Lead or be Led

Whether you’re leading a team, an organisation, a family or just your own life, there are more things demanding your attention than you have time for. But the ones you do give your attention to will determine both the results you achieve and your experience along the way. 

Attend to the work at hand and it gets done. 
Attend to the people around you and they listen. 
Attend to the distractions and they steal your time and energy. 
Attend to that inner voice that criticises and complains and it dominates your experience. 

So the question is: are you choosing what you give your attention to, or are you at the mercy of others, of circumstance, or of habit?

Consider what type of things usually dominate your attention. 

Are they problems or opportunities; the stuff ups or things that are being done well; others shortcomings or your own room for improvement; the task at hand or all those distractions? 

Are they really the things you would choose to focus on?

We all have the capacity to choose where our attention goes, but we don’t always exercise it. If we don’t exercise it then someone or something else will step in and grab it and we lose our opportunity to lead. 

If you do want to lead rather than be led (in your life or at work) then make sure you're managing your own attention. Don't leave it to others unless you don't care about the results or the quality of the journey. 

Cheers

Matt