My Super-Charged Life

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Behind every great leader is a lot of great followers doing all the work.  Without great followers there would be no great leaders.  Within our country, our businesses, and our families we need to learn to be better followers.  We often have too many cooks in the kitchen to actually get anything done.  The competing interests and agendas of multiple leaders can often stymie any real progress.  Our Congress, it seems, is frequently an example of this.  There are courses galore about great leadership, but who teaches people to be great followers?  I think if we had a lot more worker bees and fewer prima donnas, then we would all be better off.

7 habits of all great followers.

In an effort to improve our country, businesses, and families, I have comprised what I think makes someone a great follower.  No one usually disagrees that we need more great followers, however, we all want the other person to assume this role.  I challenge you today to evaluate yourself against this list to see how you can be a better follower.

1.  Make the leader’s job easier.

This is the basic marching order that every follower should focus on.  Do whatever tasks need to be done to move the agenda of the leader you choose to follow forward as quickly as possible.  There is nothing more valuable than a person with initiative to work.  This is what accomplishes all fabulous feats.  It usually takes several dedicated, hard-working souls to get the job done.  Leaders need ideas.  This means they usually have some great followers doing research, summarizing information into digestible chunks, and making sound recommendations.  These all help to make the leader’s job easier.

2.  Keep the leader informed.

All great followers have their ear to the ground listening for where the leader should focus their attention next.  They keep the boss informed of where the next challenge, attack, or opportunity may arise.  A great follower never lets the leader be blind-sided with a question or issue that they were completely unaware of.  Followers usually have better informal information networks than leaders.  This is crucial information that the leader desperately needs to guide their movement forward.  Think of yourself as the scout on the battlefield.  You need to always be looking forward to advise the general where to move the troops next.

3.  Be loyal.

A great follower is loyal almost to a fault.  No one is going to agree with every decision a leader makes, but we must publicly support every decision.  In private, it is the follower’s job to question the leader to help them develop policy.  However, once the leader makes a decision and goes public with with it, the follower must support that decision no matter how painful it becomes.  If you cannot support your leader’s decision, then it is time to step aside and move on.

4.  Respect the chain of command.

Great followers know the chain of command and respect it.  They would never consider going over their bosses head.  Great followers know their leaders.  They know how to persuade and convince their leader on important issues.  With this ability, there really is no reason to step over the bounds of one’s position.  The truly great followers are cunning and adept at the art of getting things done within proper channels.  Every leader values a follower that knows how to use the chain of command properly.

5.  Be a great listener and sounding board.

Great listeners are hard to find, but every leader needs them.  Leaders need someone to bounce their ideas off of.  They also need a confidant that will allow them to blow off steam without passing judgement.  Being a great follower requires excellent listening skills.  You also need the ability to pick up on the subtle messages that your boss is sending.  Learn to read your leader’s body language.  Help them manage their stress and health.  These are ways a follower can make themselves indispensable!

6.  Protect the leaders’s time.

As we all know, there is only so much time in a day.  Every leader struggles with this.  A great follower protects their leader’s time.  They screen what gets through to the leader.  They eliminate those things that are simply distractions and they condense whatever possible to just what the leader needs to know.  In addition, great followers are prepared when they meet with the leader to minimize the time necessary for maximum effect.  Be thorough, but make it brief!

7.  Complete all assignments early.

The follower that completes tasks well before the due date adds years to their leaders life!  No one needs the stress and anxiety caused by those that finish everything at the last minute or a day late.  We might not always understand why something needs to be done by a certain time, but it is our job to handle it.  Great followers always manage their time well.  They are able to pull off the miraculous when necessary.  Furthermore, by getting the regular stuff done well ahead of time, this makes you available to be the hero when emergencies arise.  Leaders love those that get things done early!

Develop these 7 habits to be a great follower.

If only the world were full of natural followers, it would truly be a great place to live!  Followers really are the ones that get things done.  They make the world turn.  You won’t go wrong if you develop these seven habits as a follower.  In fact, if you do these well, you’ll probably find yourself becoming a leader before you know it!

What other habits does it take to be a great follower?  I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below.

Photos by ul_Marga and BrianScott

A man is only as good as his word.  In order to truly experience a prosperous and fulfilling life, a person must build many relationships.  We have all heard that it isn’t what you know that counts, but who you know.  This is very true.  Typically, to get ahead in life, you have to have the collaboration of other people.  We need to build successful relationships with our co-workers, customers, and family to succeed.  Relationships are built on trust.  We gain trust by consistently doing the right thing.

