Problems are signs of progress

“Understand that most problems are a good sign. Problems indicate that progress is being made, wheels are turning, you are moving toward your goals. Beware when you have no problems. Then you really have a problem... Problems are like landmarks of progress.” - Scott Alexander

“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” - Duke Ellington

Never forget - a mistake is evidence that someone has tried to do something. Therefore, do not get discouraged by them but rather continue to encourage those who dare to try. With encouragement, many people can achieve wonders if they persist and persevere.

However, fear those that dare not try, worrying of making mistakes.

"People who make no mistakes lack boldness and the spirit of adventure. They are the brakes on the wheels of progress" - Dale E. Turner

What do you think?

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Understanding Leadership

"Managers have employees, leaders have followers." - Workplace 2000

Although all skills are learnable, it is not easy to be a good leader. Good leaders are followed chiefly because people trust and respect them, rather than the skills they possess.

Management skills are important but leadership relies more on qualities such as integrity, honesty, humility, courage, commitment, sincerity, passion, confidence, positivity, wisdom, determination, compassion and sensitivity.

I find the following passage very thought provoking:

Leadership has to do with direction. Management has to do with the speed, coordination and logistics in going in that direction. The Workers are chopping their way through the jungle. The Managers are coordinating, making sure the tools are sharp, etc. The Leaders climb a tree and shout Wrong jungle!! The Managers shout back Be quiet! We're making progress!

Below are some quotes that can give us some hints of those behaviors of effective leadership.

"A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better." - Jim Rohn

"The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he/she wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it." - Theodore Roosevelt

"The level of morale is a good barometer of how each of your people is experiencing your leadership." - Danny Cox

"Every leader needs to look back once in awhile to make sure he has followers." - Kouzes and Posner

"Be enthusiastic as a leader. You can't light a fire with a wet match!"

"Managers are people who do things right; leaders are people who do the right thing." - Warren Bennis

"Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success, leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall." - Stephen Covey

"The most vital task of the leader is to motivate, inspire, empower and encourage the team's primary resource -- the unlimited, creative human potential to find better ways." - Dr. Lewis Losoncy

Skills alone do not make leaders - style and behavior do. To be a good leader means that you can inspire others to follow your example, willingly and cheerfully. What do you think? Do you agree? Do you have a great leader that you are following?

"Do not worry if others do not understand you.
Instead worry if you do not understand others." - Confucius

Photo 1 by tcd123usa taken from this source
Photo 2 by kool_skatkat taken from this source

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How to Make Progress

We all want progress. Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. However, if you know that you are heading toward the wrong direction you need to make an about-turn. Otherwise, you will drift further away from your goal. Be sure your directions are clear and accurate. If you aren’t going forward, you’re going backwards.

Many of us like to utter the favorite phrase - "I am very busy". However, we ought to remind ourselves that we must "Never mistake activity for progress."

What counts is what get done. Thus, "Don't tell how hard you work. Tell how much you get done."

“It is important that you recognize your progress and take pride in your accomplishments. Share your achievements with others. Brag a little. The recognition and support of those around you is nurturing.” - Rosemarie Rossetti

If you really spend some time to learn at least one thing a day, or improve one thing a day, you will be amazed how much you have learned and accomplished.

Manageable chunks or bite size chunks is always the way forward. Make progress on something every day. It doesn’t really matter how big or small the level of accomplishment - just make progress.

Photo by Poppyseed Bandits taken from this source

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The secret of moving ahead

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” - Mark Twain

“Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There's plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“Aim for success and strive for perfection. However, never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life.”

“The person who gets ahead is the one who does more than necessary - and keeps doing it”

“To know the road ahead, ask those coming back”

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Little by little and step by step

"If you add a little to a little and do it often enough you can become skilled, learned or rich. A little practice every day makes the champion athlete; a little learning every day makes the scientist; a little saving every day makes the millionaire."

"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." - Beverly Sills

"Champions know there are no shortcuts to the top. They climb the mountain one step at a time. They have no use for helicopters!" - Judi Adler

"One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks." - Jack Penn

"The elevator to success is out of order. You'll have to use the stairs... one step at a time." - Joe Girard

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It is never too late if you do something

"If a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it."

“Everything comes too late for those who only wait.” - Elbert Hubbard

“The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“Better late than never, but never late is better.”

“So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don't sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.” - Lee Iacocca

“Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late” - Benjamin Franklin

“Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Every difficulty postponed becomes greater later. Each victory makes the next one easier."

If you're too old now to learn, you always were. It's seldom too late to become what we might have been. Many are doing it after 60. Thousands over 50 are starting projects that fellows under 40 put off and neglected because they were too old to finish. A son said to his father: "If I start medical school now, I'll be 37 in 1945 when I finish." Father: "And how old will you be in 1945 if you don't start now?"

Have you yet found yourself and a worthy goal? If not, it's later than you think.

If you have a dream, you have everything that matters. If you have no dream, it's later than you think. Better get one.

Photo by shainelee taken from this source

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Don't repeat the same mistake - Be wise

All men make mistakes; only the fools repeat them.

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” - George Santayana

When a wise man is advised of his errors, he will reflect on and improve his conduct. When his misconduct is pointed out, a foolish man will not only disregard the advice but rather repeat the same error.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

"Iteration, like friction, is likely to generate heat instead of progress." - George Eliot

"Tomorrow, you promise yourself, will be different, yet, tomorrow is too often a REPETITION of today." - James T. Mccay

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Competition: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

“Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress." - Herbert Hoover

"Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people." - David Sarnoff

"There is competition, but it is used in a good way. It is positive to want to go first, provided the intention is to pave the way for others, make their path more easy, help them, or show the way. Competition is negative when we wish to defeat others, to bring them down in order to lift ourselves up." - Dalai Lama

"Life is a competition not with others, but with ourselves. We should seek each day to live stronger, better, truer lives; each day to master some weakness of yesterday; each day to repair a mistake; each day to surpass ourselves." - David B. Haight

The world is divided into people who do things and people who get the credit. Try, if you can, to belong to the first class. There's far less competition. - Dwight Whitney Morrow

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Be a Team Player

”T.E.A.M = Together Everyone Achieves More.”

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” - Ryunosuke Satoro

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” - Henry Ford

It is good to become a hero in films, but not in the business world! Ensure that your team becomes the hero.

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Changes bring forth progress

"Never discourage anyone...who continually makes progress, no matter how slow." - Plato

It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.

The most damaging phrase in the language is, "It's always been done that way." - Rear Admiral Grace Hopper

"The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress." - Charles F. Kettering

"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible." - Frank Zappa

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