Persistency: the key to success of “the Colonel”

Colonel Sanders

How many times in your life you had an idea, but you didn’t take action? How many times in your life, after some “no”, did you give up? Persistency, having 100% faith in you is the key factor to success. That is what makes the difference between all successful people and all others, who had a great project/idea and didn’t even have the courage to tell anybody else. Not all people exercise their “guts”, embracing their fears, giving them a deadly embrace. How many times do we take excuses for not achieving our goals? I am too old, I don’t have enough money, I don’t live in the right place and I don’t have a title and many more, the most creative ones for not achieving our dreams, for the fear of failure.

I came across a story of a very famous man, whose face is very familiar to me, although I have never been in one of his restaurants. I think I am one of the few on Earth. I think you are familiar with the face of an old man on a big basket of fried chicken. The smiling visage of Colonel Sanders has been the face of KFC (also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken) for many years. Even nearly thirty years after his death, the image of the jovial southern gentleman (Sanders himself was born in Indiana) still stands as the public face of the company he started in the midst of the great depression.

He was 65 years old, when he received his first cheque of $ 99 for his retirement, when he decided he wanted to do something, starting his business. He realized, although he didn’t have a lot of money, he was 65 years old, he was in the midst of the great depression, to have something important: a great recipe to cook the best fried chicken. He started to go one after another to propose his fantastic recipe. And guess what? He received a no, another no and then another no and so on. He collected 1009 no.

His persistency was his success, because at 1010 was a YES. And then it is history the big success he achieved. He died in 1980, leaving a great legacy: His image remains iconic in KFC; a foundation he established in his later years aids charities and funds scholarships with over a million dollars in grants a year.

“The Colonel” is a great example of someone who didn’t care about his age, money availability, depression…We create our destiny with our decisions we take every minute of our life. We are the creators of our fortune or misfortune. Only when we believe 100% in ourselves we can succeed and when we run towards our fears. Only when we are strong enough to face 1000 no, we can win. That’s the Soul’s Expansion. By the way, we are on this planet for this reason, to give us the most beautiful gift: the gift of the experience. No mistakes exist, only experience exists.

Remember “to exercise your guts”.

Linda Lattuca

L.E.A.D.E.R.S.

I came across a small book from Deepak Chopra, who inspired me a lot many years ago, when I started to work on my self-discovery with awareness. The title of the book is “The Soul of Leadership”. In this book, he told about the meaning for him of the acronym L.E.A.D.E.R.S. After I read something from this book, I was meditating about this acronym, too and my meaning of it. That is what I would like to share with you in this blog post.

L = Law of Attraction of Attraction and Law of Karma:

True leaders know the universal laws and especially these two. They know how to play at the best in their lives, exploiting of the universal laws. They know very well that the Universe is conspiring to make their dreams come true. The Law of Attraction works 24 hours a day in everyone’s life, but only few people know it. True leaders study the principles which govern nature and they apply what they have learnt in their life on a daily basis. They pay attention to their thoughts, feelings, words they speak and actions. True leaders know also the Law of Karma; they know that what they put out, they will receive back. They take responsibility for everything they do.

E = Empowerment

True leaders love empowering themselves. They do it reading books written by great souls; they listen to audiobooks even when they drive, commute or doing their workout. True leaders attend seminars on line or live to expand their knowledge and ultimately their soul. They know that if they don’t have, they can’t give others. Only if they empower themselves in many ways, they are able to empower other souls.

A = Action

True leaders love the process of creation and they have guts to take action to make their dreams come true. They love shipping projects, they love having new experience. And if they “fail”, they stand-up again, carrying on in what they do, learning from their experience. Many human beings stop themselves at the phase of creation, because they don’t overcome their fears: fear of success, of failure or to be judged.

D = Dream

True leaders love dreaming BIG. They know that they are not limits in dreaming and that the only existing limits are the ones we create by ourselves (the bars of our “golden cage”). They dream new projects, new connections, a new life style…They dream to inspire others, to grow other leaders. They have 100% faith their dreams come true; that is why they manifest what they desire. The Universe is their best friend, which supplies them everything they want, just because they “know the rules of the game” and they play at their best.

E = Embracing fears

True leaders embrace their fears. This way, they embrace their life. They know they have the command, that they are the captain of their soul. They use fears to boost their courage. It is also exciting embracing their fears. In doing that, they expand their comfort zone, increasing their confidence.

R = Responsibility

As captain of their soul, true leaders know they are responsible for everything happens in their lives. If they don’t like something, they have the courage to change it.

S = Self-Discovery

True leaders understand that the most fascinating, wonderful, interesting journey is the one in their within. Only when we discover who we truly are and our infinite power, we start thinking, speaking and acting in a very different way. Magically, our outer world changes for better, because we have changed our inner world. We can travel around the world and this is fantastic to be open- minded, but if we miss the journey in our within, we miss the main purpose of our life on this planet: our soul’s expansion.

Keep leading from Within!

Linda Lattuca

The biggest challenge of your life

Which is the biggest challenge of your life? Your MBA or University degree? Your new job? Maybe! Anyway, there is perhaps one you don’t consider: you! I mean leading yourself. That’s the biggest challenge to face in this life and this is part of your soul’s expansion, the main purpose why you are here.

How can you be a good leader if you are not able to lead yourself? How to mentor your team? You can reply: “I am not interested in being a leader!” I have a news for you: you are a leader, anyway…of yourself, at least. And if you are a mum or dad, if you have children, you are also a leader. How to be a good leader with your family, your team, your friends…?

Leadership is a daily inside job. Till now, the only answer I found about true leadership is that the only way to be a good leader is leading from within. What does it mean? It means that a good leader is someone who:

• Is authentic, ethic, with integrity and honesty
• Is never tired to learn (practice of Kaizen = Japanese word which means constant learning)
• Sets up goals, having daily mini-goals, weekly, monthly and yearly goals
• Schedules, keeping flexibility
• Is very passionate about what he/she does
• Has guts, courage, vision, a balance between mind and heart
• Is nice and firm (when necessary)
• Celebrates achievements with his/her team (which can be the family)
• Develops other leaders (= the best legacy)
• Enjoys life (travelling, food lover, sportive passion…)
• Mentors and rewards his/her team, making the time for doing all that
• Loves to meet others to have an exchange (constant learning), but at the same time stays on his/her own for regeneration and finding new inspiration
• Embraces his/her fears, killing the killers of self-esteem
• Loves challenges
• Works on self-confidence on a daily basis
• Works for having balance in all different areas of life (Inner life, health, family, financial, career, friends, lifestyle, influence/impact/legacy)
• Has understood that health/energy is the first priority
• Knows what others call problems is part of the soul’s expansion and only opportunity
• Takes responsibility for everything, for his/her destiny, being aware to be the captain of his/her soul
• Starts and ends days with a world-class mindset
• Wakes up very early to acquire a world-class mindset for having a world-class day, using winning tactics and techniques

Ultimately, a good leader is the one who is able to lead himself/herself at the best, having an impact on others’ lives, having influence on others and leading by example. Face your biggest challenge and enjoy the process.

Lead from within!

Linda Lattuca