By some measures, I’ve been successful as a leader. I’ve started businesses, non-profits and schools in war-torn countries. I worked with orphans, created jobs, and rebuilt economies after natural disasters. I’ve worked on projects with UN agencies, various militaries, state and local governments in the US and abroad.

Despite this, several years ago, I felt deeply frustrated. I wasn’t sure that I was accomplishing what I wanted. Personally, I was just barely making it financially. I frequently felt stressed and overwhelmed. My relationships suffered as a result. I felt the incongruence between the services I provided and the reality that I lived. I was frequently critical of others. I operated from an attitude of scarcity.

I got tired of it.

I didn’t know what to do.

Change was needed. I finally hired a coach. To do so, felt like I was admitting defeat; which I was. And that admission was necessary to begin to turn things around.

My work with a coach helped me realize how much my personal attitude impacted my ability to accomplish goals, to succeed, and to be healthy as a person; even, to just be at peace. I discovered that I needed to learn gratitude, gracefulness, valuing and abundance.

I had to let go of thinking I could map my own path to change. I had to do more than minimize my attitude’s impact; I had to also own my attitude and be intentional about changing it.

So, this became my focus.

For the first year, I saw incremental improvements. I kept investing in change, investing in growth (different coaches, different learning experiences) and the improvements continued.

The second year, I began to experience peace. I didn’t feel stressed all the time. Gratitude came more easily and regularly. I hired other people. More people and organizations were served. I worked fewer hours. My revenues doubled.

Attitude made the difference.

I’ll be honest. This is still relatively new for me. I’m still learning and growing. My attitude has plenty of room for improvement. But here’s what I did and continue to do to create space for healthy growth and change:

• I let go of needing to control what the process of change would look like.
• I invested in change: coaches, continuing education, and professional development.
• I listened to and applied what I heard.
• I started spending more time around people who were growing and succeeding in the ways that I wanted.
• I begin my work day with a time or prayer and meditation. During this time I:
  • Let myself be quiet.
  • Practice being grateful.
  • Read or listen to podcasts that are relevant to an area of focused growth.
• I set clear and reasonable goals for my personal and professional life: Each day, I create new and smaller goals that move me forward to the larger goals.
• I stay healthy physically.

That’s about it. As I said, I’m working less and accomplishing more now. I’m really looking forward to this year.

How might your attitude be holding you back from accomplishing your goals? What changes are you willing to make?

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