Your Personal Leadership Journey

This segment is from my next book, which is scheduled to publish later in 2022. I seek to explore the personal transformation needed to be a successful leader. Truly, however, the tools required to lead are not crafted for the leader, alone. If we want to ‘lead’ a successful life, we need to do many things. Some of the things may be unknown to us at any particular time. As we grow and develop, we learn that there are new things to learn. There are new experiences to be explored. And new wisdom to acquire. Here is a list to get us started.

1.?????Explore our inner world

2.?????Make sense of who we are

3.?????Become in tune with the purpose of life (big picture)

4.?????Understand our own purpose in life – that which drives you to action.

This article only addresses Step 1 – exploring our inner world.

Often, a person can spend years taking this inward journey. Truthfully, this is all well and good. You spend the required time because there is no substitute for it. Also, it is your life that you want to develop, flourish, and manifest into what you want.

The Inner Journey

In my narrative, I have a character named ‘John’. He is in transition. In fact, he is going through several transitions. What’s going on in John’s life??

1.?????John is turning 18 years old. This, by itself, has many implications. In the village in which John lives, this is a coming of age. He will be considered an adult and must transition into a new way of life. Being done with school, he must work. This is not entirely new, just that it will now completely define his life.

2.?????John lives in a community where life is – just about – predetermined for him. His community and his family have expectations for his future. Given that his father owns a farm, he is expected to work for his father until he inherits the farm.

3.?????John does not want to ‘live up to” the expectations of others. He wants to do something different. He wants to be his own person.

4.?????John wants to find out who he is and what he is made of. He needs to do this to feel completely whole.

What should John do?

John has a long-time friend that he trusts. Jose is more like a grandfather in both age and wisdom. Jose also works for John’s father, one of the community farmers. Since John was a young boy, Jose ‘adopted’ John as a grandson. This was not a legal adoption. But the relationship stuck, and John’s parents supported the effort. He was a trusted man in the community, as well as a decent and loyal employee. Jose proved to be a blessing in many ways.

Jose knew how John was conflicted with the choices in his life. Although it was difficult to watch John struggle with these conflicts, stepping in and giving him direction would only complicate John’s situation. John had to come to him when he was ready.

Mentors know when to step in and help. As a mentor, sometimes you have to sit back and wait. Someone has to be ready to receive your help. The other person knows you are there, and that’s okay. In fact, that’s a good thing. But the individual in conflict needs to be internally ready before they reach out to you. And when they are ready, you – the mentor – also needs to be ready.

When John was ready to ask for help, He Did

John’s conflict led him to rebel. He wanted to escape the valley and the people in it. He wanted to escape the expectations of others. He wanted to live life on his own terms. Jose knew that John’s internal conflicts would cause devastating outcomes if he acted upon them without thinking. Without having clarity of purpose, and without having clarity of self, John would end up making a lot of bad decisions. And if he would negatively influence anyone, other people might get hurt as well.

John’s only thought was to cross over the mountains and leave the valley. The mountain range encircled the valley, and no one crossed over the mountains – at least, in legend. The community believed the mountains to be cursed. They only knew of one man who attempted to climb the mountains. Many years back, one man tried. As legend tells it, this man died in his attempt. Since then, rumors of the horrors were told year after year. These rumors grew. No one has attempted to climb over the mountains since.

But now, that was all John could think about.

So he went to the only person who he thought could help him – Jose.

Our Co-Creative Existence

As a mentor, Jose was ready to help. Without giving away too many spoilers from the new book, Jose gives John a journal. The journal was written by Jose’s great-grandfather.

Jose knew John’s heart. But he also recognized that John was young and immature. As a young man, John was ready to make the trek over the mountains. However, the journey would have far greater obstacles than just the physical challenges. Of the many challenges, loneliness would be one of them. Many people do not understand what it means to be alone – on purpose. Additionally, people often avoid being lonely because it doesn’t feel good. All of this is rightfully so. If one is not prepared for such things, those experiences could have devastating outcomes. And John, at his young age, was not ready.

So, Jose offered some insights through his great-grandfather’s personal journal.

From great-grandfather’s journal:

I never experienced such loneliness as when I was in the mountains, and over it. To be clear on context, I was alone in my journeys. At least, I was physically alone. No one from the valley joined me in my trek over the mountains. And when I reached the other side, no one greeted me with open arms. This is not to say that the land is desolate and void of life. There are people on the other side. It only means that my heart was burdened, and my love was still for my family. I was lonely, and often in despair because of my loneliness.

But, over time, I learned that I was not truly alone. Again, this is difficult to explain using only words on a page. The experiences I had told me that I was never really alone, at least not from a spiritual sense. Somehow, I felt the presence of my wife, and sometimes even my kids, but to a lesser extent. And also, there were experiences that told me other beings were with me. I am not totally sure what these beings were. According to sacred texts, these beings may be angels. This I do not know for sure. I did not see anything, or anyone. I only knew that when I needed someone with me, someone was.

The Journey of Leadership

The journey into leadership is made alone. That does not mean you will be without company. It means that there can be only one leader for any given task or mission, and for any period of time. This means much of your time might be spent alone with your thoughts. Being alone is scary. And being with your own thoughts can be even scarier if you are not trained in the discipline of thinking.

The time is now to learn how to become comfortable with yourself, your thoughts, and your spirit before stepping into any leadership position.

Thanks for reading.?

Credit for images: www.pixabay.com?