Career & Business Success

Hero Stories

<div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://darrenhardy.com/blog/hero-story-wayne-welsh"></div><p>👋  <strong>MEET WAYNE.</strong></p>
<p>🙌  Wayne is a Real Estate Broker in Venice, FL.</p>
<p>☕  When a friend enthusiastically shared a DarrenDaily episode with Wayne, his life and business were in a state of total chaos.</p>
<p>“I was borrowing time from sleep, from my health, from my wife, and from my grandchildren.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By picking up on the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) hints from his wife that she was feeling neglected due to his work…</p>
<p>😰  Wayne decided it was time to make a change.</p>
<p>When I invited him into my INSANE PRODUCTIVITY group, he was hesitant…<br />
Investing in training and adding MORE time to his busy schedule was not ideal.</p>
<p>But he was COMMITTED to making a change for his family.</p>
<p>“The moment I chose to invest in myself with the Insane Productivity course, everything changed.”</p>
<p><strong>SINCE APPLYING THE STRATEGIES HE LEARNED…</strong><br />
📈  Gross sales have increased by 25%&#8230;<br />
(Already exceeding their aggressive $100 million goal.)<br />
⬆️  And they’re aiming for a 50% increase in the next year.</p>
<p><strong>WAYNE WENT FROM…</strong><br />
👏  Driving a 2010 Nissan Altima to a brand new 2020 BMW X5, which is paid off.<br />
💵  They have much more disposable income&#8230;<br />
🌱  Have started an investment plan&#8230;</p>
<p>🎁  And were able to smother their grandchildren in Christmas gifts.</p>
<p>“I never leave work late, seldom go in early, and weekends are now preserved for family.”</p>
<p><strong>TO TOP IT OFF…</strong><br />
🥇 Wayne’s company has been awarded the 2019 Business of the Year award from the Venice Area Chamber of Commerce<br />
And hope to bring home the &#8220;Best of Venice&#8221; award for the 8th consecutive year. 🌟</p>
<p>🏆  Wayne, we think you’re a HERO!</p>
<p><span id="hs-cta-wrapper-b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1" class="hs-cta-wrapper"><span id="hs-cta-b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1" class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2518645/b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img loading="lazy" id="hs-cta-img-b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1" class="hs-cta-img" style="border-width: 0px;" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2518645/b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1.png" alt="New call-to-action" width="850" height="229" /></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(2518645, 'b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1', {}); </script></span></p>

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Hero Story: Wayne Welsh

<div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://darrenhardy.com/blog/hero-story-tonia-mercer"></div><p>👋  <strong>MEET TONIA.</strong></p>
<p>Tonia is a successful mortgage advisor from Newfoundland.</p>
<p><strong>BACK IN 2018…</strong><br />
Tonia’s business and finances were on a steady decline. ⤵️</p>
<p>When she stumbled across a Facebook post of mine,<br />
💬  SHE SAYS…</p>
<p>“I was continually searching for the right program that would provide the guidance I needed to no longer feel like a mediocre broker.”</p>
<p>Tonia was striving for greatness, 😔  But she couldn’t reach the level of success that she knew she was meant for.</p>
<p><strong>TIRED OF FEELING MEDIOCRE…</strong><br />
Tonia joined our community to learn the success strategies of the super-achievers.</p>
<p>🛠️  After applying the tools of INSANE PRODUCTIVITY&#8230;<br />
Tonia had the most successful year in business in her 12 year tenure. 💰</p>
<p>“I directly attribute that to using the tools I&#8217;ve adopted from INSANE PRODUCTIVITY.”<br />
<strong><br />
GIVEN UP FOR ADOPTION AS A BABY…</strong><br />
Tonia spent years searching for her family. 👨‍👩‍👧</p>
<p>“I felt so much peace when I finally found my family.<br />
Finding INSANE PRODUCTIVITY…<br />
And no longer having to continually search for my personal and professional path had a similar profound impact on my life.”</p>
<p>She recently wrote to us and said,<br />
“This has been my best year in business to date. ⤴️<br />
I am no longer searching for the next best program.”</p>
<p>👏  Way to go, Tonia.<br />
We think you’re a HERO! 🏆</p>
<p><span id="hs-cta-wrapper-b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1" class="hs-cta-wrapper"><span id="hs-cta-b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1" class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2518645/b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img loading="lazy" id="hs-cta-img-b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1" class="hs-cta-img" style="border-width: 0px;" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2518645/b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1.png" alt="New call-to-action" width="850" height="229" /></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(2518645, 'b9786354-40f9-4f83-ae25-f588a4d230a1', {}); </script></span></p>

