, and you will find that you can make certain aspects of your leadership position entirely your own. Unfortunately, however, society views leadership as an entirely personal venture. 

 

To be the best possible leader, you will need to develop your personal strengths, but you will also need to consider all of the factors that you are going to be dealing with that are larger than yourself. 

 

As you approach a leadership position, be sure to know the history of that position in the company, the people that you will be working with, and what exactly will be expected of you. After that, consider finding ways to situate yourself within this environment. Only then will your personal strengths be able to shine.

 

Leadership vs. Authority

To Define Leadership

 

To lead is to show the way. It is to guide the actions or opinions of others, and to direct in a given course. (Websters New Riverside University Dictionary, 1984) 

 

A leader is an individual who guides or leads. The person in charge or command of others, the head of a political organization or social group, and an individual who has power and influence are all potential leaders with assigned or earned authority. 

 

Leadership is the skill of leading. Actual leadership requires the ability to motivate and inspire others. It is not dependent upon a tangible source of power, and is so much more difficult to define than this. 

 

It’s different from its synonyms.

 

Many organizations and people confuse those who they put into positions of power or authority with their leaders. Leaders shape our social structures, organizations, communities, and our nation. We tend to look to our leaders for guidance, and influence. 

 

The one concept we most often confuse with Leadership is Authority. In talking about Authority, there are different types: 

 

• Traditional

• Rational-Legal

• Charismatic

 

Traditional authority is dependent upon established tradition or order. We follow and adhere to traditional authority because it’s passed down through the generations. In cases of traditional authority, we yield to it because it’s the way we’ve “always done” something. Adults and children who question this type of authority, and Rational-Legal authority, are often accused of displaying something like Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). This is because the act of questioning authority is often seen as an aberrant behavior. But, generally, if we do question authority for some reason, it’s Traditional and Rational-Legal more so than Charismatic. 

 

The source of power in a charismatic ruler is the trust and faith followers will give to the authority. The trust and faith are worship based, and we follow charismatic rulers because we want to appease them. Keep in mind, that there are examples of Charismatic Leaders who’ve used their position and authority to do some awful things: Jim Jones, and Adolf Hitler. Unfortunately, we are much less likely to question a charismatic authority figure who we love, and who we’ve chosen to follow, than a traditional authority figure who was thrust upon us based on tradition or rationality. 

 

Then we have Rational-Legal authority figures who derive their power based upon our vote. We elect these figures. Their elections anchor their legitimacy because we’ve put them in positions of power. Rational-Legal authority figures must possess some amoutn of charisma to begin with, or we wouldn’t be willing to follow their lead and interpretations of how we should behave within society.

 

Rulers and Leaders

 

A good leader is generally an individual who has been entrusted by their people to lead them for some purpose. In rational society we have a well-established practice of electing our Rational-Legal authority figures. Generally, we willingly hoist these individuals up into positions of power because they are charismatic, and we put our faith and trust in them. When a ruler seizes power in society, our lives, or in our professional environment, we often question their legitimacy until they prove their worthiness. 

 

Authority is simply the right to command, enforce laws, or exact obedience. There are plenty of men and women who are now and have been in positions of power and authority. 

 

• Your boss

• Kim Jong Un

• Joseph Stalin

• Donald Trump

• Your parents

• Your kids’ soccer coach

• A high school principal

• The Librarian

Also, there are individuals who have been and currently are Leaders who hold no rational-legal, or traditional authority. They’re leaders because they’ve proven their willingness to sacrifice for their cause, to give of themselves for our benefit, and lead the way to help us realize their ideal future. We have worshiped and loved these leaders, so we accept, or have accepted, their guidance. 

 

• Emmeline Pankhurst was a social reformer who founded the Women’s Social and Political Union. Suffragettes followed her unquestioningly because she was a charismatic leader, a powerful orator, and endured 13 imprisonments for the sake of her cause. 

• Martin Luther King Jr. was an activist and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He endured personal attacks, and loss for the sake of equality. 

• Marie Curie founded the science of radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the first Person to win a second Nobel Prize. 

• Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white person. She challenged race segregation in American and her protest sparked the Civil Rights Movement. 

