Be a Practitioner.

We live in a world where what you say is more important than what you can do. A world that focuses on who, not what, telling but not showing, a world of influencers that do not influence, a world of business coaches without a business, a trainer who hardly goes to the gym, a writer that does not write and a runner that does not run.

Author John C. Maxwell shares a great analogy about the difference between a tour guide and a travel agent. The metaphor is great for showing that the leader is a practitioner, in the frontline, a doer, and ultimately shows and leads the way. In his book, The  21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You ¹, John Maxwell observed:

There are a lot of people in the world who are willing to give advice on things they’ve never experienced. They are like bad travel agents: they sell you an expensive ticket and say, “I hope you enjoy the trip.” Then you never see them again. In contrast, good leaders are like tour guides. They know the territory because they’ve made the trip before, and they do what they can to make the trip enjoyable and successful for everybody. ²

Leaders, by definition, are out front. They take new territory and others follow them. Great leaders don’t merely send others out. They lead the charge. They’re more like tour guides than travel agents. They see opportunities, prepare to move forward, and then say, “Follow me.” When you see someone who is able to see opportunities and is willing to take good risks, pay attention. You may be looking at a leader

Leaders are dealers in hope; they lead from the front, and they believe in showing, not telling.

Leadership builds up, not down.
It is active, not passive,
Leadership brings a smile, not a frown.

Leadership gives credit, not blame.
It casts vision, not doubt,
Leadership drives change, not same.

 Leadership adds value, not clutter.
It sees causes, not symptoms,
Leadership ignites passion, not a sputter.

Leadership helps you swim, not drown.
It is inspiring, not expiring,
Leadership is a verb, not a noun.

In her 2014 Dartmouth Commencement Speech,  American television producer and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes shared some great insights on becoming a doer.

So, Lesson One, I guess is: Ditch the dream and be a doer, not a dreamer. Maybe you know exactly what it is you dream of being, or maybe you’re paralyzed because you have no idea what your passion is. The truth is, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to know. You just have to keep moving forward. You just have to keep doing something, seizing the next opportunity, staying open to trying something new. It doesn’t have to fit your vision of the perfect job or the perfect life. Perfect is boring and dreams are not real. Just … do. So you think, “I wish I could travel.” Great. Sell your crappy car, buy a ticket to Bangkok, and go. Right now. I’m serious.

You want to be a writer? A writer is someone who writes every day, so start writing. You don’t have a job? Get one. Any job. Don’t sit at home waiting for the magical opportunity. Who are you? Prince William? No. Get a job. Go to work. Do something until you can do something else.

I did not dream of being a TV writer. Never, not once when I was here in the hallowed halls of the Ivy League, did I say to myself, “Self, I want to write TV.”

You know what I wanted to be? I wanted to be Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. That was my dream. I blue sky’ed it like crazy. I dreamed and dreamed. And while I was dreaming, I was living in my sister’s basement. Dreamers often end up living in the basements of relatives, FYI. Anyway, there I was in that basement, and I was dreaming of being Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. And guess what? I couldn’t be Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, because Toni Morrison already had that job and she wasn’t interested in giving it up. So one day I was sitting in that basement and I read an article that said—it was in The New York Times—and it said it was harder to get into USC Film School than it was to get into Harvard Law School. And I thought I could dream about being Toni Morrison, or I could do.

At film school, I discovered an entirely new way of telling stories. A way that suited me. A way that brought me joy. A way that flipped this switch in my brain and changed the way I saw the world. Years later, I had dinner with Toni Morrison. All she wanted to talk about was Grey’s Anatomy. That never would have happened if I hadn’t stopped dreaming of becoming her and gotten busy becoming myself.

Meditation

• Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – Clarity
• To develop clarity, you need to investigate your experiences constantly – use questions to get clear on what you are sensing, use curiosity and interest to explore what is actually happening inside you, and challenge yourself to perceive your body and breadth in more detail.

• Daily Jay with Jay Shetty – Level Up
• There is no high score list in the game that is your life; we mark progress by collecting a unique blend of abilities, experiences, relationships, and qualities. The real fun and the real victory come in each incremental step.

Podcast

• 20VC: The Rent the Runway Memo: How Paid Marketing & Growth Hacking Ruined a Generation of Companies, When Will Rent the Runway Be Profitable & How Does it Compare to Other Fashion Co’s and Why “I Wish I Ran My Startup Like a Public Company” | The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

All the best in your quest to get better. Don’t Settle: Live with Passion.