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Hero Story: Tonia Mercer

Leadership & Impact

<div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://darrenhardy.com/blog/when-to-cut-people-from-your-team"></div><p>Today I am going to address a question that came in from a DarrenDaily member who asked, <em>&#8220;We&#8217;ve had to make many changes due to the challenges of COVID and the economy&#8230; how do I know when it is time to cut people from my team?&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Okay, this is a big question&#8230; and without having more details, all I can suggest with this little information is to test them…</p>
<h3>Kinda like God asked Gideon to test his troops.</h3>
<p>There is a story from the Bible that went something like this&#8230;<br />
So, there&#8217;s this guy Gideon. He is selected by God to be the leader of the Israelites and to free the people of Israel from those who had turned to idol worship.</p>
<p>Gideon had recruited men from four tribes in order to meet an armed force of the mighty Midianites.</p>
<p>But God told Gideon that the men he had gathered were too many.<br />
And Gideon asks, &#8220;Well, what should I do?&#8221;</p>
<p>And God said, <em>&#8220;Try this&#8230; get the 32,000 troops together and give him your last, final wringing speech. Give them a real barn burner.&#8221;</em> said God.<br />
<em>&#8220;We&#8217;re off to fight the Midianites, something like that.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>And he said, when you finish the speech, finish it like this&#8230;.<br />
<em>&#8220;Now then that we&#8217;re off to fight&#8230; If there&#8217;s anybody here that&#8217;s afraid and you think we&#8217;re about to lose this battle upcoming with the Midianites, you can be excused this time. Go home, we can&#8217;t use you this time.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Gideon said, <em>&#8220;Clever. I should&#8217;ve thought of that myself.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Gideon gets the 32,000 troops together, he gets up on high ground, and gives his last ringing speech and says, &#8220;<em>We&#8217;re off to fight. But if there&#8217;s anybody here who thinks we&#8217;re going to lose, you can be excused this time. You can just go home. We&#8217;re just going to take what&#8217;s left.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>And sure enough, some went home.<br />
Guess how many went home?<br />
22,000!</p>
<p>Gideon watches this and says, <em>&#8220;Wooooow!&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Hey, if you&#8217;ve got 32,000 and 20,000 think you&#8217;re going to lose.<br />
Guess what? You&#8217;re gonna to lose. You&#8217;ve got too many.</p>
<p><strong>This is a big key of leadership&#8230;</strong><br />
Sometimes you have too many.<br />
When you recruit in haste&#8230; it&#8217;s possible to recruit some cowards.</p>
<p>You ask, well, why is that?<br />
It&#8217;s just one of those things&#8230;<br />
When you are moving too fast, sometimes there&#8217;s no telling, you collect during harried times.</p>
<p><strong>So, this is a big part of the leadership test&#8230;</strong><br />
Find out who thinks you&#8217;re gonna lose&#8230;<br />
And excuse them. You can&#8217;t afford to keep them around&#8230; they will cost you the battle.</p>
<p>During the <a href="https://go.darrenhardy.com/indispensable/">INDISPENSABLE</a> broadcast I told you the story of our hero Lynn Wallace&#8230;<br />
Lynne is the founder of a boutique insurance agency in Santa Rosa, California.<br />
Her company had been on a great growth trajectory in the early 2000s.</p>
<p>Lynne borrowed a million dollars from the bank to fund her rapid expansion.<br />
Then the financial meltdown of ‘08/’09 happened.</p>
<p>The following year her revenues dropped by more than HALF.</p>
<p>Her financial controller repeatedly told Lynne that the situation was hopeless… she soon would be broke.</p>
<p>The financial controller had a reputation for being negative&#8230; but now this negativity was toxic to the team&#8217;s ability to pull themselves upward from this situation.</p>
<p>Lynne had to make the hard decision to excuse her&#8230;<br />
She let her go.</p>
<p><strong>So Gideon&#8217;s got 10,000 left.</strong><br />
He says, <em>&#8220;No problem. We&#8217;ll do it with 10,000.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Then God says, <em>&#8220;Well&#8230; you still got too many.&#8221;</em><br />
Gideon says, <em>&#8220;Well, what now?&#8221;</em></p>
<p>And God says, <em>&#8220;Try this&#8230; March the 10,000 till they are hot and thirsty. Take them down to the river for a drink. All those who kneel down to drink, setting aside their spear and shield, and put their hands to their mouths. With them you excuse. Those men are careless, you cannot use them. All those who keep their spear and shield at the ready and lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall keep. Those are the ones you want because they&#8217;re trained and ready to go.”</em></p>
<p>Gideon said, <em>&#8220;So clever!&#8221;</em><br />
And he marches the 10,000 till they are hot and thirsty and takes them down to the river.</p>
<p>Sure enough, when he gets to the river&#8230; some are hot and careless and they just throw down their spear and shield and jump in the water.</p>
<p>Guess how many?<br />
The number was 9,700.</p>
<p><strong>This is a big part of the leadership test&#8230;</strong><br />
You see, when you recruit in haste, sometimes you recruit too many&#8230;<br />
It&#8217;s easy to accidentally recruit the careless. Those who could cost you the battle.</p>
<p>So Gideon says, <em>&#8220;You 9,700 are excused.&#8221;</em><br />
And he sent them home dripping wet.</p>
<p>Now he&#8217;s got 300 left.<br />
Gideon says, <em>&#8220;Okay, no problem.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>From 32,000 to 300&#8230; and he is still willing to try.<br />
That is what is called <strong>courageous leadership</strong>.</p>
<p>As the story goes&#8230;<br />
Gideon planned a night attack.<br />
He gave each of his men a trumpet and a clay jar with a torch hidden inside.<br />
Divided into three companies&#8230;<br />
Gideon and his 300 men marched on the enemy camp.</p>
<p>He instructed them to blow the trumpet, give a battle cry, and light torches, simulating an attack by a large force.</p>
<p>When they do&#8230; the Midianite army flees in fright&#8230;<br />
And Gideon becomes the military hero of the day.</p>
<p>Oh, by the way, if you were wondering what happened to Lynne Wallace after firing the financial controller who said she was destined to end up broke&#8230;</p>
<p>Lynne grew her agency from the 18 employees she started with to over 140&#8230; and successfully sold her agency for WELL MORE than $50 million dollars…10X more than the revenue she had before we first met when she came to our High-Performance Forum Business Masterclass.</p>
<p>I am a big believer in containing a small but mighty team.<br />
I believe, and have proven time and time again&#8230;<br />
That quality beats quantity every time.</p>
<p>Most enterprises in our industry at our revenue size have 150-200+ employees&#8230; we have about 20. And I guarantee our margins, team engagement, and the impact we have in the world&#8230; is far, far greater.</p>
<p>Now, mind you, to get to the 20 badasses we have&#8230;<br />
We have brought in and washed out many dozens more.<br />
Only the BEST survive on our A-Team&#8230; and those who do &#8211; THRIVE.</p>
<p>Learning to recruit the RIGHT people is one of the most important skills of a leader&#8230;<br />
But equally important, often more important&#8230; because most leaders are not courageous enough to do the right thing by their team&#8230; is learning to excuse those who might be doubtful, cowardly, or careless&#8230; those if left to fight&#8230; are likely to cost you the war&#8230; your mission&#8230; the future of your enterprise.</p>
<p>Two places I can point you to learn the specific practices&#8230; To help you identify the RIGHT players for YOUR unique team I would suggest <a href="https://go.darrenhardy.com/heros-journey/">HerosJourney.com</a> and to know WHEN and HOW to properly excuse those who need to go home I refer you to <a href="https://darrenhardy.com/high-performance-forum">HighPerformanceForum.com</a></p>
