What determines your destiny?

Time will pass; events will unfold; but somewhere in that flux, you can find a great premise that will guide you like a lover.

What determines your destiny? What predisposes your choices? 

When you hunt for your dreams, you become a magician. When what is out there emerges from what is in here, you experience joy. 

In the privacy of your mind, you can think original, stirring thoughts. You can find what stirs you. When you find what moves you, you can determine the direction in which you wish to go to shape your destiny. 

Your days, by default, may lead you down many false roads, roads where you fail to find a sense of purpose, roads where you lose your poise, your balance, and your sense of your own presence. 

Yet through an act of stubborn resolve, you can turn everything around for yourself. You can courageously dream up some great purpose that lights the fire in your belly. 

Simply through a moment of thoughtfulness, you can find a way to rise above the profane and enter into the sublime. 

When your life becomes more than merely surviving and socializing, you let a new spirit emerge from you to pierce the world. 

Make lists, then, not of things that need to be done but of things that you never dared to do before. 

What fiction can match the romance of creating your own reality? 

From the depths of fantasy, you can birth a new reality, substituting the clouds of your limitations for the sun of your aspirations. Armed with a dream, guided by a hidden purpose, moved by a willful intensity, you will find yourself lifted by the wings of some great and noble intention.

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The most successful entrepreneurs are certainly not the most intelligent or the most highly educated

The most successful entrepreneurs are certainly not the most intelligent or the most highly educated. But they are creative, highly motivated, intuitive and possess the ability to recognize opportunities when they spot them. 

Contrary to conventional opinion, an entrepreneur can be either an introvert or an extrovert. The basic difference is, introverts tend to focus their energy internally and often work better by themselves. Extroverts focus their energy externally. They usually work better in groups, or teams. Very few people are completely one way or the other. Most fall somewhere in between. True entrepreneurs: 

The first step in deciding whether to start a business is to ask yourself this important question: "Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?" 

A variety of experts have documented research that indicates that successful small business entrepreneurs, whether male or female, have some common characteristics. 

How do you measure up? It will be up to you -- not someone else telling you ­- to develop projects, organize your time and follow through on details. 

• Have a passion for what they do. 

• Have "street smarts." They don’t stay locked up in their ivory towers.

• Have the capability of excelling in at least one area of business.

• Become an authority on what they do, and monitor the progress of their endeavors.

• Are team builders. They excel at bringing people into the enterprise who are smarter and more skilled in specific areas.

• Ask for what they want and need and are relentless and tenacious at problem solving.

• Realize the need for the help and support of others.

• Understand that success rarely comes without total commitment. The only limitations they face are the ones they impose upon themselves.

• Have high energy.

• Have extraordinary self-confidence.

• Set long-term goals.

• Perceive money as a measure of accomplishment.

• Persist in problem-solving and have a knack for getting more accomplished with less.

• Take initiative and moderate risks, learn from failure, and seek and use feedback.

• Accept personal responsibility, and use all available resources.

• Believe that success or failure lies within their personal control or influence. 

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Great leadership is timeless

Great leaders always move out in front, establishing direction, insuring order, and providing correction and regulation as needed. Always passionate about their followers, great leaders are eager to live their lives in service to their needs. 

When considering highly regarded leaders throughout both world and personal history, we seem to perennially return to the analogy of the shepherd. We deem it the supreme accolade to characterize a leader as shepherd. 

There is much to learn about great leadership from this analogy. Through an examination of the traits and attributes, perspectives on the shepherd’s approach will move us to next level leadership.

1. The shepherd recognizes the sheep are not his to do with as he pleases.

He understands the sheep are not a tool, a means to an end, but a resource charged to his care. He is empowered, entrusted by another; responsible, and answerable to one who has greater authority. 

As an effective leader, he understands not only what it means to be a leader, but what it means to follow as well. Understanding and acceptance of the cycle cultivates and reinforces character. 

2. The sheep hear, recognize and follow the voice of their shepherd.

People naturally navigate to the familiar. Trust develops with experience gained in relationships. We have often heard that familiarity breeds contempt, but it also breeds trust and, with time and consistency, strengthens expectations.

3. The shepherd knows the sheep intimately and is able to call each by name.

Shepherds use a system of sounds, clicks and hisses to call the sheep, slightly different for each of the sheep in the flock and every sheep knows and responds to the specific sound which is his. Consistent caring proximity is always recognized and always produces results. Relationship is the key – there is no such thing as an absentee shepherd.

4. The shepherd always leads the sheep into the safest, most beneficial conditions available and always away from harm.

Strategically, he goes out before them, out of harm, into safety – but always maintaining the lead. He never expects the sheep to move into circumstances he is not willing to withstand among them, rather always expecting more of himself than he would of those in his charge.

5. The shepherd is willing to put the immediate needs and well-being of the sheep before his own, often at great personal risk.

The well-being of those entrusted to him is paramount to the shepherd. This singularity of purpose encourages his decisions to be always grounded in integrity. The shepherd is prepared to lay down his life both literally and figuratively.

6. There is a difference between a hired hand and a shepherd.

A hired hand is motivated by compensation. A shepherd has a deep and committed interest in the sheep. He is one who is responsible for what is not his - - by his own choice. And his relationship is characterized by longevity and consistent presence, with or without significant compensation.

The shepherd is at all times ready to lay down his life for the sheep. How much more the leader for the people entrusted to him. People are a sacred trust and serving them is an awesome commission. 

The true shepherd understands the critical difference between power, often stolen and generally imposed oppressively upon the unsuspecting, and authority, which speaks of responsibility and answerability to a higher power.

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