The big 3

Last week our team learned an important lesson on leadership. We were invited to share with everyone by responding to the questions 'what drives you' and what 'pisses you off.' What drives you to succeed, to be better then yesterday, to give 110% - whatever internal or external method you felt empowered you and drove you to be the best you can possibly be at your role - and this can apply to anything. Your role could be mom, husband, CEO, employee, president, etc. And the flip side of the coin - 'what pisses you off' What was expected, because of many different backgrounds, experiences, roles, place in life, the 'what drives you' was varied from person to person.


What was surprising, or maybe not that surprising was the common theme behind what 'pisses you off' Almost every response - and there were over 30 of them from 3 different facilities included these 3 big traits as piss offs:

1.Victim Mentality
2.Arrogance
3.Laziness

In fact, I'm positive that if you went into any business or leadership establishment that you would get these 3 traits as the most difficult to deal with when trying to motivate and lead staff/coworkers

1.How many times have you had to deal with someone who has a 'why me' attitude, or I've been dealt a crappy hand in life, so I now have a valid reason to leech off of society rather then contribute. Here's an idea - get over your 'victim mentality', you are not alone and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can move on and actually live your life by giving back.

2.How about a co-worker or friend who thinks they are great for really doing nothing. This person will constantly talk themselves up - they will never ask how you are doing, or what they can do for you because everything is about them and their great victories. Perhaps a bit of humbleness for your accomplishments. If you have to constantly tell us how great you are, we begin to think you are trying to convince us and yourself, hoping you'll fool us to not see the real you - who is not that special at all. Arrogant people don't have a lot of followers and will never have anything valid to brag about. But there is hope for you and here's a start: bring people along with you for the great things you do, so you can learn to lead others to greatness, not just your arrogant self

3.And my personal favorite - the person who will not even get started in the first place, who will continue to procrastinate and have every excuse in the book for why they should have or could have done this and that. How about get off your ass and just do it! Laziness will never even allow you to see the opportunities presented because you'll be too busy thinking up your next excuse. Do you really need 5 reminders to do something, who's time are you wasting besides your own? pretty soon people will get sick of your lazy, excuse ridden attitude, and give up completely on you. You can have all the talent and potential in the world to succeed but if you can not even open the door to get started, then no one is going to waste their time to try and help you develop it.

It's funny, because many who had these 3 as piss offs are some of the same people who will allow themselves to be enticed by one, if not all, of the 3 on a daily basis. I'm not saying it's easy, because it's probably more difficult to decide to not be the victim, to not make excuses, and to turn off the tv. But what if we were aware of every time we were to use one of these - and held back. We know it's annoying to deal with in others, so why subject those very same co workers, managers, leaders, and owners to the same bullshit that we don't want to deal with? How better off would our businesses, families, schools, any organization run if we were to close our mouths the next time we wanted to pull the victim card, or have 10 reasons ready for why something we said would be complete was not, or decided to highlight someone else's achievement rather then our own? try it - try it for one hour, a day, or how about an entire week. See what happens - no more excuses, no more constantly talking about yourself, no more procrastination. Just get it done! I guarantee you'll be much more productive and contributing to your personal reasons that drive you to be great. We all have a conscious decision every day to be and act however we choose - let's choose to act according to our own morals, values, and truths - so if these 3 are really what piss us off, lets not use them in our daily lives.