<p><span id="hs-cta-wrapper-dc7fd452-9942-4d98-8f2c-34321ec1d0f2" class="hs-cta-wrapper"><span id="hs-cta-dc7fd452-9942-4d98-8f2c-34321ec1d0f2" class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-dc7fd452-9942-4d98-8f2c-34321ec1d0f2"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2518645/dc7fd452-9942-4d98-8f2c-34321ec1d0f2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img loading="lazy" id="hs-cta-img-dc7fd452-9942-4d98-8f2c-34321ec1d0f2" class="hs-cta-img" style="border-width: 0px;" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2518645/dc7fd452-9942-4d98-8f2c-34321ec1d0f2.png" alt="New call-to-action" width="850" height="229" /></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(2518645, 'dc7fd452-9942-4d98-8f2c-34321ec1d0f2', {}); </script></span></p>

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When to Cut People from Your Team

<div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://darrenhardy.com/blog/managers-vs-leaders"></div><div class="vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid"><div class="wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12"><div class="vc_column-inner"><div class="wpb_wrapper">
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			<p>For much of our early childhood, by nature, we are highly inquisitive beings. Asking questions about anything and everything is the norm. We seek and desire to learn and are generally interested in the world that surrounds us.</p>
<p>Then we go to school and for the most part, education generally gears us towards coming up with answers to questions given to us. Our success is based on providing the right answers to questions posed on tests, not coming up with great questions.</p>
<p>Then we enter the workforce and we now are dictated the answers by &#8220;higher authorities&#8221; and told what to do and who to satisfy so we can climb the corporate totem pole. All our natural inquisitive nature is rooted out of us.</p>
<p>Then we get into the boss role ourselves. At this point our whole success has been geared toward being the guy or gal with all the answers… and now you have to prove yourself worthy of your authority so you become the guru with all the answers. Everyone else journeys to your perch in the sky, all day, waiting in line at your door, begging for the &#8220;gotta minute?&#8221; so you can bestow your great wisdom upon them in order for them to move forward on their project.</p>
<p>This is where businesses stall and organizations implode.<br />
When an organization becomes depended on the answers and blessing of The Boss.</p>
<p><strong>Here’s the critical distinction I want to offer you:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Managers give answers, <strong>leaders</strong> ask questions.</li>
<li>Managers manage work, <strong>leaders</strong> lead people.</li>
<li>Managers develop subordinates, <strong>leaders</strong> develop leaders.</li>
<li>Managers dictate plans, <strong>leaders</strong> cast a vision.</li>
<li>Managers insist on control, <strong>leaders</strong> inspire collaboration.</li>
</ul>
<p>Managers are also accustomed to being the go-to person for answers. They’re used to giving direction and opinion. It makes them feel valued, important and reinforces their position of authority. Also, some managers prefer to deliver the answers because they think it will save precious time. Unfortunately, when managers routinely dish out the answers, they become enablers of that dysfunctional cycle, which is actually a huge time-waster. Now team members regularly seek out the manager for the solution rather than being problem-solvers. This prevents the ability to develop real solutions, stifles team member growth and ultimately limits the organization’s productivity.</p>
<p>Additionally when team members are used to going to the manager for answers and direction, they actually transfer the ownership of the problem from themselves to the manager. Consequently, they can then blame the manager for the goal’s shortcomings and failure. It’s no longer their fault because they didn’t provide the solution – the manager did. Assigning team members with the task of uncovering the reason for their missed goal or creating a viable solution to a problem or challenge puts the responsibility back where it ultimately belongs.</p>
<p>So how do you do all this?</p>
<h2><a href="https://go.darrenhardy.com/indispensable/?utm_source=wordpress&amp;utm_medium=blog-post&amp;utm_campaign=hj-indispensable&amp;utm_term=manager-vs-leader&amp;utm_content=static-cta-banner"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3099" src="https://darrenhardy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/hj-indispensable-dh-blog-banner-01.png" alt="" width="850" height="229" srcset="https://darrenhardy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/hj-indispensable-dh-blog-banner-01.png 850w, https://darrenhardy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/hj-indispensable-dh-blog-banner-01-300x81.png 300w, https://darrenhardy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/hj-indispensable-dh-blog-banner-01-768x207.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px" /></a></h2>
<h2>Managers Give Answers, Leaders Ask Questions</h2>
<p>By NOT providing answers. Instead, answer every question with a question.<br />
Teach people to think, learn and grow… and to think for themselves.</p>
<p>Columbo solves his mysteries by asking many questions; as do all the great detectives – in real life as well as fiction.</p>
<p>As the leader of my own organizations, I know I have made the fatal mistake &#8211; which is being the guy with all the answers. All this did is create further dependency, mutated people’s ability to think for themselves, hampered the speed and pace of our productivity and crippled our growth trajectory… particularly in this fast moving, hyper-flexing and progressing marketplace we are in today.</p>
<p>To remedy myself of this, I strictly forbade myself from providing any answers.<br />
With every question or inquiry I would simply respond with, &#8220;What do you think?&#8221; or &#8220;What do you suggest?&#8221;<br />
Followed with the pivotal question &#8220;And why?&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>I don’t want to just evolve their answers, I want to evolve their thinking.</strong><br />
The situations will change. The needed answers will change so you don’t want to just educate people on the answers, you want to evolve and grow their thinking… and the &#8220;Why?&#8221; follow along helps them do just that.</p>
<p>Think back to your favorite teacher, someone who really made a difference in your life. Did he or she give you all the answers? No, probably not. Did he or she make you look for the answers? Yes, probably so. Did this teacher hold you accountable for acting on your answer? Absolutely! These are the ways great leaders help people learn, cultivate the potential of those around them and enable growth.</p>
<p><strong>Leadership Development &#8211; How to Grow Exceptional Leaders</strong> Learning to lead has been a challenge but teaching others to lead has been an even greater one. I’ve already pointed out several of the <a href="/posts/leadership-qualities-best-leaders" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">essential leadership qualities</a> you must develop in your leaders if they are to succeed:</p>
<ul>
<li>Take 100% ownership in every situation</li>
<li>Lead by example</li>
<li>Be Authentic and ask questions</li>
</ul>
<p>Beyond this, I believe in my core you have <strong>give your leaders the freedom</strong> to get their hands dirty and lead, and TRUST that they will do a good job. Here is something I have found as a leader:</p>
<blockquote><p>
People&#8217;s IQ seem to double as soon as you give them responsibility and indicate that you trust them.
</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Marionette No More:</strong> Drop the puppet strings. Give others more responsibility and decision-making power without micromanagement and approvals. Train, but then trust them. Let them lead.</p>

