FIRSTLY, I must respond to the person who read and sent me feedback from the BEYOND THE RUNWAY Column. Your kind words of encouragement are appreciated. A few weeks ago I mentioned how much the leadership Guru, John Maxwell impacted my life and that I’ll be sharing some content from his teachings.

I try every day to read or listen to material that will add value to myself. That is the only way I can add value to others. We have strengths and weaknesses. People often make mistakes in their personal development when they focus too much on their weaknesses which keep us from maximizing our strengths. I try to focus on people’s strengths and pointing them out because most have strengths but they rarely use them.

Someone did an interesting research and found that every person can do at least one thing better than 10,000 people. Think about that! You possess an ability that can’t be matched by anyone in your town or neighborhood, college, university or in your company or industry .
Have you discovered that ability? If so, you may be well on your way to pursuing your purpose. If you haven’t, wouldn’t you love it if someone came alongside you and pointed it out? I bet you will be very grateful to that person.

We should all try to become that kind of person in someone else’s life. When we do we might just be helping others to discover the thing God created them to do.
When people tell me something good about the people around me, I encourage them to speak to that individual because people need to know when they have made a difference in someone’s life. When that happens people feel centered and their work becomes meaningful.
Lots of times people congratulate me for Guyana Fashion Week and the other work I do and I constantly tell them I could not do it without my small but loyal team.

It is not a sign of weakness to let people know you love and appreciate them. It is a sign of security and strength.
When you are honest about your need for help, be specific with others about the value they add as you build a team to do something bigger than who you are, and everybody wins.
Sometimes it can be difficult to relinquish but when you need to groom leaders in your team or organization it is necessary.

I will give an example with two young persons in my team – Meleesa Payne and Keron Noble.
They are key elements to GFW and I value them dearly. They are given responsibilities and I don’t interfere until they request my intervention. I have seen tremendous growth over the years in Meleesa and Keron and both possess lots of leadership qualities.
One is too small a number to achieve greatness and we need to believe in people when they don’t believe in themselves. We all talk about leading a successful life but the meaning of the word success has various meanings.

Success is when you add value to you and significance is when I add value to the others. You find yourself in success and lose yourself in significance. When your why is bigger than your purpose you have a career and when your purpose is bigger than your why, you have a calling.
Too often we think that if we can impress others we will gain influence with them.
We want to become heroes and be larger than life. If you want to influence others, don’t try to impress them. Pride is nothing more than a form of selfishness and pretense is only a way to keep people at arm’s length so that they can’t see who you really are.

Instead of impressing others let them try to impress you. It is really a matter of attitude. The people with charisma, those who attract others to themselves, are individuals who focus on others, not themselves. They ask questions of others and listen and never try to pretend to be perfect.
Try listening to others today and let them impress you. The right attitude plays a part in our daily lives but not every day in the same mood because we deal with various aspects of our lives. We are all guilty of making decisions with too little time managing the decisions we already made.

You can make a decision to have a good attitude but if you don’t make plans to manage that decision everyday then you are likely to end up right back where you started. I don’t know about you but I am guilty of this charge. But here is the good news, maintaining the right attitude is easier than regaining the right attitude.

“Be pleasant until 10 am and the rest of the day will take care of itself”- Elbert Hubbard
When we wake up in the morning we need to remind ourselves of the decisions made to have a positive attitude. We need to manage our thinking and direct our actions so that they are consistent with your decision. Take responsibility for your attitude and not blame anyone but you. Manage it every day and cultivate and develop positive thoughts and habits so you can be your greatest asset. It can become the difference maker in your life, opening doors and helping overcome great obstacles.

MAKE THE DECISION NOW TO HAVE THAT GOOD ATTITUDE TODAY.
THEN MANGE THAT DECISION FOR THE REST OF THE DAY.

Be good to yourself and remember to send your comments to beyondtherunway1@gmail.com

Remember to Join us on weeks days @7:15 on radio Guyana as we continue this beautiful journey call Life BEYOND THE RUNWAY