Know, Go and Show

At the bottom of every email that I send, there is a quote from John C. Maxwell that reads, "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." Over the course of my lifetime, I have always felt like I was blessed with certain gifts that would make me a wonderful leader. However, my old lifestyle temporarily stole my ability to progressively develop leadership skills, and the choices I habitually made blocked the path toward my hopes and dreams. Because of my decisions, I was incapable of either knowing the way or going the way, and therefore I definitely could not show the way.

After being saved and restored by the grace of God, I am now able to look back on my past experience as a blessing that helped me become a much stronger person. I have grown as a person with a much more clear understanding of who I am and who I want to be. Throughout my journey of change, I have been able to realign my objectives in life realizing that my drive for leadership is even stronger today.

In order to reach my goals, I need to first understand that the knowledge, skills and abilities required to be a successful leader are not developed overnight. I must acquire leadership ability over time with an unyielding dedication to pursuing it. I am determined to constantly seek leadership opportunities and knowledge while always giving my absolute best to whatever I do. Whether it be reading books or serving the community, I approach every activity as a chance to expand my current understanding with hope that I will emerge as a leader in the future.

In my experience I have realized that it can be really easy to begin thinking we simply were not meant to become leaders, which in turn makes it even easier to avoid taking advantage of leadership roles and opportunities. However, I want to encourage everyone to live life with a leadership mindset and push yourselves to being a leader in everything you do. God blesses us everyday with challenges to overcome and triumphs to celebrate. These daily events and the people we encounter through them provide us with the lessons needed to become the people we were meant to be... and simply by giving our all to everything we do, we become leaders who know the way, go the way and show the way.