Intentional Leadership

By Travis Guida

Ever come to wonder where your day went? You are sitting at home watching a DVR’d program or catching up on the nightly news and you realize: “I have just been awake for 16 ½ hours. What happened?” The craze and the noise of our daily ingestion of media makes prioritizing our life’s mission and purpose much more difficult to attain. Socially, a night out with friends or family becomes a faded pipe dream when confronted with the daily grind of life’s ups and downs.  It doesn’t have to be like this. Our days can be filled with greater fulfillment and satisfaction.

So, what does leadership have to do with a life of inspiration?

Leaders are everywhere. And let’s be clear. Being a leader is not only about motivating a packed gym, preaching from the pulpit, or coaching a successful football team. Although examples of excellent leaders can be found in each, leadership is a broad term and most people when asked believe that they simply haven’t attained to that level yet. But the reality is that everyone is a leader to some extent or another. Parents lead their children (or should). Students lead younger students, regardless of if they know it. A newly hired construction worker leads the next generation of people with similar interests. Often, people associate a leader with a person who is able to make a difference.

If we use this definition, wouldn’t it be true that we all lead?

The truth is, the most impactful and meaningful examples of leadership come from not the most visibly people in our country or world, but in day to day interactions. In a recent Ted Talk, Drew Dudley points out that the despite his platform to provide talks and seminars, the biggest impact he has ever had on someone came from a decision to hand someone a lollipop. Visit Ted.com to watch the video. The ripple effect that he had with one small gift and a small joke leads to one person choosing to go to college, finding her college sweetheart, and getting married to the man five years later. No platform that Drew had could have achieved such powerful results.

Now, he too realizes the importance of EVERYDAY LEADERSHIP.

This brings us to intentionality. Zig Ziglar’s “Wheel of Life” is a great illustration of living a well-balanced life. “Spokes” in his wheel including: finances, health, fun and recreation, career, etc. and are the foundation of our lives. If one of them is out whack, more than likely our life is out of whack too. When this occurs, real issues can perpetuate other problems in multiple areas. So what to do? It’s not just enough to set out to make a New Year’s resolution or personal goal. True growth can only occur through being intentional about every decision we make.

Trust us, these small tips will begin to make a big difference in becoming an intentional leader:

• Make it a point to do something each day that addresses your goals.
• Follow through on all promises, big and small.
• Organize! Our effectiveness is what matters, but being effective is a lot easier when we are efficient.