The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty.  ~Zig Ziglar

We must do the right thing in our life even when it’s not convenient for us.  This is called integrity.  Here are several ways that we can build trust and do the right thing.

1.  Do what you say you will do.

This seems simple enough, but how often have you experienced people doing the exact opposite?  As a customer, I have seen this numerous times.  I get told the work will be done tomorrow and then it is not.  We must set the right expectations with others and then live up to those expectations.  Make sure that your actions exactly meet your words.  If they do not, then people will not trust you.  Another way that people fail in this area is by not giving their employer a full eight hour workday.  You agreed to this when you took the job so do it.  We must be sure to do what we say we’ll do in every area of our lives.

2.  Work at an honest profession.

Do you firmly believe that what you do for a living is benefiting others?  If not, then I would suggest seeking other employment.  We can’t really get ahead and be happy in life if we aren’t doing something that we feel has meaning.  Does the company you work for conduct its affairs in an ethical manner?  Are you fair and consistent with your customers?  If not, these things can come back to bite you.  People will eventually discover these disparities and then your reputation will be tarnished.  Be sure you work at an honest profession.

3.  Meet your financial obligations as agreed.

Pay your bills!  I think most people know they should do this, but they often fail to manage their finances appropriately to avoid getting overextended.  Do you have a written budget?  Do you keep track of what you spend and manage your money so you can pay your bills on time?  Meeting your financial obligations is a key indicator of your trustworthiness.  I mentioned in Reality Check - Are You Doing What It Takes To Get Ahead in Life? that employers now run credit checks prior to hiring people.  This is one way they check to see if you can be trusted.  It would be terrible to miss out on the next great job offer simply because you didn’t pay your bills on time.

4.  Make sure your handshake is better than any contract.

If you made an agreement with someone verbally or otherwise always, always, always fulfill your end of the bargain.  You must do this even if it turns out not to be in your best interest.  If you give people a reason to doubt whether your word is good or not, then you will miss many great opportunities in life.  Your handshake on a deal should be better than any contract.  People must know without a doubt that you will not go back on your word.  This is crucial to your success!

5.  Show up on time to every appointment.

Sure, I’ve been late before, but it is the rare exception.  In my mind, if someone shows up late, it plants a seed of doubt about whether I can trust them with important things.  You need to be where you said you’d be when you said you’d be there.  Again, this is not difficult, but if you are consistently late, it sends the wrong message.  People will talk about you behind your back and they will not trust you.  Without trust, you will miss out on chances to improve your life.

6.  Be faithful to your spouse.

Don’t give anyone a reason to doubt you in this area.  Look at how failures in marital fidelity tarnished Bill Clinton’s reputation and the legacy of his Presidency.  What you do in your personal life will spill over into your professional life as well.  Maybe you don’t cheat, but do you flirt?  Don’t even create the perception that you might break your vows.  People want to do business with those that they know beyond a shadow of a doubt they can trust and that will project a positive image for their organization.

You must do the right thing to be trusted with greater opportunities.

Doing the right thing is really not that hard, but it is critical to balanced success.  The more consistently you do what is right, the more often doors will be open to you.  Being trustworthy, you will experience greater happiness and build more meaningful relationships.  These relationships will assist you to expand your influence and live a richer, more abundant life.

Photo by Andyrob

Our expectations have a tremendous influence in our lives.  What we expect to happen in our lives versus what really happens often defines our attitude at any given moment.  We have to properly manage our expectations if we want to be happy and get the most from life.  We all know that a positive attitude and enthusiasm will get you further in life than walking around like a sourpuss all the time.  People naturally gravitate toward those that are more positive and encouraging.  These are the people that we want as leaders because they are always telling us that better things are just around the corner.  Keeping our expectations focused in the right direction is essential to happiness, effectiveness, and success.

The factors that influence our expectations.

Do you wake up in the morning dreading the day?  Or, do you wake up, throw off the covers, and bound out of bed in expectation of a day full of opportunity?  You probably have days when you do both.  I do too.  Of course, we would like to get to the place where we have more days that we can’t wait to start.  Many people think this has to do with their circumstances.  They think that if they only had the right job or the right spouse or more money, then they would be happy.  However, I don’t think this is the case.  I fall into this trap as well, but over time I have started to realize it isn’t so.  Here are the factors that I think influence our expectations the most:

1. Our patterns of thinking
2. Our self-confidence
3. Our focus

How these factors determine our expectations and level of happiness.

We are our thoughts.  Our personality, our attitude, and our happiness is the result of our thoughts.  We are habitual creatures.  We like to get in a rut and stay there.  Some of us are in a rut of positive thinking and some of us are not.  Once we get in the wrong habit, then we all know that it is difficult to change.  However, if we want to be happy, then we must change the habit of accepting low and/or negative expectations for ourselves and our endeavors.

