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Like him or not, Mark Cuban has certainly made an impact over the past 10 years.  Recently he made a very wise observation “Whenever I see (leaders) doing something the way it’s always been done, the way it’s ‘supposed’ to be done, following the same old trends, well, that’s just a big red flag to me to go look somewhere else.”

Don’t get me wrong; I know how easy it is to allow life to become repetitive living one day to the next implementing our patterns or habits without thinking at all. I can easily fall victim to that pattern myself and had been doing that for years. That is until I became more aware of this pattern and took the time to examine if this pattern was helping me or not. When I realized, with the help of my own coach, many of my patterns and habits were not really getting me where I wanted to go, I committed to change.

Did you catch that last insight – yes, I as an executive coach to senior leaders, have a coach myself.  Why? Because I am committed to being the best I can be in this field I have chosen and I can’t do it on my own. I need someone who can challenge me, ask me insightful questions and be a sounding board.

As I told a CEO just the other day, “The job of a CEO is a lonely job.” He agreed 100% and responded there was no one he could speak with about things he wanted to speak to someone about. Sadly, even with a Board of Directors, this CEO didn’t feel any of them could be that impartial, objective person he knows he needs in his life. Needless to say, he has now become a client of mine…but I digress.

The important part of this new awareness wasn’t necessarily the new insight, although it is very useful. The important thing wasn’t necessarily that a coach helped me increase my awareness, although this is extremely valuable. The most important part was I committed to change.

You see, until you are committed, there is a hesitancy in your action and there exists a strong possibility to hold back and return to the familiar way of thinking. This fact is in large part what stops 95% of people from realizing significant achievement today.

As I wrote in my last message to you, change is hard; it requires commitment, dedication, intentionality and persistence.

So my question to you – did you think into the 3 questions I asked last time? If you did, congratulations…you are well on your way to becoming the leader you have the potential to be.  If not, don’t beat yourself up; it’s all part of the value of becoming more aware. Instead, take time now or within the next 24 hours to intentionally think into these questions. They are listed below for your convenience.

  1. If Bill and I were speaking exactly 12 months from today and he asked me what my top 5 leadership accomplishments were in these past 12 months, what specifically will I want to say to him at that point?
  2. What are three obstacles currently holding me back from achieving those accomplishments now? Is it my thinking? Is it a lack of discipline or poor decision making on how I actually spend my time? What specifically is holding me back?
  3. What can I do to proactively address those obstacles?  What specifically will I do in the next 30 days to address these obstacles?

If you did think into these, what new insights did you discover? What new actions have you identified you will do as a result of this? The biggest question of all, did you COMMIT to move this along in the next 30 days?

Remember Mark Cuban’s quote above. Essentially, you can’t continue to do the same things you have always done or see everyone else doing and expect to achieve extraordinary success. Realize you are different than the others, allow yourself to think differently and take action. You’ll be glad you did.

 Photo by: Jason Mrachina