Kris de Leon's Blog

The most successful people powered their achievements with strong motivation and the ability to persist despite previous failures. Motivation is the fire that fuels success. It is also the result of a strong burning desire that directs a person’s actions and thoughts and helps create situations that move towards accomplishing a specific goal.

Motivation must come from within, and not from an outside source. For example, if you decide to go on a diet because your spouse wants you to, that is poor motivation, and you will probably not do well at it. It is only when you truly desire to control your habits and behaviors that you will achieve self-discipline. Motivation brings about true change.

One way to increase motivation is through pressure, or having someone hold you accountable. Tell your friends, co-workers and family about your commitment to change something in your life. They will hold you accountable of whether you are taking the right action to get you to your goal.

Motivation works hand in hand with self-discipline and organization. Lack in these areas can lead to a greater number of failures, which can impact your motivation. One way to alleviate this is to structure your day and organize yourself, so that you are implementing the action plans that will get you to your goal.

As you work towards making a positive change in your life, you will eventually experience failure. The only way to defeat failure is through persistence and perseverance. The most common reason people give up on achieving their goals is because they encountered failure once or twice, and they become afraid to try again. Winston Churchill once said, “Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” Before you even begin, you must plan to deal with failure. Be ready to persevere. Vow to never give up, no matter what, no matter how long it takes!

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There are many books, articles and training on the topics related to “What is leadership?” and “How to develop a leader?” In this article, I will focus on two other questions that might be on the minds of people like yourself who are looking to enhance your leadership development.

Why does better leadership make a difference? and

How does better leadership achieve those differences?

Leadership is a highly unique form of human behavior that requires an integration of character, knowledge and experience. So what can you really do when you unlock your human leadership potential? Well, the possibilities are endless, and you can make a significant impact on improving and serving humanity.

Your journey to unleashing your leadership potential begins with a great understanding of self. Discover your personality traits and how they relate to leadership. When we know ourselves, we can maximize our positive traits, and become aware of our weaker areas, which help us to achieve our leadership potential.

Once you understand and know yourself, the next step would be honing your communication skills. Communication is not just limited to public speaking. This includes your writing style and your body language. Your ability to communicate effectively enhances your ability to improve interpersonal relationships. Another important skill is to learning how to learn, or becoming coachable. Examine different teaching methods and learning styles to identify how you and those you may lead learn best. This skill will greatly enhance your ability to make decisions and give clear instructions.

An exceptional leader is one that recognizes the value of harnessing the skills and abilities of team members and leads them towards peak performance.

A leader is not a title, and leadership is not something you are born into. Leadership is something you develop.

This is what Dr. Ken Blanchard, in his book “The Heart of A Leader” had to say about good leaders; “If you want to know why your people are not performing well, step up to the mirror and take a peek.”

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The importance of immediate, massive, daily action has been written about many times already but it is so important to emphasize this topic every now and again. The examples in this article come from the world of business but they could also apply to any other area in life.

Marketing is the life blood of any business or organization, but sometimes businessmen will wait until they have written the perfect advertisement or sales message before sending out even one ad. They also spend weeks making sure their website is beautifully designed with all the latest refinements.

Meanwhile, good sales and prospects are passing them by. Their product may even be out of date before they are happy with the advertisements. By the time they have everything perfect and ready to go, they may run out of capital and be forced to close down their business. One of the best lessons I learned was not to worry about creating a perfect website. Just get one up.

Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire Mayor of New York, credits his success to getting going without spending too much time planning:

“We act from day one; others plan how to plan – for months.”

Here’s a motto of an average businessman and marketer by the name of Jack, who one of my mentors told me about. His motto was: “Doin’ it, Doin’it, Doin’it” i.e do something, anything every day towards achieving your marketing goals.”

He kept plugging away each day with his marketing, even when the format of his sales brochures and forms did not look very good. He would not wait for the format to be improved. He believed in ‘Doin’ it’ even if he was not quite ready to do it.

This philosophy and behavior made him a multi millionaire and a leader. Even though what he said was not profound and could at times be downright stupid, his action oriented words and behavior led many to trust him and to follow his suggestions.

He knew that to get a desired outcome, he had to actually DO something to get there.

Jack knew that if his audience would just do something – anything – every day toward their goals, they, too, would get there. He didn’t wait until he had enough money to start his business or until his advertising materials were perfect or until he had a stockpile of products to sell. He started with what he had and did something every day to achieve his goal.

You can’t dream or wish your way into riches, although this can help. You have to actually do something about it. What is worse than a sales ad? No sales ad. Don’t wait until you have a great website or enough money to start your business.

Get going now and do something every day towards achieving your goal. You may still have doubts and fears, but by doing something every day you will make progress and your confidence and power will increase.

Some people want to master a piece of software before they use it. The chances are that they will never use it!

The quickest way to learn how a software tool works is to start using it on a daily basis. We will make mistakes, of course, but we will also make progress in understanding the software.

If possible, find a mentor who can hold your hand while you try something new. However, mentors are not always easily available so trust yourself to have a go on your own and see what happens.

You will probably amaze yourself at what you can achieve on your own especially if you don’t give up at the first signs of trouble.

Preparation, thinking and planning are worth doing, but there comes a time when the most important thing is to actually start taking action even if this means you are running risks. Try it and see what happens.

Start “Doing it!”

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Who would forget the ever-famous line of Peter Parker’s grandfather, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Society often expects Spiderman, a comic book, TV, and movie superhero, to be responsible for saving his town, or even the world, in some instances, from evil because he has super powers.

From all the episodes he appeared in, he never let us down. With the power he possesses, he makes sure to be responsible in using it for the good of the people around him.