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Managers vs Leaders – Critical Differences

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			<p>When you think of history’s most powerful, compelling, influential, movement-making and <a href="https://darrenhardy.com/blog/what-is-leadership">game-changing leaders</a>, what do you think their most admired qualities were? The ones that attracted people to them and enrolled people into wanting to support their great mission, goals or causes?</p>
<p>Great leaders are the backbone of our society. Thanks to their unique leadership qualities, they form the <strong>foundation</strong> of everything from:</p>
<ul>
<li>families</li>
<li>communities</li>
<li>spiritual organizations</li>
<li>major corporations</li>
<li>to entire countries</li>
</ul>
<p>In this article, I’d like to point out what I think are seven of the <strong>most important attributes</strong> of powerful and influential leaders throughout history.</p>
<h2>3 Rare Leadership Qualities of Abraham Lincoln and Gandhi</h2>
<p>If someone asks me <a href="/blog/what-is-leadership">&#8220;What is Leadership?&#8221;</a> we need not look further than to the example of one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known. Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln did the impossible as a leader. I am not just talking about reuniting a country ravaged by civil war. He combined two traits as a leader that are seemingly incompatible—confidence and humility. Let’s start with humility.</p>
<h3>Attribute #1 &#8211; Humility</h3>
<p>Humility is generally defined as the quality or state of not thinking you are better than other people. But perhaps C.S. Lewis described it best when he said,</p>
<blockquote><p>
<em>Humility is not thinking LESS of yourself, but rather thinking about yourself less.</em>
</p></blockquote>
<p>Humility is the trait of a leader who can acknowledge their faults and listen to the advisors around him or her, in order to avoid making the mistakes that could jeopardize the objective of that which he or she is leading. <strong>But how did Lincoln pull off the impossible? A blend of humility AND confidence?</strong></p>
<h3>Attribute #2 &#8211; Confidence</h3>
<p>Confidence is having a strong sense of self. A belief that you are competent, can do something well, and that you will succeed. Confidence is our ability to stand tall and accomplish what we set out to do. For a leader, it gives them the ability to carve out the path they see as the right one even when others might doubt them.</p>
<p>You can see how these two leadership traits could easily be at odds. Listening to others’ advice and allowing them to convince you against your own decision-making, yet not listening to them when you know you are right. Balancing the two traits is definitely indicative of great leadership.</p>
<p><strong>How Lincoln Displayed Humility &amp; Confidence</strong></p>
<p>Here is how <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/the-leadership-journey-of-abraham-lincoln" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lincoln’s leadership</a> embodied and demonstrated these two traits: During the crisis over Fort Sumter that began the Civil War, secretary of state William Henry Seward pushed Lincoln to secede the fort peacefully. When Lincoln refused instead opting for his own plan, Seward went so far as to push Lincoln to cede control of the entire administration to him. Of course, Lincoln refused, telling him, “If this must be done, I must do it.” His confidence held him steady in the face of those who would push him out because they felt he was wrong. Then later Lincoln demonstrated humility by <strong>accepting the advice of the same man, </strong> Seward, when he cautioned him to wait on the Emancipation Proclamation for a time when it wouldn’t make the government look weak and defeated.</p>
<p>In this scenario, Lincoln shows his ability to defer to the judgment of others out of humility and his effort to focus on the needs of the country, not his own plans. While Lincoln had many traits associated with genuinely great leadership, his ability to combine confidence and humility are two of the most important that made what the achievement that he led possible. These are the first two traits I also wish for you: Confidence AND Humility.</p>
<h3><a href="https://go.darrenhardy.com/indispensable/?utm_source=wordpress&amp;utm_medium=blog-post&amp;utm_campaign=hj-indispensable&amp;utm_term=best-leaders-in-history&amp;utm_content=static-cta-banner"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3099" src="https://darrenhardy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/hj-indispensable-dh-blog-banner-01.png" alt="" width="850" height="229" srcset="https://darrenhardy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/hj-indispensable-dh-blog-banner-01.png 850w, https://darrenhardy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/hj-indispensable-dh-blog-banner-01-300x81.png 300w, https://darrenhardy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/hj-indispensable-dh-blog-banner-01-768x207.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px" /></a></h3>
<h3>Attribute #3 &#8211; Authenticity</h3>
<p>Having met, interviewed, studied and/or featured many of the greatest leaders alive today, I have concluded the most admirable, powerful, compelling, and WOWing quality of a leader is… AUTHENTICITY.</p>
<p><strong>Having what you say, what you feel, what you believe, and what you do be the same as who you are.</strong></p>
<p>We know the foundation of leadership is credibility and doing what you say—being the example we want others to model. To do so, you have to be clear on your values and align actions with those values. Certainly, a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/karlmoore/2011/08/22/2-lessons-from-indiasgreatest-leader-gandhi/#6ff320dd55ec" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">great example of this leadership trait</a> is Mahatma Gandhi. What he believed, he lived. People want to follow a person like that—someone, like Gandhi, who lived his values and had a clear, higher purpose that connected with millions of others as a shared vision. This is how Gandhi put it,</p>
<blockquote><p>
<em>If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him … We need not wait to see what others do.</em>
</p></blockquote>
<p>Is there a behavior that’s “rotting the teeth” of your organization? If so, who’s the first one that needs to throw those sweets away? You guessed it&#8230; If you’re a leader, it’s YOU. Now that we&#8217;ve examined the traits of two of the best leaders in history, I want to point out the #1 leadership attribute I&#8217;ve detected from the world&#8217;s best business leaders.</p>
<h2>A &#8220;Funny&#8221; Quality 3 of the Best Business Leaders Share</h2>
<p>From our earliest days in grade school, we quickly discover that nothing hurts like being laughed at. No one wants to be the butt of the joke. Years later, though we’re no longer children, we may still carry the unspoken stigma of having been ridiculed by the pack. <strong><em>But is it really that bad? </em></strong> Is it really so damaging to be laughed at? I can think of a few “jokes” where the people telling them did not, in fact, have the last laugh.</p>
<h3>Attribute #4 &#8211; Laughable</h3>
<p>Have you heard the joke about the guy who wanted to build a privately funded rocket and launch it into outer space? Or the one about the guy who wanted to start a new airline—the toughest of industries—during the dot-com crash? Oh, wait, how about the joke about the guy who bought 160 acres of orange groves to build what he wanted to call “the happiest place on earth?” A total nutball, right? Are you laughing? Most people did when the SpaceX, Jet Blue, and Disneyland business plans were discussed, albeit for the wrong reasons. Yet when all was said and done, guess who laughed last?</p>
<p><strong>Elon Musk chuckled 1.6 billion times</strong> when <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dalebuss/2018/08/31/for-insights-into-elon-musks-leadership-of-tesla-look-at-how-he-leads-spacex-author-says/#50a59b3663a4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">he bucked all his closest friends&#8217; advice</a> and was awarded NASA’s International Space Station cargo contract. Launched in 1999, <strong>Jet Blue</strong> was one of only a few airlines after 9/11 to be profitable. David Neeleman has 2 billion reasons ($) to smile. Walt Disney, along with his <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffloftus/2014/05/22/mickey-mouse-leadership/#50e2aa39321a" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&#8220;go big or go home&#8221; leadership philosophy</a>, has snickered 515 million times as each person entered into what has truly become a wonderland.</p>
<p>Like Gandhi implied, people laugh at revolutionaries, extraordinary achievers, and icons&#8230; at first. So like this great business leaders, if you believe in your dream, vision, or plan, don’t let the snickering and finger-pointing deter you!</p>
<h2>3 Impactful Leadership Qualities of Nelson Mandela</h2>
<p>I feel it’s only fitting to conclude our leadership qualities list with an example of one of my greatest leadership heroes. <strong>One of the greatest leaders I think the world has witnessed</strong>, during our lifetime at least, is Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela’s life story has long since become a legend, one that transcends borders, race, language or culture. It would be absurd–let alone disrespectful to Mandela’s achievements–to suggest that the issues you and I face as a business leader are as grave as Apartheid, or that the stresses you and I encounter can ever compare with his decades of imprisonment. <strong>There are, however, three unique attributes Mandela demonstrated</strong> during his career that hold lessons for everyone who aspires to be a great leader.</p>
<h3>Attribute #5 &#8211; Adherence to Principles</h3>
<p>In a 1985 speech to the nation, pro-Apartheid President F. W. Botha offered Mandela freedom if he renounced violence and other illegal activity. The President tried to shift the blame for imprisonment to Mandela himself: after all, he was now free to go, provided he would be law abiding. Right then, Mandela could have freed himself, at least from a jail cell, but he knew <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2013/08/21/15-inspiring-quotes-from-nelson-mandela-on-leadership-change-and-life/#2b4b40dd2f96" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">he could not free himself from his principles.</a> He did not fall for this transparent ploy, however. Yes, he very much desired freedom after decades of hard labor and confinement in a small cell. But he also felt it would betray his principles, his leadership, and the ANC’s long struggle. Here is how Mandela replied, in part, to President Botha’s disingenuous offer:</p>
<blockquote><p>
What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned? What freedom am I being offered if I must ask permission to live in an urban area? Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Mandela turned down Botha and opted to stay in his cold, dark prison cell — about 8 feet by 8 feet in size — and was prepared to serve the remainder of his life sentence. <strong>His principles and the cause in which he led took precedence</strong> even over relief from his pain or his human desires to be liberated. This decision was enormously powerful since it greatly elevated his position as a leader of strength and principle and now the face of the ANC’s opposition.</p>
<h3>Attribute #6 &#8211; Calm in Chaos</h3>
<p>Another example and demonstration of his attributes occurred shortly after Mandela became a free man, but before he was elected President in 1994. The trigger was the 1993 assassination of Chris Hani, a popular black leader fighting for equal rights. Hani was shot in cold blood by a right-wing white extremist when stepping out of his car. The assassination ignited widespread fury and triggered huge demonstrations.</p>
<p>Many black South Africans wanted revenge, and the atmosphere was ripe for looting, violence, and mayhem. Recently out of prison, Mandela <strong>rose to the occasion and appealed for calm.</strong> Here is part of what he said: <em>“Tonight, I am reaching out to every single South African, black and white, from the very depths of my being. Now is the time for all South Africans to stand together against those who, from any quarter, wish to destroy what Chris Hani gave his life for – the freedom of all of us.”</em></p>
<p>Mandela demonstrated the crucial attribute of calm and confidence, particularly in times of fear, strife, and chaos.</p>
<h3>Attribute #7 &#8211; Forgiveness</h3>
<p>The third example I want to point out is when, in 1995, Mandela visited the widow of the very man who was the main architect of the apartheid regime and in effect put him in prison. He demonstrated forgiveness and put the purpose of his cause above his own grievances and personal wounds. <strong>He also rejoiced</strong> when the national rugby team, Springboks, won the world championship, <em>even though this team had been a symbol of racism and Afrikaner power for decades.</em> He proudly wore the team’s shirt during the championship match, waved his hands in support and signaled to the world at large that he truly supported a rainbow nation. Such leadership is as precious as it is rare.</p>
<h2>Leadership Qualities List &#8211; Evaluation Time</h2>
<p>In summary, I ask you to evaluate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 on how well you demonstrate the 7 prominent leadership qualities list from Lincoln, Gandhi, Musk, Disney, Neeleman, and Mandela:</p>
<ol>
<li>Confidence</li>
<li>Humility</li>
<li>Authenticity</li>
<li>Fearlessness</li>
<li>Adherence to principles (even at personal sacrifice)</li>
<li>Calm in chaos</li>
<li>Forgiveness</li>
</ol>
<p>I suggest evaluating yourself, then asking a few members of your team to evaluate you on these 7 attributes. If you are too afraid to ask your leadership team (which kinda disqualifies you as a leader) then ask your spouse—they are always willing to be enthusiastic critics or let’s say, coaches. You may even get a chance to put your “humility” to the test if they point out some of the bad leadership qualities you display.</p>
<p>Hey, leadership is not easy and it demands substantial personal growth. So be willing to do the hard work necessary so you can be a great leader of men, women, and children. And don’t forget to tell all your overachiever friends, family and colleagues to share in your journey to becoming a great leader by also subscribing to Darren Daily.</p>
<p>And if you haven&#8217;t signed up for <strong>FREE daily mentoring with me, join me and 350,000+ other high achievers who kickstart their day</strong> with Darren Daily. <u><a href="https://darrenhardy.com/darrendaily/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Click here to sign up here for free!</a></u></p>

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7 Unique Leadership Qualities of the Best Leaders in History