I think we often get started in the habit of expecting less than we should out of life because we have low self-confidence.  We don’t think highly enough of ourselves to believe that we deserve the very best life has to offer.  We don’t believe we deserve to truly be happy.  When life lives up to this low expectation, then we feel justified in our belief.  It is a vicious circle of thinking.

One of the reasons we get caught in this loop is because we lack focus.  It might have started when you were young.  Maybe you didn’t know exactly what you wanted to do with your life right out of school.  It seems that so many people just kind of stumble into a profession and then into marriage.  Before you know it, you have an entire life and feel sort of stuck with it.  Your initial lack of focus in life may have gotten you started in the habit of setting poor expectations.

It is possible to change your expectations and get a better life.

The good news is that your life doesn’t have to remain the way it is today!  You are in control.  You may not feel like it, but you are.  If you change what you think about, you will change your expectations.  Once your expectations are full of positive anticipation, then you will achieve more, improve your relationships, and be happier.  Life will give you exactly what you expect from it.  If you expect it to be the pits, then it will live up to those expectations.  However, if you expect great things, take steps in that direction, and keep a positive attitude even when minor setbacks arise, you will start experiencing greater success in life. 

Practical ways that you can think your way to a better life.

1. Train yourself to be an optimist.  Yes, this is possible.  You have to start seeing the glass as half full, instead of half empty.  This takes some effort.  However, if you really want more out of life, you have to do it.  No one was born a pessimist so, it is possible to retrain your thinking.  Donald at Life Optimizer offers some great suggestions on how to do this in Being an Optimist - 8 Ways to Overcome Pessimism.
2. Find positive inputs.  We are all very influenced by what we read, hear, and see.  We have to eliminate the negative inputs as much as possible and replace them with positive ones.  Read encouraging books in the area where you most want to achieve success in your life.  Listen to audio books in the car.  Turn off the television and stop reading the news.  Go to church.  Sign up for a motivational seminar.  There are literally tons of ways to start receiving positive influences in your life.  It may be uncomfortable at first, but it will eventually change your thinking which will change your life.
3. Keep a journal of good happenings.  Get a notebook and write down every good thing that happens to you for awhile.  A cheap, spiral notebook will do.  If you do this, it will become the most valuable asset that you have.  You need to convince yourself that good happens to you.  This will help you change your expectations about the future.  Also, when a setback occurs and they will, you can refer to your journal to remind yourself of the progress you have made.
4. Refer to your goals often.  Goals give us focus.  They chart a course for our future.  Otherwise we are simply back in the mode of stumbling through life taking whatever it hands us.  Read your goals often to yourself.  You do write them down, don’t you?  It isn’t a goal until you commit it to paper.  You have to be intentional about how you live your life.  For more on goals, read The Power of Goals by Scott H. Young.
5. Use a mantra.  A mantra is a phrase or set of words that have significance or power in one’s life.  Come up with a positive mantra to keep you mindful of your new direction.  Whenever you catch yourself falling back into old, negative thought patterns, repeat your mantra to yourself several times.  It will help to get you back on track.  For instance, to remind myself not to get too stressed out, I have used something like, “Everything is happening perfectly for my benefit.”  It works wonders!

Set new expectations in your life and experience new success.

Use these suggestions to create a new way of thinking which will lead to new success in your life!  Most of the time, life will give us exactly what we expect.  When we manage our expectations in the positive direction by overcoming patterns of negative thinking, building our confidence, and creating focus, then we will make huge strides toward a happier, more fulfilling life.

Please leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts on this article.  Also, if you like it, please Stumble or Digg it.  Thanks!

Photo by gadl

Here’s this week’s awesome articles in each key characteristic of super-charged living:

1. Strives for Excellence   
   5 Signs You’ve Married Your Problems (and how to divorce them)
   Applying Kaizen, the Japanese science of continual improvement in our daily lives
2. Financially Wise   
   Do You Steal Money From Your Spouse?
   Plan Ahead- 6 Steps to Secure Your Financial Future
3. Committed to a Cause    
   Anniversary Gift Idea - Recreate Your First Date
   How to Live Without Alcohol for 100 Days?
4. Leadership by Example   
   16 Ways to Keep A Razor- Sharp Focus at Work
   7 Things I Learned As A New Manager
5. Entrepreneurial Spirit   
   Remove Your 10 Blocks To Creativity
   8 Keys to Instant Charisma
6. Continual Learner
   Thinking Can Ruin Your Life
   8 Covert Methods to Instant Rapport and Charisma with Anyone Fast
7. Adventurous   
   28 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Traveling
   50 Best Sites and Resources for the Ultimate in Luxury Travel

Here’s a few other articles from around the web that I enjoyed reading this week:

You Made Yourself Into Who You Are
The Absolute Best Guide To Establishing Yourself as an Authority
Why I No Longer Support The Sierra Club
What Software Speeds Up Your Day the Most?

