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Welcome to our first episode of the year on Lead to Excel podcast. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and great rest during the holidays. I am so excited to be back again with another podcast and just really excited about what 2023 is going to bring to us and that we are going to achieve in it. I personally am expectant, I am ready, I am really intentional about this year. I am so grateful to God for bringing my family and I into this new year. So without wasting any more time, let's get in to our first podcast of 2023. You must have control of the authorship of your destiny. The pen that writes your life story must be held in your own hand. This is a quote by Irene Casola. He is wishing you a very happy, joyous, intentional, and successful 2023. Welcome to this new year. And today we are talking about how to take charge and lead your life in 2023. I'll start this podcast by reminding you that you are enough. You know, I have often wondered why people want to be followers. And you might be asking, what do I mean by that? Why don't people know what they want to do? Because you see, when you don't know what you want to do, you end up following other people, you end up doing what other people are doing, you end up following the trends. Why do people worry so much about what others think of them? Why do you take rejection or criticism personally and then go on ruminating about it for so long that it gets you so upset or even angry? You see, all these are ways in which our different brains process things and process information, but it all comes out in our behavior patterns, in our attitudes, in our perceptions. We all have the potential to become an influence in our world and future generations. But are we really taking that opportunity? Are we really doing anything with that potential? We know that the world is going through a critical time now. We might call it a crisis, you might call it a challenging time, or you might just say a lot of uncertainty. We know that today we have a lot of leaders, but sadly, not much leadership. And I'm talking about personal level, country level, even organizational level. Without leadership, nothing gets better. No problem can be solved without leadership. The fact is that people are getting disillusioned. In the UK, it feels like every industry is on strike. Nurses, rail workers, postal services, airport border controls. I could go on and on. People's inability to manage their life causes stress, anxiety, trauma, PTSD. There's still an increasing amount of bitterness as seen on social media, expressed in racial tension, seen also in domestic violence and strained relationships. And it all still comes back to how we are all individually and collectively wired. It comes back to us individually taking responsibility. Because each one of us are a gift to the world. And I will remind you that you are a leader. You might not be leading people, you might not even be a leader at work or running a business, but you are a leader of your own life. You're probably a leader in your home. First and foremost, you are a leader of your own life. And that's why I started by saying, I don't understand why people feel so comfortable being followers. Because even within a concept where you're being led at work, you are still responsible for the work you do. It brings me to the fact that your gift is your power, your strength is your gift. And you have a task to complete in this world. So don't stay down doing nothing. Don't remain inactive. We are beginning of a new year. My last podcast, I spoke about self-reflection. If you haven't listened to it, go back and listen to it because it has to start from there. It's time now to take control of the pen that you're holding and start writing a new story for your own life. But to do this effectively, you've got to take time out. Be in a place where you will not be disturbed or distracted. Remove all distractions, actually. You know, if it's if your phone is a distraction, put it away. TV, whatever, put it away. And remember that other people's expectations can also limit you mentally and emotionally. So when writing your new story, make sure you're writing your own story, not what other people expect of you. And to help you do this further, I'll put a link in the description where you can look at the self-discovery e toolkit at the Mindsight Academy. It will help you massively because it's got lots of questions to really enable you to dig deep into who you are and what your new story is so that you can take the right actions to create the life that you want this year. An Italian proverb says, it's better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep. As I said, the world has been going through a lot of crises at the moment. But let's change that narrative as you're creating your new story and creating the behavior pattern, the attitude you want to have in this year. Crisis can actually produce growth, but it depends on you. Crisis creates new opportunities. Every progressive invention actually came out of a problem. Paul Arden's quote says, if you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules. What are those rules? It's time to break out of that comfort, of your comfort zone, of the confines, of those borders, and think the way you've never thought before. Do what you've never done before. And don't be afraid of getting it wrong or failing. Because you know what? Failures, mistakes, challenges are a precondition for success. What is your attitude to mistakes as an individual, as a leader, but also as an organization? As an organization, what are your views on people making mistakes? How do you respond to it as a leader? Do you give people the space to think about what went wrong and what they could improve? Or do they suffer repercussions for making mistakes? And as I'm using organizations, refer to this yourself as well personally. When you make mistakes, what's your response to that? Thomas Edison says of the 200 light bulbs that didn't work, every failure told me something that I was able to incorporate into the next attempt. Crisis makes you develop and think in new ways. Challenges, crises, or whatever you call it, also produces true leadership ability because it's easy to be a great leader when things are going smoothly, but it's crisis or challenges that truly prove your leadership capabilities. And when I'm talking about leadership, I'm talking about leadership in terms of your own self-leadership, but also you as a leader. Crisis reignites the passion for a renewed vision for your life, and it can also take you back to your passion, to your purpose. William Shakespeare says, sweets are the uses of adversity. So instead of looking at adversity and crises and challenges and uncertainties that we're going through in the world now as a negative, turn it around and remember this sweets are the uses of adversity. Use this situation, use whatever you're going through for your benefit. Because everything that happens to you could be used to produce something good. At some point in our lives, we'll all experience setbacks and challenges. And it's just life's way of telling us that it's time to change course. And it's being able to ask yourself, what lessons can I learn from this experience? When you really look at successful people, they're those who have survived crisis. And it's also worth remembering that every test is temporary. No matter what you're facing, don't panic because it won't last for too long unless you allow it to. Most times when I'm doing training, I ask people to define who they are. And you tend to find that a lot of times people connect their identity to their roles. But your job does not define you. It's not your destiny. Challenges demand innovative thinking. Success and failure are so predictable. There's no luck in success. You are the one that needs to take that control and determine what you want to get out of this situation. God designed us to be successful. And as a leader that leads other people, it's your responsibility to create leaders because true leadership does not maintain followers, it produces leaders. And the fact is that the world needs your leadership. You exist to meet a specific need on earth that no one else can meet. So start this new year by developing your own leadership capabilities. Start this new year by seeking criticism, not praise. And why would I say that? Because it's easy to get approval, especially when you ask those who are likely to tell you what you want to hear. It after all, it activates a dopamine. It feels good. But in reality, to really be able to push yourself to thrive this year, you've got to learn to rewire your brain so that criticism will feel good as well. Because it's in that feedback that doesn't feel good that you most likely get what you need to propel you to break out of your comfort zone and do what you need to do to truly thrive in 2023. Ask for feedback by asking the question, how can I be better? Remember that you can reject criticism. It's within your power to do that, especially if it's not a constructive one or one that you know is not helpful. But you might just get some feedback that will truly enable you to improve. Now, I'm going to ask you to please tell me how I can improve this podcast and make them better for you this year. I'll end this podcast by wishing you, wishing your families the very best year yet. Make this year count. Do what you need to do. Push yourself, stretch yourself. Refuse to stay in that comfort zone. Refuse to stay in that place that feels comfortable. Embrace the challenges. Look for the opportunities that are around you. And let's get on this journey to truly excel and thrive this year. I look forward to seeing you in our next podcast. We'll be sitting down with another guest. And I'm so excited about the podcast this year because we are definitely stretching this year to thrive even more. See you soon. Okay, three things before we finish today. Have you subscribed to this podcast? If you haven't, make sure you click that subscribe button wherever you listen to this podcast. Because once you subscribe, you will not miss an episode. And as usual, if you have a topic you would love me to speak about or bring a guest on, do let me know by leaving a review. Finally, do have a fantastic week. And remember that you are limitless. So I look forward to seeing you in our next episode. Bye for now.