Podcast

Productivity & Performance

<div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://darrenhardy.com/blog/how-to-get-things-done-faster-better-easier"></div><p>I want you to clear the calculator from yesterday, forget about the tasks you have to do later today, and be FULLY present with me here these next few minutes. Okay? Cool&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>Today, I want to expose the jig.</strong></p>
<p>Everyone thinks that those they see on the covers of magazines, make it to the FORBES 400 list or watch on Bloomberg’s ICON show have some sort of superpowers or something… Some innate genius or supernatural powers that allows them to be more disciplined than you… that they have more self-control, resolve or fortitude than you.</p>
<p>Well the jig is up… <strong>they don’t. At all.</strong><br />
What they have is a jig… and this morning you can get you one too.</p>
<h3>You know what a jig is right?</h3>
<p>No, not the dance move… the mechanism used in construction to reduce effort, minimize mistakes, expedite production and significantly improve results. Let me explain, because this will give you the supposed “super powers” you think everyone else has that you didn’t. Ready?</p>
<p>Okay, so a jig is a device that guides a repeated action by constraining the environment in such a way as to make the action go smoothly… the same each time without having to think about it.</p>
<p>So when a carpenter wants to cut let’s say… a half-dozen boards to the same length, he or she won’t measure each one… mark it… and then try to guide her saw along the line… cutting one board one at a time.</p>
<p>No, that would end up a mess… likely each board would come out wonky and different sizes.</p>
<p>Instead, he or she uses a jig to guide the process. Even if he or she is on a job site… and not in their workshop having access to their JIG SAW… they will make a jig with whatever is on site.</p>
<p>They might… say&#8230; use the clean line of a freshly laid cinder-block wall as a backstop to butt each board up against and then lay the boards side by side on sawhorses.</p>
<p>Then she will then make a measurement on the first and the last board and maybe snap a chalk line across the marks. Then she’ll tack a straight piece of plywood along that line, traversing the whole array of boards. This will serve a guide for their saw.</p>
<p>Then all he or she has to do is slide their saw long the plywood edge, taking very little mental resources or precision… and presto, they have six boards, cut to perfectly equal length.</p>
<p>What a jig does is reduce the degrees of freedom… freedom of movement… and freedom of mental choices and decisions that come up in the environment.</p>
<p>It stabilizes a process… and in doing so lightens the burden of both memory and fine muscular control.</p>
<p>This is what you want to guide YOUR actions, behavior and habits… A JIG.<br />
You want to jigger <strong>your environment</strong>, <strong>your daily processes</strong> and <strong>your methods of operation</strong>.</p>
<p>You want to find ways of recruiting your surroundings for the sake of achieving your purpose with a minimum expenditure of your scarce mental resources.</p>
<p>With the right jig system you can execute with excellence using far less energy and effort and yet dramatically improve desired results. Excellent execution, improved results and less effort is what you want, right?</p>
<h2>How I Found My &#8220;Jig&#8221;</h2>
<p>You’ve probably heard the story of my chance encounter with a 94-year old multi-billionaire. This guy started out in abject poverty. As a young man he was one of the boys who stormed Normandy during WWII. He was shot and received a Purple Heart for it in fact. When I met him… AT 94 years old… he was still overseeing 200 thriving portfolio companies… and having a blast. A blast is an understatement as I met him on his 200+ footer yacht that he spent more time on than in the office.<br />
When I asked him how he did it all… that is when he shared with me his <a href="https://go.darrenhardy.com/sunday-planning/?utm_source=wordpress&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=ipl-sunday-planning-system">Sunday Planning System</a>. Well he called it his Divine Purpose document. But essentially it was his JIG. It is how he set up a guiding system to focus him each week and keep him focus on only the most essential priorities… so he could execute with excellence and focused effort and with very little chance of straying off course all week.</p>
<p>When I applied his jig to my own life I couldn’t believe the results. I’m not kidding, the very next year all my important metrics doubled… my impact, my influence… and income. Doubled. AND… at the same time I took more vacation that year than I had in all my life combined up until that point.</p>
<p>It didn’t stop there… The following year using the same jig, <a href="https://go.darrenhardy.com/sunday-planning/?utm_source=wordpress&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=ipl-sunday-planning-system">this Sunday Planning process</a>… which only takes 20-minutes by the way… the next year I doubled it all again. Every metric.</p>
<p>Over the course of only four years since all those valuable metrics—impact, influence and bottom line… as well as vacation, time off and real actual free time 5X’ed. 5X! That is the power of a proper jig… or system to plan and guide your execution… requiring less effort, energy and higher level cognitive functions along the way.</p>
<p>By the way, if that sounds like something you’d like to have… I’ll include a link at the bottom to a video where I walk through this Sunday Planning tool&#8211;it’s a game changer.</p>
<p><strong>But for now just consider how you can start forcing a jig system on your methods of operation.</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>How you set up your desk… your work environment…</li>
<li>How you plan your week, your day…</li>
<li>How you get dressed in the morning… your entire morning routine.</li>
<li>How you pack for a trip… How you plan for a presentation…</li>
<li>How you stock your briefcase, your car, your pantry.</li>
</ul>
<p>All these aspects of your environment can act as a jig to guide your execution of excellence requiring very little effort… physically or mentally… and living very little chance of straying off course.</p>
<p><strong>Now get jiggy with it!</strong></p>
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How to Get Things Done: Faster, Better, Easier

<div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://darrenhardy.com/blog/unhappy-with-your-life-then-stop-lying-to-yourself"></div><p>There&#8217;s a great plague that has propagated throughout our culture the last 50 years&#8230; concocted by the PMA movement in the 1970s &#8211; the Positive Mental Attitude movement&#8230; which gave birth to what is called the modern &#8220;self-help&#8221; industry today&#8230; which has bloomed into a full-flung plague that is virally spread and expanded every day, all day on social media&#8230;</p>
<p>It is the fairy tale that if you just <strong>think happy</strong>&#8230; <strong>think positive</strong>&#8230; happy and positive things will happen for you.</p>
<p><strong>That&#8217;s horse pucky.</strong> And a lie&#8230; one that is hurting you and actually stunting your growth.</p>
<p>If you are unhappy with your current results it is precisely because you have been lying to yourself. Your lie has allowed it.</p>
<p>You&#8217;ve been telling yourself a story&#8230; a fairy tale. You&#8217;ve turned your head from the truth. You&#8217;ve been looking the other way. You&#8217;ve purposely avoided the reality in the mirror.</p>
<h2>If you really want to change, the only place to start is with the truth.</h2>
<p><strong>If you&#8217;re fat&#8230;</strong> thinking positively isn&#8217;t gonna make you thin.<br />
<strong>If you&#8217;re broke&#8230;</strong> affirmations aren&#8217;t going to pay off your debt.<br />
<strong>If you&#8217;re a crappy husband, wife, mother or father&#8230;</strong> chanting &#8220;Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better&#8221;&#8230; isn&#8217;t actually going to make it better.</p>
<p>In fact, research will even tell you that when self-perception races ahead of reality it stunts you psychologically and turns you into a socially inept misfit.</p>
<p>Those who are called self-enhancers&#8230; tend to be internally and externally hostile, lack social skills, and appear anxious and moody.</p>
<p>They are extra sensitive to criticism and keep people at a distance &#8212; so that they don&#8217;t get feedback that might alter their overly positive view. They are trying to hide their flaws from themselves and others.</p>
<p>But they don&#8217;t fool anyone. Even their pals describe self-enhancers as hostile, condescending, and unable to self-control.</p>
<p>This also sabotages their ability to grow, improve and become better&#8230; A self-enhancer is intrinsically motivated to maintain this delusional positive self-image by selecting easy tasks and rejecting more difficult tasks and avoiding the critical feedback needed for improvement in order to maintain their fantasy self-image.</p>
<p>And now they are actually a danger to society. Anytime our lives are driven by something outside of truth and reality, we become a danger to ourselves and everyone around us.</p>
<h2>So what do you do? Start with the truth.</h2>
<p>If you are fat, admit it. Say it: <strong>&#8220;I am fat.&#8221;</strong><br />
Repeat that several times. Write that down on a piece of paper and put that up on the refrigerator.</p>
<p>Even better&#8230; strip naked, stand in front of a full-length mirror and snap an edited and unenhanced selfie. Put <strong>THAT</strong> up on the fridge so you are forced to look at it every time you open the refrigerator door.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re broke, write that down. I am smart, capable, live in America (or whatever first world country you live in)&#8230; and am broke.</p>
<p>Print out your pitiful bank account balance and put that up on your bathroom mirror. Look at it every morning before you begin your day.</p>
<p>If you are not the husband you could be and should be&#8230; write that down &#8211; I am failing as a husband. Pin that to the dashboard of your car.</p>
<p>Let the pain of the <strong>TRUTH</strong> finally drive you to <strong>DO</strong> something about it. Because <strong>THAT</strong> is the only thing that is going to change your current situation &#8211; <strong>DOING THE WORK.</strong></p>
<p>Stop trying to make yourself feel better by saying everything is okay and that you are great.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not okay and you are not great.<br />
You <strong>CAN</strong> be, but you are not.<br />
Deal with it. Face that first. Start with the truth.</p>
<p>Only <strong>DOING</strong> something about it is going to make you actually feel better. Taking <strong>ACTION</strong> towards a problem &#8211; that is what makes it better so you can feel better. not the other way around.</p>
<p>Growth and improvement is a product of action, not affirmation. Affirmation leads to delusion. <strong>Only ACTION sets you free.</strong></p>
<p>You cannot look at your bicep and say&#8230; you are getting bigger and stronger in every way every day. No, you have to go take it into the gym and do the work. Period.</p>
<p><strong>You want to feel better on the inside&#8230; then do better on the outside.</strong> Action is always your way out. Work is always the remedy.</p>
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Unhappy with Your Life? Then Stop Lying to Yourself

