Wow, something I had forgotten or honestly not felt in a while…

I like to consider myself as someone who inspires and motivates. In reality this also means that I end up spending a lot of my time around those who NEED inspiration.

Well, I never thought about this - but what about ME being inspired? I still need something to help ME get out of bed in the morning!

Lucky for me, I ended up spending the last few days with people that really light a fire under my butt!

This weekend we had amazing team meetings planning for 2009 and I can barely wait to get it started - our company is really working on freaking amazing things!

Then…take that and combine it with my dinner last night…

I Saw Myself 4 Years Ago…

Here’s what a growing business can do to you - it can take out the FUN of doing business. Many times a growing business can take the ENTREPRENEUR out of you … you know that guy who runs around dreaming, fantasizing and hustling to fight for his dream?

Well, when you’re doing well, you find that you have others to help you fight, you have to fight less hard many times and YOUR job becomes more about MANAGEMENT (booooooring).

Although this all signifies growth and is EXCELLENT - what about that little dude inside me that wants to be running around, dreaming and taking risks that make no sense to the rest of the world?!

My Dinner with a Long Time Friend…

I had dinner with a College Friend last night, he’s started a new business recently and wanted some advice from me. I went to his office and gave him a complete run down on what he can do online and he says I was incredibly helpful - I HOPE I was…

But here’s what I noticed…

The first 30 minutes of our meeting, this guy just pitched me the business - he was doing backflips about it. His eyes were gouging out, he was just freaking EXCITED.

At first I was a bit annoyed honestly. I’m not the kind to hype stuff and go around blabbering about how great our company is (but maybe I should be doing more of that). Either way, initially I was getting annoyed…

Then as time went, I was getting REALLY impressed. Why? Because I just saw ME in him only four years ago!

This guy was ready to hustle, he had a vision, he BELIEVED in what he was doing and he was ready to FIGHT for it.

Wow, “I” Was Getting Inspired!

I don’t know what it was, but his excitement was like a virus that spread to me really fast. All of a sudden, I’m talking about all my non-profit goals for 2009 and how excited I am.

<<< I haven’t talked about my non-profit goals with even my closest friends, it’s just how I am…I like to get results and not gloat about them…but I think I’ve been looking at it wrongly all this time >>

Anyways, today I woke up feeling more motivated, inspired and ready to get started!

Your Takeaway From This?

HANG AROUND THOSE WHO INSPIRE YOU!

I don’t care what it takes, but be around those that can challenge your frame of thinking and your beliefs. This means be around those that are more successful or at least share the same ideologies as you.

This friend of mine is just like me. No one can tell him what he can or cannot do. Honestly, many of my personal friends in my life are NOT like that at all.

It was refreshing hanging with him, I’ll definitely be doing more of it soon.

Thanks for inspiring me all over again my friend.

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So, I’ve been listening to “Good To Great,” which is all about dissecting what made the most successful companies in the world who they are today.

In addition, I had one of those long chats with a close friend last night over a couple of drinks.

Combine the two and it’s exactly why I’m up right now at 1:15 AM on a Saturday night writing this post for you. I couldn’t sleep thinking more and more about it, figured I’d share.

My friend and I were talking about what’s going on with the world today and how things are falling apart left and right. Well, HIS view on the situation is quite more cynic than mine is, I understand there are two sides.

No matter how much evil we see, there is just as much great around us as well (it’s just that the media chooses not to talk about the good).

Anyways, he posed a question that concerned me and also led into a long heated (yet friendly) debate:

“Is it too late to change things? Is there no more hope? Look at everything around us, how did we let it get to this?”

As we talked about it, only one word came to mind…

Leadership

That’s right. I explained to him firstly that absolutely not, it’s not too late. Also, “how did we let things get to this point?” It’s all about leadership.

I’m a big believer that everything, every organization, family, business, government - all of it is shaped by a leader. We all look to follow someone who can INSPIRE and MOVE us. We believe in his/her dreams and we pledge our loyalty.

A great leader stays TRUE to his commitments and does ANYTHING to make them happen. I mean EVERYTHING, that includes the toughest decisions anyone can imagine making.

“Much of The Leadership Is Absent Or Has Gone Astray…”

That was my only answer for him. I oversimplified the matter by saying that really if we want to see things fixed, we need new leadership. But, if you really think about it, it really is THAT simple.

Any and all successful organizations have had leaders that were fearless, brilliant and made tough decisions like you wouldn’t believe. If you have not yet, I HIGHLY recommend picking up a copy of “Good To Great” - it really drives home this point.

A Great Leader Inspires

Without going into a great big rant, I want to leave everyone with just one thought - if you want to succeed in life, you need to first master the art of inspiring and motivating those around you.

You have to begin to lead and get away from following (believe me, it sounds great, but it’s tough).

Every great leader in our world has been the role model for what it means to be a “fighter.”

Creating Impact…

One of my good friends and probably one of the nicest guys I know, Kenneth McArthur, recently wrote a book called “IMPACT.” I just got done listening to the free audio and I loved it.

Kenneth’s book is the next one on my list, I’ve only heard great things about it.

The subtitle explains my entire point:

“How To Get Noticed, Motivate Millions and Make a Difference in a Noisy World…”

Fighting for your goals and dreams involves building a coalition around you and gaining support. If you ever plan on doing that, you have to inspire, motivate and create impact…

Kenneth is giving away MANY of his materials for FREE, including the amazing interview I listened to, just visit his site and sign-up. I highly recommend getting the book as well (I’ll give you a full review when I finish it).

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