I hope you have a super-charged Mother’s Day!  Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this week’s links.

Photo by …..dotted…..

Moms deserve special gifts on Mother’s Day.  Mothers work tirelessly to take care of their families and they do it all with love.  Many cook, clean, manage the finances, decorate the house, raise the kids, doctor us, and often work outside the home as well.  They are expected to know and do so much yet they are often under appreciated.  It is sometimes a thankless job.  Of course, Mother’s Day is set aside once a year by many countries all over the world to honor our mother’s.  This is our chance to make our mom feel special.

The gifts mom really wants on Mother’s Day.

I have had a mother for over forty years and my wife has been a mother for almost eight years.  In that time, I believe I have learned a little about what mothers really want the most from us.  Oh, they like things like flowers, fine jewelry, nice clothes, and the latest gadgets.  However, I think that deep down inside our mothers prefer gifts that don’t cost a dime.  I want to share with you today what gifts I believe our mothers really want for Mother’s Day.  This list is universal.  It doesn’t matter what country you are from or when you celebrate Mother’s Day.  This is what mom really wants.

1.  Mom wants you to remember.

First and foremost, mom wants you to remember that it is Mother’s Day.  She wants to know that you appreciate her enough to prepare in advance to celebrate this day with her.  This means buying a gift and a card before Mother’s Day instead of scrambling at the last minute.  Yes, she can tell.  She is your mother and she knows everything!

2.  Mom wants to hear you say, ‘Thank you!’

On this day, your mother wants to know that she is appreciated for all that she does for you.  Be sure to tell her thanks and be specific!  Tell her exactly what you appreciate the most.  Mainly, mom wants to know that you know what she does for you.  Moms make a lot of sacrifices in terms of their own wants and desires in order to give their children what they want.  Let her know you are thankful for this.

3.  Mom wants to feel special.

It is Mother’s Day after all!  Make mom feel special.  Honor her with your words and actions.  Make sure she feels like a queen for a day.  Pamper her.  Wait on her hand and foot.  Do whatever it is that she wants to do and make the absolute most out of it.  I guarantee you that this will come back to you tenfold.

4.  Mom wants a hug and a kiss.

Give mom a little affection on her day.  Actions speak louder than words.  Show her that you truly love her.  A big hug and a kiss will likely set your mom aglow.  She loves to know that you love and value her.  Take action to show her it is so.

5.  Mom wants a day off.

Do not make mom cook and serve others on her day!  She’ll likely do it and she probably won’t even complain about it, but don’t let it happen.  Give her the day off!  Don’t allow her to left a finger.  For some mothers, they will struggle with this.  They are used to taking care of us, but they’ll appreciate it if you make the effort to take care of everything for them on Mother’s Day.

6.  Mom wants to hear you praise her in front of others.

She would never tell you this, but your mom would love to hear you tell someone else how much you love and cherish her.  She would just beam inside to hear you say what a great mother she is.  Don’t let this opportunity slip by!  Mothers worry by nature.  They worry that they aren’t doing enough or that they aren’t doing the right things.  The best way to reassure them is to praise them in front of others.

7.  Mom wants some time alone.

Give mom a little time to herself.  You have to be careful with this one.  She may not want to be alone on Mother’s Day, but she will definitely appreciate an offer of some solitude at a time of her choosing.  Give her the chance to take some time on Mother’s Day or to choose another time to be alone for a few hours.

8.  Mom wants a letter.

Put your feelings and appreciation for your mother in writing.  There isn’t a mom alive that wouldn’t cherish a letter from their children telling her how great she is.  There is something about committing your words to paper that adds to their value.  Plus, mom can pull out and read the letter another time when she’s feeling a little down or sentimental.

Give mom what she really wants on Mother’s Day!

Take my advice and give mom some of these priceless gifts on Mother’s Day.  You’ll make her heart swell!  There is nothing more powerful than telling mom that you love her with your actions.  Of course, it doesn’t have to be Mother’s Day for you to give your mom these gifts.  She will appreciate them year-round.

Moms, let’s hear from you.  Are these the things you want for Mother’s Day?

Photo by Carla216