<div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://darrenhardy.com/blog/busy-equals-lazy-not-productive"></div><p>Elizabeth Tildon from North Carolina asked this question: She said, “I want to be the exception, achieve big goals and make an impact in the world, but I have no time. The treadmill just keeps running… I’m running as fast as I can, help! What do you recommend for me?” Anyone else feel like Elizabeth out there? Sure, you’re in good company, Elizabeth.</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Talk to almost anyone today, and they complain about having “no time.”</strong></p></blockquote>
<p>The problem is that statement is often a boast&#8230;. disguised as a complaint when you hear this. &#8220;I’m so busy&#8221;, which we are meant to interpret as… I’m so important. I’m so valuable. I’m so significant. I’m so in demand. But the true interpretation is: You are so weak. You are so lazy. You are so out of control. You are so afraid. Hey, I never said you were going to LIKE my answers. Let me explain.</p>
<h2><strong>Don’t Confuse Being Busy with Being Productive</strong></h2>
<p>Busy = laziness, because it is a result of lazy thinking and indiscriminate action… Lack of priorities, clarity, proper planning. Busy = weakness because you are using it as an excuse to avoid what’s hard &amp; uncomfortable. The thing you really need to do is probably harder than checking email again, commenting on Facebook or saying yes to the “gotta minute” distraction.</p>
<blockquote><p>Busy = fear because you are using it to avoid yourself.</p></blockquote>
<p>People are literally afraid of IDLENESS, QUIET and SOLITUDE. It’s why they walk into a hotel room or their house and immediately turn on the TV. They don&#8217;t want to be with themselves so they fill up the environment and every moment with business. One study proved people would prefer electric shock than to be bored.  For some reason, most people hate being bored. We seek stimulation, constantly. People don&#8217;t know who they are when they aren&#8217;t busy. That’s fear. Busy = out of control. You don’t lack time; you lack skills &amp; priorities.</p>
<h2>Positive Productivity Is a Choice</h2>
<p>Some people are addicted to their struggle. They love going around saying I’m so crazy busy! I have no time. That’s like walking around shooting yourself in the foot… and then bragging about your marksmanship. That’s lame and only proves you are out of control. Get a grip. I have talked with countless high-profile CEOs and multi-millionaires, heck even billionaires. Not one of them has complained to me about how busy they are. The reason? Because while they definitely have a full schedule, but they know how to take their business and transform it into focused results. They don’t get it all done—that’s for amateurs. They get the RIGHT things done. The bottom line is… Being productive is a choice. It won’t just happen naturally… because your to-do list will get longer and longer if left unbridled. You have to work at it, hone your productivity muscle and make the right choices for your goals and ambitions.</p>
<h2>Time to Get Serious</h2>
<p>If you are serious about regaining control over your life, over your sanity and over your potential, then I highly recommend you <a href="https://darrenhardy.com/insane-productivity-ludicrous?utm_source=wordpress&amp;utm_medium=dhblog-post&amp;utm_campaign=ipl-direct&amp;utm_term=buzy-equals-lazy-not-productive">look into INSANE PRODUCTIVITY</a>. It’s designed specifically for those who desire to be great. Not everyone does, I get that. Most people would prefer to continue to just complain about being “crazy busy” and having “no time”… and never doing anything about it. They prefer the comfort of their complaint, over the work and investment it takes to conquer it and ultimately stand victorious.</p>
<p>The choice is yours! I&#8217;m here to help those who choose to&#8230; Be The Exception.</p>
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Busy Equals Lazy, Not Productive

Success & Goal Achievement

<div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://darrenhardy.com/blog/the-power-of-your-why-how-to-overcome-any-obstacle"></div><p>There were two warring tribes that not-so-peacefully co-existed—one that lived in the lowlands and the other, high in the mountains.</p>
<p>One day, the mountain people invaded the lowlanders; plundering and kidnapping a baby from the village. They vanished with the child and took her back up into the mountains.</p>
<p>The lowlanders outraged at the disappearance of one of their own were pushed into action… but the lowlanders didn&#8217;t know how to climb the mountain.</p>
<p>They didn&#8217;t know any of the trails that the mountain people used, and they didn&#8217;t know where to find the mountain people or how to track them in the steep terrain.</p>
<p>Even so, they sent out their best party of fighting men to climb the mountain and bring the baby home.</p>
<p>The men tried first one method of climbing and then another. They tried one trail and then another.</p>
<p>After several days of effort, however, they had climbed only several hundred feet.</p>
<p>Feeling hopeless and helpless, the lowlander men decided that the cause was lost, and they prepared to return to their village below.</p>
<p>As they were packing their gear for the descent, they saw the baby&#8217;s mother walking toward them. They realized that she was coming down the mountain that they hadn&#8217;t figured out how to climb.</p>
<p>And then they saw that she had the baby strapped to her back. How could that be?</p>
<p>One man greeted her and said, &#8220;We couldn&#8217;t climb this mountain. How did you do this when we, the strongest and most able men in the village, couldn&#8217;t do it?&#8221;</p>
<p>She shrugged her shoulders and said intently&#8230;<br />
&#8220;IT WASN’T YOUR BABY.&#8221;</p>
<p>The power of your why is what will power you to overcome any obstacle and achieve the seemingly impossible.</p>
<p>Unleash the power of your &#8220;why&#8221; by <a href="https://join.darrenhardy.com/jumpstart/?utm_source=wordpress&amp;utm_medium=post&amp;utm_campaign=jumpstart">joining Jumpstart today</a>!</p>
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The Power of Your Why, How to Overcome Any Obstacle

<div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://darrenhardy.com/blog/what-i-wish-i-knew-before-i-turned-30"></div><p>I was recently asked, &#8220;What do you think someone should learn before they turn 30?&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a great question&#8230; an important one.<br />
And a question I wished I had asked back yonder to someone old (like me)&#8230; someone with actual experience and results to draw from&#8230;. and someone who cared enough to tell it to me straight, no holds barred.</p>
<p>Thinking about it now&#8230; man, how many painful missteps I could have avoided and how my journey would have been accelerated if someone older, wiser, who cared, told me straight, what I will be telling you.</p>
<p>I ask you, if you know anyone sub-30&#8230; that you care about, be sure they read this&#8230;</p>
<p>And if you are post-30, don&#8217;t think for a second that you are off the hook. All of this, we all need reminding of&#8230; and I am going to say right now, as we get further into this mini-adventure, I&#8217;m betting you are still struggling with some of these life challenges and need this advice even more urgently than your younger brethren, so please go deeply with us as we traverse this adventure.</p>
<p><strong>What I know now&#8230;</strong><br />
That thing you went through recently&#8230; called school. Yaaaa, that wasn&#8217;t your (real) education.</p>
<p>School is just a place adults send you during the day while they go out to work, make a living and pay for all the food, shelter, books, and sports uniforms you were going to want. It&#8217;s like government subsidized day care.</p>
<p>Now, they DID kinda hope you were taught HOW to learn&#8230; and how to get along in strange tribes of other humans. If you survive that, that will be useful later in life.</p>
<p>Formal schooling is more of a maturation phase, rather than teaching you what you need to know to prosper out in the wild.</p>
<p>You&#8217;ve probably already figured out that most everything you studied in school, is well, pretty much useless out in the wild of the real world.</p>
<p>So, on behalf of the older generation&#8230; sorry about that.<br />
It’s kind of a crappy set up, I know.<br />
And we should have fixed it by now, buuuut we haven&#8217;t.</p>
<p>#1 Advice Before You Turn 30<br />
So, now&#8230; if you want to succeed, live well and do work that matters&#8230; you have to begin your (real) education. That begins RIGHT NOW.</p>
<p>It starts with the discovery of yourself&#8230; Learning about yourself&#8230; and working on your SELF. This is called self-improvement. Without it, you&#8217;ll be left behind.</p>
<p>Discovering your unique strengths and identifying those limiting weaknesses that could sabotage and hinder your ability to succeed will be critical.</p>
<h2>The Skills You Must Develop</h2>
<p>You&#8217;ll need to develop actual, useful skills.<br />
Skills used out in the marketplace&#8230; in the real world.</p>
<p>Now if you&#8217;re asking&#8230; and I hope you are&#8230; Which skill should you start with? That&#8217;s a great question.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s my answer: I suggest starting with SALES.</p>
<p>Learning to communicate confidently, empathetically and influentially&#8230;</p>
<p>Learning to present, persuade, overcome obstacles and deal with rejection&#8230;</p>
<p>In my view is one of the most important skills you can ever gain.</p>
<p>Even if you don&#8217;t want to be in &#8220;sales&#8221; you will quickly learn that EVERYTHING in life is sales. I mean everything. Full stop.</p>
<p>Develop this skill and its like obtaining the key to the vault. With it you can open the door&#8230; and there is an endless supply of abundance inside.</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t care if you want to be an engineer, a coder, a game designer, an architect, a doctor, an artist, an interior designer, a project manager or domestic engineer&#8230; every single endeavor you can think of requires you selling your ideas, your opinions and influencing others. Everything.</p>
<h2>The Best Work Does Not Always Win</h2>
<p>You have to understand, that the best products, the best ideas, the best work DOES NOT win. When dealing with human beings, it comes down to which products, ideas and work is better communicated, marketed and sold&#8230; that WINS. Period. Full stop.</p>
<p>You want to accelerate your heroic journey?<br />
Enjoy the life most people will only admire and envy from a distance? Go do an apprenticeship. Go get a job in sales. Preferably something hard to sell and something that has to be sold live and in person &#8211; face-to-face or over the phone.</p>
<p>Now, it doesn&#8217;t have to be for the rest of your life, but go do it for a year or two. Face the process of what it takes to win friends and influence people.</p>
<p>The rest of your life will be better for it, I promise. WITHOUT this muscle of this essential skill, I am afraid you will struggle with most everything&#8230; and never be strong enough to rise above your peers and live the life you were meant to live.</p>
<p>I implore you, do not neglect the development of this vital skill.</p>
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What I Wish I Knew Before I Turned 30

