What is the most obvious about great leaders is that they are strong.
They have the strength to give orders and to push their men in the right direction, they have the strength to stay focused while in difficult positions and they have the strength to keep moving forward.
Great firms and Empires were built by people who wanted to move ahead of others, who wanted to acquire what their opponents did not have yet.
Strength has many different definitions and is present in various situations. Mental strength is what I find most interesting, we can find it in the actions our peers or even ourselves take from time to time: through taking risks, through perseverance, through leading men in desperate situations, through being the main pillar in an ongoing project. Through not only being able to carry your own burdens but the scariest ones of others.
Mental strength is what makes the difference in the long run. It does not matter how talented, skilled or wonderfully audacious you are, if you cannot endure what the world has planned for you.
Now the real question lies here: Where can an individual find that strength, which seems so rare and is the main component of a great leader?
Strength is everywhere, all that we need to do everyday is find it. Most of the time, it is hiding in a passion, as they trigger the most artistic, fiery and sometimes competitive sides of people.
Finding strength is way easier than we think. The first step to doing so is to look for its opposite: our weaknesses. I learnt, in the process of maturing into a hopefully wise and determined adult, that it is only by accepting our points of amelioration as they are that we can move forward. Focusing on trying to fix what you are the least good at is useless if it is in the perspective of getting on the same level as the best, the chances are too slim you will succeed in doing so. Sometimes, in order to be the best we need to accept we can't beat everyone at everything. Spending countless hours trying to change only weaknesses is actually terrible for anyone's determination.
Indeed, we need to start getting better at what we already "do well" so we can start being exceptional. It is by thinking in that positive way that we get our morals up and continue on our quest to our own happiness and feeling of achievement.
Strength lies everywhere. It is hiding in you. Not anywhere else. It is in the core of your soul and finding it might take some exploring, but in the end, it is absolutely worth it.
For some people, it takes getting tattoos of inspirational quotes, reading the biographies of amazing humanists and engaged politicians or simply looking at your family, to keep going on. Whatever it is, if there ever is a moment when you feel like you will fight without ever giving up for what you believe in, then take a moment to reflect on what pushed you to find yourself in this state of readiness for combat as it is what will mostly keep pushing you to your limits and beyond.
In conclusion, although all of us do not always find ourselves in need for mental strength, to get through a complicated time in our life it is required we have it at one point, as a life without difficulties simply is not one. The fact I hope my future self will always remember is that The magic happens outside of our comfort zone, whatever challenges I will face and however atrocious they might be, I need to push myself to get past dilemmas and conquer them fearlessly like the leader I feel I am. Lastly, this is a addressed to every single person on this Earth (and beyond), our daily source of strength are the Little Things that we do not notice enough but which make our lives so incredible.
If you have been able to read everything I wrote so far I salute you, as I have spent an incredible amount of time writing, re-writing and deleting chunks of this post. You are therefore extremely welcome to give me some feedback, good or bad I take it all.
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Here are the little things that made my life awesome today Friday 2nd of May 2014 and which keep me going: My dog, Yoga, Toblerone
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