Relationships: The 101% Principal
For the relationship section of “How To Be A R.E.A.L. Success” by John C. Maxwell. I chose the 101% principal. The 101% principal is about finding that one percent you have in common with someone and focusing 100% of your effort towards building on it. John C. Maxwell said once you find and establish common ground, it will grow. The reason your common ground will grow is because you will be making the time and putting in the effort to get to know someone. I chose the 101% principal to help me practice making new connections with people and work towards developing those connections. Especially when I am trying to work with people I may not get along with. I can use this principle in the future if I am planning a leadership project or activity and the group I am in disagrees on something. We can all work together to find that one percent we agree on. Once we find the common ground, we can try to implement it into what we are planning. For example, we could be planning an event that runs from 11:00AM-3:00PM, and since the event would run through lunch, we have to choose something that most people would enjoy eating. Perhaps one person thinks everyone will want to have pizza and someone else thinks everyone will want sandwiches. We can all work together to find a drink or snack we all agree on and focus on that, rather than focusing all our attention on a pizza versus sandwich dilemma from earlier.
Equipping: Not Underestimating Others
Equipping other people is about leaders expanding their vison from “me to we”. Equipping others is something I want to work on. To become better at equipping others I will focus on not underestimating others. Often, people tend to underestimate other people and what they are capable of. When we do this, we are not helping anyone. We are holding them back from learning and gaining knowledge from firsthand experience. I do not want to continue to underestimate others. Instead, I want to help others reach their full potential. Something that has made it hard for me to “let go”, is wanting to keep control. Sometimes I have the tendency to want to do everything myself. I feel I can get things done quickly and the way I want it. The problem with doing that is I have too many things on my plate. I need let others do things themselves and trust that they will do it. I will practice not underestimating others in the future by taking a step back and not overcommitting myself. When I let others do things I may want to do, I will have time to do things I should be doing. For example, if I have lots of homework and I have done my part in the project. I will try to not worry about what others are doing and allow them to contribute their own part. If I can work on being less controlling and instead help others learn. It will help me, and others grow as leaders.
Attitude: Your Attitude is a Choice
One thing everyone needs to remember is our attitude can not be given to us by other people. You decide your perspective on life. The things that happen to us are not always in our control, but each of us have the to power to choose how to react. Our attitude is a choice. The reason I chose this concept is because one of my goals this year is to focus on being more positive. I need to work on recognizing my attitude towards situations and people. One way I can work towards my goal of becoming a more positive is to remember to look for the positive. It does not need to be the biggest thing. It can be as little as acknowledging a beautiful day outside, enjoying a great breakfast, or even being glad the week is almost over. In the future if I find myself in a tough situation while planning a leadership event or activity, or working on a project where I am putting a lot of pressure on myself because I do not think everything will be done in time. I will take a moment to step back and put everything into perspective. If I put everything into perspective, I will feel less stressed and like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. When I feel calm I am more fun to be around and a lot happier. Taking a break is one thing I can do in the future that will help me have better control of my attitude.
Leadership: The Law of the Lid
The law of the lid is about being a good leader before leading others. Imagine the leader being the lid to a jar. Everyone they are leading is under that lid. Leaders need to raise themselves so others can grow too. I chose the law of the lid because I can always work on becoming a better leader. I do not want to be the lid holding others down. I want to lead others to success. To do that, I need to continue learning how to better lead myself and others. Something John C. Maxwell talked about, was always firing the president. When a business is going under, oftentimes is has something to do with poor leadership. If the person running the company is a poor leader, no one will get very far. You need to lead yourself before you can lead others, but it takes time to become a good leader. Like John C. Maxwell said, “You can’t microwave leaders”. “You need to crock pot and marinade leaders”. When leading a leadership event, activity, or trip I must be a good leader. If I am a bad leader, no one will learn anything aside from perhaps what not to do. It is like someone who does know how to play volleyball trying to teach someone how to play. The person learning to play is not going to be very good because their mentor is not good at it either. I need to be a good leader before I can help others reach their full potential too.