<div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://darrenhardy.com/blog/how-to-find-a-mentor"></div><div class="vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid"><div class="wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12"><div class="vc_column-inner"><div class="wpb_wrapper">
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			<p>If you&#8217;re looking for the ultimate shortcut to success, then your <strong>#1 priority should be to learn how to find a mentor or a <a href="/posts/what-is-leadership">great leader</a> to emulate.</strong> This one trick will help you fast forward through years of:</p>
<ul>
<li>reading success &amp; leadership books</li>
<li>attending seminars</li>
<li>and maybe even therapy</li>
</ul>
<p>It gets better. By finding a mentor, you could gain:</p>
<ul>
<li>better <a href="/posts/leadership-skills">leadership skills</a></li>
<li>better people skills</li>
<li>decisiveness under pressure</li>
<li>become a world class salesman or saleswoman</li>
<li>learn the secret to get the body of your dreams</li>
</ul>
<p><em>Wait! Doesn&#8217;t it take years to master these skills?</em> Nope. All of this is possible for you to obtain faster than you could imagine.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re looking for a direct highway to success, just do this one thing:</p>
<p><strong>Study, follow, read, watch videos about, and surround yourself with</strong> mentors and leaders who ALREADY have the characteristics you want.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s how this works. It&#8217;s been proven that humans adopt the tendencies and behaviors of those around us. We all tend to <a href="https://medium.com/the-mission/the-surprising-truth-about-why-we-tend-to-imitate-others-b15831070cd9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mimic the people we like</a>, and we do it subconsciously. Scientists say we do this because it helps us to survive. People <a href="http://socialpsychonline.com/2015/06/3-reasons-why-you-need-to-pay-more-attention-to-peoples-body-language-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">like and trust us more if our behaviors are similar to theirs</a> (so we boost social interactions by mimicry). But the &#8220;why we do it&#8221; isn&#8217;t important. The fact is we are amazing at mimicry. Study a great leader and very soon, you&#8217;ll find yourself mimicking their:</p>
<ul>
<li>gestures</li>
<li>how they handle themselves &#8211; including posture &amp; confidence</li>
<li><a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/64262/we-mimic-speech-patterns-people-we-agree" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">speech patterns</a> &#8211; accent/pronunciation, pacing, &amp; intonation</li>
<li>how they relate to people</li>
<li>their success habits and disciplines</li>
<li>even their happiness and general attitude toward life</li>
</ul>
<p>All of this can be mimicked and adopted.</p>
<p>Angry at the world?<br />
You could sidestep years of therapy by finding a mentor who is supremely positive and happy.</p>
<p>Want to be a better speaker?<br />
You could <strong>hire a speech coach and spend thousands</strong>, or instead, you might try this. Select your favorite TED talk and watch it 40x. You don&#8217;t have to intentionally look for the speakers hand gestures, the timing in which she delivers her best points, or how she connects with the crowd. Your brain will do it subconsciously.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s for this same reason that my mentor, Jim Rohn, said to very careful when you select your friends. The power of proximity and mimicking effects work when you&#8217;re surrounded by them as well. In fact, according to research by social psychologist Dr. David McClelland of Harvard, the people you habitually associate with determine as much as 95 percent of your success or failure in life.</p>
<p>The question is, WHO to choose as a mentor, and if it&#8217;s not a famous person, how to find them.</p>
<h2>3 Easy Tips for Finding a Mentor</h2>
<p>Many people realize they need a mentor, but don&#8217;t know how to find one. Finding a mentor could take a lot of work. It may even take a bit of a financial commitment, especially if you&#8217;re trying to attract a millionaire mentor. But you don&#8217;t have to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/31-year-old-millionaire-i-spent-70000-on-mentorship-in-6-months.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spend thousands to find a mentor</a>. People frequently ask me <strong>how you ask someone to be your mentor.</strong> The truth is, I never asked any of my millionaire mentors to &#8220;be my mentor.&#8221; I simply studied them, mimicked their success, and requested advice whenever I could.</p>
<h2>Entrepreneurs &#8211; Your #1 Trap Finding a Mentor</h2>
<p>If you&#8217;re in business, there are so many <a href="/posts/leadership-qualities-best-leaders">great leaders</a> you could read about, study, and mirror.</p>
<ul>
<li>Steve Jobs</li>
<li>Jeff Bezos</li>
<li>Oprah Winfrey</li>
<li>Mark Cuban</li>
</ul>
<p>The list could go on an on. But I think <strong>there&#8217;s a trap in selecting a business leader to emulate. </strong> As I&#8217;ve gotten older and matured, I&#8217;ve learned how to avoid this trap and want to share my discovery with you here. It all starts with the story of the first great leader I aspired to be like.</p>
<h2>The First Leader I Strove to Emulate</h2>
<p>You may know I am the <a href="https://www.success.com/darren-hardy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">former publisher of SUCCESS Magazine.</a> During my time there, I enjoyed the <strong>exclusive opportunity to interview guys and gals who are billionaires</strong> and who have built world-class companies. If I am being candid with you; after spending time with many of them, my walkaway conclusion was… <em>They don’t seem THAT smart&#8230;</em> Heck, if THEY can do this, no doubt you can… and you should! I&#8217;ve found over and over, success is not about your intellect. It&#8217;s highly driven by the key success principle revealed in this article:</p>
<blockquote><p>
<strong>Find a model of what you want and then do what they have done.</strong>
</p></blockquote>
<p>Well, Richard Branson was my model. The dude just exudes, fun, coolness, am I right? And he’s a billionaire who has his own private island… and spends a lot of his time wake boarding with supermodels on his back. He&#8217;s even been on Shark Tank!</p>
<p>Come on, how sweet is that?! So Richard was my model.</p>
<p><strong>Until I got to know him. </strong></p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy. And he IS cool. But, after getting up close and personal with the dynamics of his life… I realized how different we are. Richard thrives on complexity. He likes having 400 plates spinning and doesn’t mind if a few fall.</p>
<blockquote><p>
<strong>He and Virgin have 125 lawsuits pending at any one time.</strong>
</p></blockquote>
<p>Lawsuits as chairman of the board, he is named in personally. It’s part of the game he is in. He doesn’t mind it at all. Under the gun of all that, he’s still cool as a cat. Now 125 lawsuits would send me to the loony bin! <em><strong>I realized then how much I didn’t want to be Richard Branson.</strong></em></p>
<p>That setup works for him—really well (obviously). Not me. I realized then how much <strong>I thrive on simplicity.</strong> I like uncomplicated. I like staying out of the courtroom and the press. I thrive on doing a few things, really, really well. I thrive on delivering excellence… in everything I do. Which means, for me, it&#8217;s better to do fewer things. Fewer things, done excellently = happiness for me. However, and this is the key lesson here, <strong>Richard is still an incredible resource of inspiration for me.</strong> Not because I want his results, but for many of his brilliant methods for creating those results.</p>
<ul>
<li>I want his steadfast and unshakable focus.</li>
<li>I like how he makes his employees the highest priority (over customers and shareholders).</li>
<li>I admire his willingness to try anything and laugh at failure if it doesn’t work.</li>
<li>I respect his willingness to take big risks, yet always protect the downside.</li>
<li>I like how he always makes “will this be fun” a criterion for whether he does a business deal or not.</li>
<li>I think it’s awesome how he always positions his endeavors as the underdog, fighting injustice for the little guy against the Goliath who has created an injustice.</li>
<li>And more.</li>
</ul>
<p>So when it comes to finding a mentor or emulating great leaders, here is the first lesson I have learned:</p>