Leadership is not at all different from being superheroes. Yes, you may not have super powers like Superman and Spiderman, but you have the authority to lead other people towards success. This is so much greater and stronger since it is a power that can be used by real people in this real world.

Hence, being a leader requires great sense of responsibility, the second quality a successful leader should attain.

The power to lead your people towards aiming your vision comes with responsibilities like making sure they are on the right direction, being aware of each and everyone’s tasks and mistakes, and putting them back on the right track when they get lost.

Who said it is easy to be a leader? Well, it is no. It comes with tons of responsibilities. True leaders are willing to accept them all.

There are instances where sometimes it makes us feel better to blame somebody or something else when something goes wrong in a task. However, good leaders should not be doing this.

A leader should take full responsibility of a task – not just before he accepts to take it, but also after it has been accomplished. As much as he is responsible for his team’s success, he should also be responsible for any failure. He represents the whole team so whatever happens to it, he is the one responsible.

Making excuses and blaming something or someone else for failed jobs is not a quality of a good leader. What he should do, instead, is to accept the fact that something went wrong with the organization, even if it is not his fault. It is normal to make mistakes. In fact, mistakes are opportunities to learn something better. As a leader, he must ensure that the team members learn from these mistakes and that these errors will not be repeated next time.

You may not have full control over other people and are not expected to have full control over their actions, but you have full control of your own reactions. Knowing what to do over unexpected and unpredictable situations will make you responsible, hence giving you the feeling of power.

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Do you have great ideas, but not sure how to start a home based business? Many of us get excited about the prospects of being your own boss and starting a home based business. However, a number of people get too caught up in the excitement that they forget basic things. By forgetting the basics, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, which can lead to struggle in the beginning before you can even taste success. I’ve outlined a few basic things to help prepare yourself on how to start a home based business.

This is the age of technology, so make sure you have a computer ready. Without a properly functioning computer, you cannot build up a home based business to interact with prospects and customers. If you don’t have a computer and are perhaps reading this article from someone else’s computer, a good place to start is shopping around at places like Best Buy or Target and speaking to some computer specialists. Tell them about your needs, and they can make a recommendation. Select one that’s affordable and comfortable for you. You don’t need to get anything fancy for the time being, since you can always upgrade your equipment once you start generating cash flow.

Once you have your computer, make sure you have Internet connection at home, and that it functions properly. Since you’re doing business globally, you need to find a cost effective form of communicating with people. If you’re on a tight budget, sign up for Skype and use their free services. Then get yourself an inexpensive webcam if you’re computer doesn’t come with it. Use Skype as frequently as you can. It’s cheaper than using your phone line.

The next step is to find a location in your house that you can use as your own office and would fit a 6×8 feet size desk. Have a cell phone in handy that has a lot of minutes you can use at a low price. I’ve mentioned it’s best to use Skype, but if you’re away from home, you need a cell phone for your prospects and customers to reach you.

You will need a rolodex or filing system to keep people’s contact information. You will get to the point where you are having a number of people calling you, so you need to somehow file their information so that you can follow-up with them at a later date. Also, you may want to have a filing cabinet where you can file information on your prospect or activities. Try and avoid having post it notes sticking all over the place – you will eventually lose them.

When you are purchasing all the equipment mentioned above, don’t forget to keep your receipts. They are business expenses, and you may be able to deduct them from your taxes. Make sure you speak to a qualified account to make sure you have all the right information.

Now that you have the basics of how to start your home based business, you are now ready to begin, so start taking action now. You have no more excuses.

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To thrive in any entrepreneurial venture, we need to create associations of success. Most of us have heard the saying that we are the average of the 5 people with whom we are most closely associated. Your associations of success will help you follow through with your plan and achieve your goals. You can have the greatest vision and put together the most complete plan of achieving that goal. However, being surrounded by only negative and unsupportive people will derail your plans of making your goal and vision a reality.

Without associations of success, your negative associations may not directly push you off the path towards success, but they can slowly nudge you off the path over a period of time. The effects are quite subtle, but if you constantly hear your friends or family say, “That’s not going to work,” or “You can’t do that,” your subconscious mind will start to absorb these negative suggestions, and then you will start losing your confidence and belief that you can carry through with your plan. This will inevitably lead to underachievement and failure.

If you want to be successful in the network marketing industry, or any other industry where having the entrepreneurial spirit is important to success, you need to closely evaluate the five closest people in your life. Are they associations of success?

Take the time to reprioritize the people with whom you are going to associate with, especially if you have made the commitment to reach new heights of success. You should then organize your associations into three different categories: disassociations, limited associations, and expanded associations. The following is an explanation of each category:

Disassociations – These are the types of people who constantly complain and have nothing but negative influence on your life. While this may be a painful process, you need to make the hard decision to remove any negative influence from your life. Otherwise, you will be held back by these people and fail to reach your goals. You should think that this is more painful in the long term.

Limited Associations – These are the types of people where you decide whether you will spend 3 hours with them or 3 minutes. You need to evaluate what type of influence they may have on you, and then decide how much of their influence you will let into your life. Obviously, the more positive the influence, the more time you will spend with them.

Expanded Associations – These are the people you want to spend more time with because they have achieved success in the area where you want to make improvements. For example, if you want to become more spiritual, spend time with someone who has achieved spiritual abundance. If you want to become a successful business owner, spend more with someone you consider as a role model and learn from them. Join organizations where you think these people may belong and make friends with them.

Make sure to create your associations of success with 5 incredible people from whom you want to learn. This will keep you on your path towards success.

P.S.
Learn how my 3 mentors built a multi-million dollar online empire within 12 months. Check out Online Learning Arena and get your DVD to learn the blueprint they used, and how you can incorporate it into your marketing strategy.

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