So we have been good little citizens and worked hard; from this point on all our money is ours, or so the theory goes. April 23rd was "Tax Freedom" day. This should really be a national holiday and then we would go out and spend more money... equaling more sales tax, which is where we should be taxed. As you might be able to till I'm a little angered at the whole idea of income tax. It is like coming home from work and getting mugged. The more you make the more they take. If you own your own business; they make money indirectly from you taking risk and boosting the GDP while scraping more out of your pocket on the way home; then they grab a few more pennies at when you buy something. That is double taxation! Excuse me, this really gets my blood boiling. I feel like throwing something valuable into the ocean, oh wait, already did that. Anyway, here is something to lighten the mood.

Steven R. Covey - The Community

One of the greats, Steven Covey, has done it again. He's just launched "The Community" which is, as he puts it "...within The Community; you'll find the 'Learning to enlighten you, Support to inspire you, Tools to enable you.'" It is in beta now, but I highly recommend you join if you don't already have a team with which you are growing.

Ignorance is Starvation

I just left a coffee house and was chatting with a friend and his wife when he made a comment that froze the conversation in an awkward silence. He made no effort to correct or clarify himself which added to the strangeness of the moment. He said that if he didn't know about something then it didn't exist. It was said so matter-of-fact that at first I thought he was joking. He's a smart guy and we were having a rather interesting discussion about national politics when this occurred. But he just sat there looking at me after the statement was made with such honesty that I had nothing to say in return. He was serious.

After giving it some thought though I suppose his view isn't that uncommon but perhaps not so deliberate. People are always creating their own reality. That is what we do we take the world around us and form it to fit our impression of how we feel it should be. Nothing to harmful in that - at first. But people tend to do this with no plan or direction. I found this blog in which the author makes a very compelling arguement about the lack of engagement the average person has about the most obvious factors in thier lives. In this case the Presidetial race.

I have heard some pretty lame reasons for electing the president. Everything from "it's time for change..." to "...I felt she was friendly..". Honestly, I don't think Churchill was chosen for his position because he had nice teeth or looked good on the side of a campaign bus. Likewise I don't think we need to base our votes on how we like a person. We need base our support on the integrity and character of the person. Integrity can be defined as "Doing the right thing because it is the right thing." (Not what the polls say you should do) and character can be defined as "Being who you say you are. All the time."

With that being said; if we as a people chose to ignore the deeper issues and follow the presidential campaign like we do the weather then we will elect someone who is not qualified for the position. We will get what we sow. Satisfaction leads to apathy. Apathy leads to ignorance. Ignorance leads to bondage. Bondage leads to death. Ignorance is starvation of the brain.

I encourage you to engage politically in this country's freedom. nations rise and fall; let's do all we can to keep this one strong. Don't elect a president because of their gender, race or religion. Dig deeper. Do elect them because they will defend your personal agenda or lifestyle. Elect a president that will fight for freedom - at any cost! Be it an tough time for the economy, troops, or religon. They all must sacrificed for freedom.

"Give me liberty or give me death!" - Patrick Henry.

But I'm not a natural leader...

I read I a blog recently where the author stated: “..I’m not actually a natural leader. I can do it, but I think I’m a better facilitator, mentor, coach and companion. I like to lead by presenting a vision, then recruiting the enthusiasm of those involved.”. And I was reminded how often people miss the point. What does he expect a leader to do besides point the direction, recruit a team and get them enthused about the plan? Keep doing those three things over and over and I think you’ve got a winning plan!

A leader points the direction
Presenting a vision to a group of people that have none is probably the most difficult part of leadership but yet it is the first step. The ability to do that is what defines you from the rest of the group. It sets you apart as a person with a different direction. Not yet a leader but you now have a defined difference from the group.

A leader doesn’t walk by himself
It was said once said that “If you’re leading and not one is following you; you’re just out for a walk.” If you have a vision of where you’d like to take your situation then you need people to help you get there. Your level of influence upon those around you will mark your level of leadership. People will not follow someone who has no influence upon them.

A leader serves others
Once people believe in you and trust your vision they will follow you. But keeping them on course can quickly become very difficult because it can look a lot like management. Management is not leadership. Management is keeping the home fires lit. Leadership is defining what mountain to conquer next. People will follow you through some very dark time if the believe in YOU more than the vision. They won’t always be able to see the end goal. You will fail at keeping their eyes focused on the goal. After all it isn’t their vision, it is yours! Once you’ve served them a vision, hope, your passion and have seen them as people they will reflect back to you your investment in them and will remain enthused even during hard times.

Top 5 books I'd recommend this Christmas

It's best to learn from the best. If you wanted to learn a skillset it would be assumed that you'd ask someone who has mastered the results you want what they would recommend. And it seems every person of influence has read these books at least once. So while there may be thousands of books out there on the topic; I'd recommend begining here, with these.

1. How to win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
2. How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People - Les Giblin
3. How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling - Frank Bettger
4. The Magic of Thinking Big - David J. Schwartz, Ph.D.
5. Personality Plus - Florence Littauer

I don't know about you but after family activities I intend on spending my Christmas curled up on the couch reading.

Huckabee, Women and Servant Leadership

Regardless of your political stand you’ve got to had it to Huckabee; the man stands his ground. It was once said that “To have power and to choose not to exercise it is greater power still.” And Mr. Huckabee, I think, feels he is placing women in this position. A good rebuttal and some history to his stand can be found here.

I think I understand his opponents views about gender based hierarchy. But don’t we all find ourselves in positions of submission by which we have no choice? There are social submission I make daily as a citizen of the United States. Whether or not you agree with gender based hierarchy, it does raise the question; under what circumstances should a hierarchy be based? Submission is a natural part of society and one of the beauties of the human situation, that differentiates itself from the other creatures on the planet, is the ability to lead while submitting to a greater power; even if it is an opposing power.

Leadership Thinking vs. Everyone Else

Below is comparison of how leaders think compared to everyone else. These are learned thought systems, not some genetic accident that happen to some people. Refelct on this list often and bookmark this page. I'll be adding to it and writing an article on each comparison in the near future.

Everyone Else	Leaders
make excuses	no excuses
focuses on the new	focuses on the timeless
impatient	patient
celebrates fame	celebrates ability
emphasizes information	emphasizes knowledge
individualistic	communal
incapable of deep or sustained attention	capable of deep atention
mediocrity	excellence
whatever feels good, do it	whatever it takes
path of least resistance	road less traveled
fit in with the crowd	rise above the crowd
wants convience	will do the inconvient
fntasizes	dreams
helping self	helping others
want to "appear" successful	wants to achieve signifigance
listens to everybody's opinion and advice	seeks a mentor with proven success and results
national media, television, news, etc.	training materials, tapes, books, meetings, mentors
focus on excuses	focu on effort
pamper self	pushes self toward greatness
looks backward	looks foreward
knows it all	want to learn it all
personal cofort	personal influence
what is the LEAST I can do to get what I want?	what MORE can I do?
talk a big game	play a big game
focuses on saving every penny, worried about what they spend	focuses on big residual incomes, and return on investment
makes their spouses carry an exceptional heavy load	takes personal responsibility
escapism	contribution
seeks education	pursues wisdom
pays the price	enjoys the investment
slave to their habits	slave to self discipline
live under the circumstances	it's NOT what happens, it's how you respond
short term focus	long term vision
quit when the going gets tough	push harder when tough
say "can't"	say CAN
say "maybe" or "I'll try"	say WILL, count on it!
hide behind "busyness"	build a business