<blockquote><p>
<strong>Don’t compare yourself to the results of others, but find inspiration in their methods of success.</strong>
</p></blockquote>
<p>Don&#8217;t wish for someone else&#8217;s results, instead work on gaining the mindset, philosophy, behavior, habits, and attributes they possess to create those kinds of results… to accomplish whatever YOU want—no matter how complicated or how simple you want your life or business to be.</p>
<h2>Choose the Right Types of Leaders and Mentors</h2>
<p>Now that we&#8217;ve established that you shouldn&#8217;t try to emulate every aspect of your mentor&#8217;s life, I want to share a couple more traps I&#8217;ve fallen into&#8230;</p>
<p>#1 &#8211; Emulating only famous people<br />
#2 &#8211; Emulating only one type of leader</p>
<p>Earlier in this article, I mentioned choosing leaders like Oprah, Steve Jobs, and Mark Cuban as mentors. While these are excellent choices for any high achiever to follow, you may see a couple of problems&#8230; all these leaders are entrepreneurs, and they&#8217;re all famous &#8211; meaning most people reading this don&#8217;t know Oprah or Mark personally.</p>
<p><strong>You actually want a variety of leaders, mentors, and coaches in your life.</strong> And some of them should be people you even know!</p>
<p>Let me help summarize and organize the different role models and coaches you want to consider obtaining and their purpose into a clear and actionable plan for you. I’ll outline them briefly now so that you can design and develop your coaching team. Okay, first of all, are your two sets of advisors—your inner circle and your outer circle.</p>
<h3><strong>YOUR INNER CIRCLE</strong></h3>
<p>Your <strong>inner circle</strong> is something you are probably already aware of and already utilize on a regular basis. These are <a href="https://www.wbsllc.com/blog/leadership-posts/leadership-inner-circle/#.XAbPqOhKiUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the people you work with</a>, or the people who work for you. These are the members of your leadership team or other vendors, suppliers and partners. These people have a <strong>vested interest in your success.</strong> YOUR success IS their success. You want to make sure you know exactly who they are and are utilizing them to the fullest. These people are essentially paid to advise you, BUT you have to often pull the advice out of them and then listen.</p>
<p><strong>But be warned, often times their advice is biased or guarded.</strong></p>
<p>They are either driving an agenda or are afraid to be candid as you are the hand that feeds them and they were raised to never, under any circumstances, bite it. There is usually VERY LITTLE value or incentive for your inner circle to give you the sometimes brutal, but often needed feedback and advice you really need. Oh, I know you can tell them how it is safe for them to be honest and forthright for you, but it ain’t gonna happen. Understand their position—they have very little to gain and everything to lose telling you something you might not like hearing.</p>
<h3><strong>YOUR OUTER CIRCLE</strong></h3>
<p>THAT is why you need an <strong>outer circle</strong> of advisors. Smart, experienced and insightful people who have NO vested interest in your success. While they might WANT to see you succeed, if you do, they are not going to gain anything. And they are not beholden to you, meaning if you don’t like their feedback, it doesn’t put any compensation or business agenda in jeopardy for them. These people are fully unencumbered to <a href="https://www.inc.com/jayson-demers/7-key-qualities-of-an-effective-mentor.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">let you have it and just tell you like they see it.</a> This is a great group of advisors for you to go to work on putting together.</p>
<h3><strong>ROLE MODELS</strong></h3>
<p>The next group I suggest you put together are <strong>role models</strong>—and here&#8217;s where you want to be careful NOT to choose one from just one area of life. You want a role model for each of the eight areas on your <strong>Wheel of Life</strong>. The Wheel of Life is something I outline in the <a href="https://go.darrenhardy.com/living-your-best-year-ever-resources/?utm_source=wordpress&amp;utm_medium=dhblog-post&amp;utm_campaign=living-your-best-year-ever&amp;utm_term=how-to-find-a-mentor" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Living Your Best Year Ever</em></a> goal achievement system. The eight areas are:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Physical</strong>, meaning your health</li>
<li><strong>Relationship</strong>, meaning your significant other</li>
<li><strong>Family</strong>, meaning your kids and extended family members</li>
<li><strong>Spiritual</strong></li>
<li><strong>Financial</strong></li>
<li><strong>Business</strong></li>
<li><strong>Lifestyle</strong></li>
<li><strong>Mental</strong>, meaning your personal growth and development</li>
</ol>
<p>What I suggest you have is a role model for each area. This is someone whom you look up to, someone whom you want to live up to. Having this person as a reference will help you make better choices and behavior decisions, and if you study them, you will become like them. For instance, you probably figured out that my role model <strong>for business</strong> is Richard Branson. I might think, what choice would Branson make in this situation? How would he handle this problem? How would he communicate this to his team? Etc. And there is another key point, you don’t have to be personal friends with your role models.</p>
<p>Find someone you relate with, then learn all you can about him or her so they can be a reference in philosophical thinking and decision making. One person might encompass several areas but it is unlikely one person will be the example you want to live up to in all eight areas. It’s good to have different role models for different areas. I can tell you, every day I am using one of my role models to guide me in my decision making and behavior improvement. Whether it is my marriage role model, my fitness role model, my lifestyle role model, etc. It’s a really powerful guidance system. I highly recommend you design this for yourself.</p>
<h3><strong>YOUR HIRED COACHES</strong></h3>
<p>The last two are your actual <strong>hired coaches</strong>. People whom you pay to train you. The two categories are:</p>
<ol>
<li>a <strong>Season </strong>focused coach</li>
<li>and <strong>Skill</strong> focused coaches</li>
</ol>
<p>We are always going through different seasons. Depending on the season you are going through you should have a really great coach to help see you through it.</p>
<p>Seasons might be things like: the start-up phase of a new business—get a great business startup coach. Maybe you are going through a difficult marriage season—get a great coach to help you. Maybe you are dealing with some mid-life crisis issues. Hey, people do! A great coach can be very useful to you. God forbid, maybe you have to liquidate your business or deal with a child going through drug abuse, whatever. These are real life situations and you can prevent a lot of further problems and save a lot of time, money and anguish if you hire a great coach to help you.</p>
<p>The last group is <strong>Skill focused coaches</strong>.</p>
<p>I always recommend that you double down on a particular skill every quarter. For example, skills like Public speaking, marketing copywriting, time management/productivity, sales, recruiting, persuasive communication, financial literacy, etc. Whatever <a href="https://new.coachingnetwork.org.uk/information-portal/what-are-coaching-and-mentoring/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">skill is most important to you</a> accomplishing your number one goal for the year; go for mastery on that skill.</p>
<p>Now you don’t HAVE to go out and hire someone specifically. You can go and obtain the tools and training materials someone might have available. You can be well mentored through books, seminars and audio and video programs. Additionally, your coach doesn’t even need to be alive. I have been using <a href="/posts/leadership-qualities-best-leaders">Abraham Lincoln as my leadership mentor</a> this quarter. Alive or dead, in person or through materials, those factors don’t matter. What matters is you pick a key skill you are going to double down on, pick a mentor and attack it.</p>
<p>And if you haven&#8217;t signed up for FREE daily mentoring with me, join me and 350,000+ other high achievers who kickstart their day with Darren Daily. <u><a href="https://darrenhardy.com/darrendaily/">Click here to sign up here for free.</a></u></p>

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