• Nelson Mandela spent 30 years in prison. He was a leader before he was an official authority figure in South Africa. 

• George Washington was our country’s first president. Before that he was given real authority to lead the colonies armies against England in our Revolutionary War. Soldiers followed him because of his ability to lead, and unflinching integrity. 

 

A good leader can motivate her followers regardless of the institutional power she may or may not have been assigned. To be considered a leader among your subordinates, a manager must be able to encourage and inspire his employees and peers. Any authority fighter must have the respect of those she intends to lead to be an effective leader. 

 

Authority and Leadership

 

There is a difference between a boss and a leader; a President and World Leader; a Pope and a beloved Leader; and a Parent and a Leader. Understanding that Leadership is derived from the respect you’re able to garner, not the position you’re assigned is the single most important thing any leader will address first.

 

An office manager, boss, Senator, President, Queen, Parent, or High-School principal may have worked very hard to achieve the position in their organization, political party, or household that they now have. However, there is a difference between commanding the respect of the people who follow you willingly, and demanding respect from subordinates who find you weak, wishy-washy, demanding, or narcissistic. 

True leaders, as world history has borne out, command the love, respect, and admiration of their willing followers. 

 

Stop Following And Become A Leader

The world needs both followers and leaders. Being a leader, however, is often more lucrative and more rewarding.

 

But, how can one become a leader? Depending on your situation, getting into a leadership position might not be that difficult. Becoming a good leader, however, takes time and experience. This article can’t replicate that time and experience, but it can help to get you started.

 

Know The Requirements For The Next Promotion

 

The first step to getting a leadership position is finding a job with good upward mobility and keeping an eye out for opportunities. Some jobs only let you move so high without different experience or higher education.

 

Once you take a job, knowing the next step up and what the requirements are can help you to work toward that next step up by showing that you have the required skills or learning the required skills. Becoming a part time or online student to get any required or preferred degrees can help too.

 

Let The Boss Know You’re Interested

 

Initiative is a huge part of leadership. Letting your supervisor know that you are interested in taking on a leadership position – even before one becomes available – will let your supervisor know that you have initiative. 

 

Of course, being a leader also requires patience and hard work, so don’t quit the job if a leadership position doesn’t immediately become available. In addition to undoing all of the time and effort that you have put in at your current job, it may suggest to your next employer that you don’t have patience and tenacity.

 

Take On More Responsibility

 

Leadership also means responsibility. Taking on more responsibility before taking on a leadership position can help you in a number of ways. For one thing, it will show your supervisor that you are willing and able to take on more responsibility. It will also help you to get used to a greater level of responsibility so that when you end up in a leadership position you will know the ropes and know what it takes to work them.

 

It’s important, however, not to take on too many responsibilities too quickly. Taking on more responsibility will only impress the boss if you are able to handle it. Besides, being a leader also takes restraint and passing up an opportunity because you can admit that you aren’t ready for it is a wise and respectable move.

 

Find A Mentor

 

Taking on responsibility, showing initiative, all of these things are ways to both demonstrate that are interested in and prepared for a leadership position, as well as to get on the boss’s good side.

 

If you and the boss are on good terms, and the boss knows that you are looking to – let's be honest—take his or her job, you may be able to arrange a mentorship. Mentorships are great ways to learn the ropes from someone who’s handled them.

Mentorships are also helpful for your supervisor. Look at it this way: your boss is probably looking for their next promotion too. Once they get it, they’re going to need someone to fill their shoes. If that person isn’t ready for the job, it’ll be your boss who has to deal with it. 

 

As a result, it’s in your boss’s best interest to have someone ready to take their job when they go on to bigger and better things.

 

Don’t try to rush into a mentorship too soon, however. Mentorships are all about trust. After all, a crooked mentor could take advantage of all of your time end energy to lighten their load without actually intending to help you. Similarly, you could take advantage of all of their time and energy to put those skills to work at a different job.

 

Most of us want to stop following and become a leader. The best way to become a good leader, however, is to take advantage of all of the opportunities to learn and grow that following represents. Keep an eye open for the next opportunity at a leadership position, but don’t take your time as a follower for granted.