“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”
— Ronald Reagan

You can’t actually manage people. You can manage systems, processes, and outcomes but people need to be led. Management is about using your power and control to accomplish a goal. It’s a useful skill, but you can’t control people.

To be a leader, you need to know where you’re going. Then you need to communicate that destination to the people on your team. You need to make that story compelling for them. Your people need to find a real sense of purpose in following you.

This means that as a leader you need to understand both what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. You need to ensure that every member of your team knows what they’re doing and how it fits into the bigger picture. You need to show your people how to be successful.

As a leader, you must take ownership and get the job done, but you do it by putting yourself last. Take care of the people on your team. Help them succeed. Always give them 100% of the credit when the team is successful, and always take 100% of the blame when the team fails.

When things go poorly for your team, help them see the opportunity through the chaos. When things go well, keep them focused and show them how to get even better.

Leaders set high expectations and push the team to achieve their potential. They give clear, honest assessments. Leaders don’t solve every problem for the team, but they make sure the team has the training and tools to solve any problem.

If your team sees you listen, communicate fully, admit your mistakes, evolve and adapt, and put the team and the mission first, then they’ll trust you. If they know you want them to succeed, they’ll always have your back. If your people believe in you, they’ll follow you.

“He’s not really dead. As long as we remember him.”
— Doctor McCoy, Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn

What one line will be written on your tombstone? Let’s pretend it could be anything, but it has to be the thing you were most known for during your life.

Will it say you were a loving mother or father? Perhaps you’ll be remembered as a community leader or a successful business owner. Were you fun-loving or serious? Maybe you were a consummate learner or an inspirational teacher? Are you the person who refused to quit, defied the odds, and overcame every obstacle?

On the other hand, what if you’re remembered as the guy who never finished what they started? Or just as bad, maybe you’ll be known as the person who never started anything. Were you a failure? Were you lazy? Were you afraid? Did you merely follow along or hang out with the wrong crowd?

Everything you do adds to or subtracts from your legacy. Decide how you want to be remembered and go make that happen.

“Well play right, Shawn. Or don’t play at all.”
— Henry Spencer, Psych, “Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece”

I tell my kids that they don’t have to be the best player, but I expect them to play harder than anyone else on the field. I expect them to give 100% effort in every game and on every play. I expect them to practice so hard that the real games seem easy.

Some amazing things happen when you have this attitude. You get better and better. The challenges get easier and easier. You earn the respect of coaches, teammates, opponents, and fans. You have more fun.

The alternative is that you don’t give your best effort. What happens then? Don’t complain about the results if you don’t put in the work.

Now apply this to the rest of your life. No, you don’t need your heart rate at 200 BPM all day long. Even intense practices and workouts have introductory stretching, water breaks, and cooldown periods. You need the equivalent in your daily work. You need to get quality sleep. You need to take some breaks. You need to read books, hang out with friends, and meditate.

But, are you practicing? Are you studying? Are you developing your skills? Are you trying to be a little bit better each day? Or are you just going through the motions?

Remember: Passion follows effort.

“Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly.”
— Plato

Actually you can sell a bad product. Walmart and Amazon do it all the time. Good salespeople do it all the time. We’ve all purchased bad products, and we probably kept most of them.

The hard thing is repeat sales of a bad product. If your product stinks, nobody’s coming back for more. You’ll have a hard time convincing a customer to order more of something that didn’t make them happy the first time around.

On the other hand, you don’t need a perfect product to keep people coming back for more. If your product has one or two features that are done really well, you’ll get some repeat customers.

There’s a difference, of course, between limited and broken. A calculator that doesn’t add is broken. A calculator without a memory function is limited. You need to know the difference. If you have any repeat customers, your product probably isn’t broken. Ask those customers why they came back.

Figure out what makes your product special and double down on that.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
— Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II

It turns out that how you present something is sometimes more important than what you present. You can even trick yourself into better performance, a better attitude, and better success.

You see, our brains are really good at grouping things together. We like to categorize. For instance, when I first studied Morse code, I found myself automatically recognizing common word patterns. If I heard the phrase “bread and” my mind immediately jumped to “butter.” If I heard “take it or” of course I instantly heard “leave it.” Even when I was struggling to keep up with the dits and dahs of code, I could instantly catch up when I recognized a pattern.

Now here’s the trick. You need to create positive patterns for yourself. If you hate getting out of bed in the morning, that’s going to drag you down all day. You need to find a way to replace your negative feelings with a positive association. Maybe you can reward yourself with a nice, hot breakfast. Maybe it’s an energizing run or some relaxing meditation. If you keep repeating the pattern day after day, it’s going to get easier and easier.

Every time you replace a negative pattern with a positive one, you level up in life.

Winners have a mission. Losers only have goals.

Winners make decisions. Losers schedule meetings.

Winners take action. Losers take a break.

Winners are aggressive. Losers are reckless.

Winners get after it. Losers get motivated.

Winners learn from their mistakes. Losers find someone to blame.

Winners are grateful. Losers chase happiness.