You can’t take people where you have never been before.
I heard a leader say this a few years back and that sentence still sticks with me today. It is amazing how one sentence can change the way you think, speak, lead and even live your life.
What this sentence did was provide me with a reference as to how I approach my life and leadership. It is an essential truth, if we want to continue to increase our influence and effectiveness we need to be intentional about our personal growth. We need to increase our references so we can continually take ourselves and others further.
If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you’ve always got.
That’s another one of my favourite references. It is stupidity to think that if we continue to do the same thing over and over again we will get a different result. It is thus extremely important for us to continue to build up our references so that we have unique and fresh ways to approach similar issues.
But how do we build these references? I believe the starting point in about being intentional. If we understand the importance of growing our references we will make sure it happens.
I have personally found these tools incredibly beneficial for me in growing my reverences:
Reading: You can’t beat the age old way of transferring knowledge – the written word. Books are a great way to learn new ideas and gain insight from stories. What are you reading at the moment?
Online: There are numerous websites dedicated to leadership and personal development, my firm favourite is Ted.com. If you haven’t already, go check out this inspiring resource, it will provide you with great insight.
Podcasts: Numerous authors and speakers have free podcasts where you can download free audio files of them sharing their pearls of wisdom. Get onto iTunes, search for your favourite guru and start downloading.
Conferences: There are many conferences run nationally and globally around leadership and development. When last did you attend one?
Mentors: Or how my friend Trav likes to call them, Primary Influencers. Who are you hanging out with and who is speaking perspective into your life? Having the right mentors can often be a powerful tool to build up your references.
We can only take people where we have been before. So where are you taking yourself?