5 Lessons From The Lives of Great Leaders

The key to unlocking our greatest potential is not strength or intelligence – it’s continuous effort.

Nobody did it better than Winston Churchill. They say he worked 110 hours per week for 70% of his life.

People say time is your number one asset. We disagree.

Nothing is quite as powerful as your ability to produce, steward and enhance your long-term energy.

What is time if you have no energy to savor it? Energy creates time. Energy creates money. Energy creates impact. One of our favorite quotes on this subject is:

The men of destiny, the women of destiny, do not wait to be sent for. They come when they feel their time has come. They do not ask to be recognized. They declare themselves. They come like fate. They are inevitable. – Alexander MacCallum Scott

That’s the thing we want for you. We want for you to envision and write down the type of mom or dad you want to be, the type of business that you have, the impact that you want, the books you want to write, the stages you want to speak on, and the ultimate legacy you want to leave, so that you come like fate, and are inevitable.

Part of the game here is actually your ability to proclaim into the world what you are about. You have to learn how to proclaim into the world.

Sometimes that means a Zoom chat, or a Facebook post. Or, sometimes that means you just talk to your barista at Starbucks, and you start telling them how you can help them.

But you’ve got to learn how to proclaim the things that you want.

Because that is how ultimately you come like fate, you become inevitable because the things you say consistently line up and match.

That which we persist in doing becomes easier. Not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do has increased – Emerson

The greats don’t fear failure – they convert it to fuel.

Abraham Lincoln knew a thing or two about failure. A lesson we want you to take away from Abraham Lincoln is this:

Die or be better.

We must die or be better.

One of the most beautiful things about failure is, if you let it, failure will create absolute clarity and mission for you. And it will tell you exactly what must happen for you to be who you’re called to be.

To illustrate how this can work, here’s an example involving our founder, Taylor Welch. Back in 2013, he got a tax bill for $3,000.

At the time, he only had $500 to his name.

Frederick Douglass obviously was an abolitionist. He escaped slavery several times, and wrote three autobiographies.

Like him, if you are called to do something different than the people around you, you’re going to have to become comfortable with facing problems that are bigger than theirs. It’s your PERSPECTIVE that must shift.

When you look at your life from the viewpoint of the great men and women of history, what you find is that for every single one of them, there are decision points that branch off.

Only in hindsight do you begin understand how your life has come together for your benefit.

Would you think that going to jail was a good move for him? Would you think that a failed escape would have set him up to ultimately win?

There’s a rhythm here, that when we look back at our life, it makes perfect sense how we were set up for growth.

We must wear our obstacles as badges of honor!

Have you ever noticed that there are periods and seasons in your life, when despite others’ views of your seemingly great life, you are still not satisfied?

Or maybe you’ve experienced this crazy paradox when you’ve wanted something for such a long time.

And you finally get that thing, and it doesn’t make you happy for longer than four seconds? There’s a quote we like to remember around here:

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.

The hedonic trend for most leaders dictates that they are less and less grateful for what they have over time because they begin to feel entitled to it.

That is why the greatest leaders (but especially those who came from having very little) return frequently to GRATITUDE for even the smallest things in life.

Let me tell you a quick story about Truett Cathy – founder of Chick-Fil-A – probably one of the greatest businesses ever.

He started small but took immense pride in his work, which ultimately drove him to make his business great. He said this of his first store opening:

I won’t ever forget the day we turned on the neon sign that proclaimed dwarf grill. As I looked at those red letters beaming back at us, it was the proudest moment of my life to that point. This is our place. I kept thinking, we own it. I remembered all of the obstacles we had overcome. And at times, they had seemed insurmountable. But we had done it.

It was his. He owned it. And therefore he was proud of it.

When you’re proud of something other people will be proud of it too. When you’re grateful for something, other people will be, too.

And this gratitude fuels our motivation to achieve even more.

We hope these lessons prove useful to you. Take these principles to heart – they’ll guide you through life’s toughest challenges.

Remember, true greatness is forged through trials. Stay passionate, stay witty, and make an impact in this world. Keep going!

Adios.

– The Wealthy Consultant

P.S. There are people who, if they would get themselves into Arena, it would change the way that they think, view the world and view themselves.

When you’re ready, go check it out.