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short stories

Quit trying to be someone else!

      We all have our heroes, but you need to be you. Quit imitating others, you are the only you there has ever been or will ever be. You are special and need to figure that out today.

      Do you have any idea what makes a leader? A leader is their own person and has ultimately figured this little piece of the world out about themselves. Followers are those that are still trying to figure out who they are and where they belong. Once a follower decides to be who they are, they are no longer followers. They have now become leaders and the followers will come, mark my words.

Twin women standing on opposite sides of wall. Both are individuals, but one is trying to be more like the other.

      There is nothing wrong with looking up to someone, but don’t go as far as wanting to be them. (The only people that can pull this off and not look ridiculous are twins, even though, they too are individuals who should follow their own path.) If you try to be them, you are a follower who is just an imitation and have yet to find yourself. Everyone has something special about them, the trick is to find out what is special about you. Once you have figured that out, you can step out of the shadow of someone else and lead a fuller life.

      Being a leader does have its downside. As a leader, you start to see others imitating you, so you have to try very hard not to put a step wrong. As a follower, nobody pays attention to you, you are just another face in the crowd. You have no significance as far as others see you. This may work for you, but for most of us, it’s better to have a little pressure put on us to be known as someone and not a nobody.

      Are you ready to step up and step into who you are, or will you continue to be someone else’s shadow? Nobody can answer that question but you. I can tell you, in this day and age, we could use some more leaders. Followers are readily available, but leaders are getting harder and harder to find. I think everyone truly wants to be their own person, but they are afraid of failure. It is true that you will see failures along the way, but a true leader can weather the storm and come out better for going through the struggle.

      Let’s attack this another way and see if this helps with your decision. If you are a follower and the one who leads you fails, what happens next? If they crash and burn, you will also crash and burn with them because you are just following without making a decision for yourself. Wouldn’t it be better if you held the reins and made the decision for your own life? You may find yourself making a bad decision once in a while, but at least it was your decision, and you can learn from it. As a follower, you have no decision capabilities, along with no way of learning from the failure that you were just dragged into.

Sun sets beneath the clouds. "Be the leader that shines for others to follow" Photo by Brett Scaggs

      I personally choose to make my own decisions of who I am and in turn, have others that follow in my footsteps. I also encourage these followers to step out on their own and learn who they are. Furthermore, I have been a follower and I have been a leader, both have their ups and downs. The main reason I choose to be a leader now is because I no longer wish to follow others when they fail.

       I have no idea why I felt the need to write this post. Maybe there are a few of you that needed to hear it, or maybe it is something that I needed to hear for myself. I do know I had an overwhelming need to write this. If this is something that you needed to hear, please let me know. If you don’t want to comment for others to see, you can always email me at [joinme@readcsi.com] Thank you for reading and may all your wants and needs be met. Take care, my friends. Until next week, remember, we are all in this together.

Lead the followers

Why do we want to be followers instead of leaders? Let’s face it, it is much easier to follow than to lead. This taking the easy follow way ultimately turns into more work later in life. It is a trap that is hard to get out of. It is easier to study hard in school the first time and get the good grades. This will lead into better opportunities in the job market than to try to make up schooling at a later date in life. The ones that don’t study hard, find themselves having to fight the rest of their lives to get the good job they could’ve had all along if they were to just start with this goal in mind In the first place. This is learning to lead your own life and learning to lead or follow others, depending which avenue you decide to take.

Leaders are not born into leadership, leaders are created by the leader themselves. These people have found the way to lead others is to be in the right frame of mind. Those that follow are in the position of one of two things. They either have very low self esteem or they are extremely lazy when it comes to using the gift of the mind we are all given. Yes it is true that some have a higher IQ then others but this is not what makes a leader. A higher IQ just means it is easier to understand a problem put before them, usually it is known as book smarts.

Leaders don’t have to be book smart to lead others. Actually most leaders do not possess book smarts because book smarts consists of following someone else’s position that has been written down. A good leader pushes others to follow by example. This can be done in various ways, but it usually comes down to the leader coming up with their own ideas that others want to follow.

Abraham Lincoln memorial

Leadership can also be dangerous. If the person that is leading others is not a good hearted person, this can lead not only the leader but also the followers of this person into destruction. Their is such a thing as good leaders as well as bad. We can look into history and find both sides of this coin. However in both cases, the one who has followers, has learned how to lead, whether it be for a good or bad cause. Let’s see some examples; Abraham Lincoln was what is known as a good leader, while Adolf Hitler would be known as a bad or destructive leader. Both of these men knew the secret to get people to follow them, but with completely different results. So when I say a bad leader, I am talking about a destructive leader. Adolf Hitler was good at leading people but for all the wrong reasons, so this makes him a bad leader.

If you want to be a good leader, you must be careful not to lead for your own selfish reasons. A good leader will always want the best for his or her followers. If you use your new found leadership skills for selfish reasons, you will ultimately fail and drag all your followers down with you.

Be a good leader and teach others to become good leaders as well. By teaching others to lead by your example, you will become an even greater leader than you ever dreamed you could be.

What things can you come up with that makes a good leader? On the flip side, what do you think makes a bad leader? I would like to hear your thoughts on this. As you come up with your responses to these questions and respond to others who share their ideas. Please be kind to others in your replies and Remember, we are all in this together.