How to Keep Your Personal Power and Stay A Step Ahead of the Competition

You Can't Be A Victim and A Leader At The Same Time

Ask 100 people to define leadership and you'll get 100 different answers.  Some will share stories of famous athletes, others will cite the heroics of a war hero and still others will talk about a mentor who helped them through a rough time.  My definition is simple...you're a leader when, regardless of your title, you choose a leadership mindset over victimhood.

Defining victimhood is no easier.  While it is true that bad people sometimes do bad things to others, we allow ourselves to fall into the victim role far too easily.  My definition of a victim is based on Urban Meyer's book, "Above The Line".  In this excellent book, he decries Blame, Complain, Defend (BCD) behaviors as the mindset of a victim.

When you use the definitions above, its easy to believe the statement, "You can't be a victim and a leader at the same time."  Choosing a leadership mindset over a victim mindset is simple...but not easy.  The real work is in maintaining an awareness of your mindset.

Blame behavior is a self-defense mechanism.  However, by blaming external situations or people, we believe that "things" can control us and we begin to give away our power.  This is the biggest danger.

When we blame, we have less control over ourselves 

and lose our ability to lead

We can avoid the loss of personal power by avoiding the BCD behaviors and instead, focus on the antidotes:

• Choose ownership over blame
• Seek solutions instead of complaining
• Be open to feedback, not defensive

Improvement starts when you're mindful of falling into BCD behavior and make the choice to go down a different path.

Looking for motivation?  Read Tim Ferriss' 21-Day No-Complaint Experiment