The lessons I learned as a young cadet in Civil Air Patrol taught me life lessons no school could teach me. My time in the military further reinforced everything that Civil Air Patrol got me ready for, so by the time I walked in my current ambulance service, I was far ahead of the game as far as leadership and maturity goes. Being in charge of a community ambulance service is a massive responsibility. The lessons I have learned, the leadership I have studied, and the people I have managed and encountered over the years have prepared me for this moment. I have been fortunate enough to work in the very best of situations and also in the very worst of situations. I have seen things and been part of things that still haunt me to this day. I have had few failures and many successes and grown my EMS agency into something bigger than anyone could have ever imagined. Yet somehow, I have managed to keep my sense about how to continue to function as a high-performance employee with no signs of ever slowing down. I did it the smart way. As a new leader, I didn't try to consume too much too quickly. I methodically created goals for myself with realistic deadlines. I studied leaders and other business models. I would dedicate a few minutes per day, usually five to ten, to certain core tasks that helped me to become the best me I could be.
Did you ever wonder why those free street shows at Disney and Las Vegas are so popular and why they hold your attention so well? On average, they are seven minutes long. Do you get it now? Dedicate seven minutes per day to each of these challenges to help keep your focus on the small things that matter. Don't lose sight of your leadership goals. So why do I get to preach leadership? I don't get to; I choose to. There is a leadership story in every difficulty you face in life. Remember that statement because it will help you when life's difficulties seem dark. I have tips to share, stories to tell, more podcasts to create and along the way; if anything that I have done can benefit someone else, then I will consider my leadership mission a successful one. I hope you enjoy this book and can find a way to incorporate a few of these lessons into your daily leadership experience.
The 7 Minute Leadership Handbook
Each day, pick one of the items from this list to focus on for seven minutes. When you get to the end of the list, add some areas to focus on that are not mentioned that are specific to you, and repeat. That's the daily 7 Minute Leadership Challenge.
Look in the Mirror
Meditation
Grooming and Attire
Nutrition or Meal Planning
Rehearsing
Study Other Businesses That Inspire You
Study Other Leaders That Inspire You
Study Leadership
Brainstorming
Stop Procrastinating
Relaxation
Find Your Inspiration
Balance Your Life
Inspire Someone
Remember the Job
Read the News
Get Control of Your Workflow
Goals, Goals, Goals
Measure Your Success and Failures
Think Things Through
Celebrate Your Employees
Make Time for Your Employees
Be Kind
Go to the Gym in Your Mind
Be Prepared
Don't Waste Your Time
Stand Out from the Pack
Monitor Social Media
Be Prepared to Take Some Shots
Never Stop Training
Define Your Success
The 7 Minute Leadership Handbook is meant to expand upon the lessons learned in the 7 Minute Leadership Podcast series. These are the small things that matter that will help you not only as a person, but also as a leader. While the list is not all-encompassing, it is a great place to start to develop your inner leader. Take a picture of this page with your cell phone and use this to help you remember to take a few minutes each day for the small things that matter.
Challenge 1 (Look in the Mirror)
I am a firm believer that if you create a plan and stick to your plan, you can be successful at anything. Leadership is no different. You have to start somewhere. So let's start slow. Let's take day one of the journey and dedicate seven minutes to looking in the mirror. Go ahead – take a look in the mirror. What do you see? How do you feel about the person you see? While you are looking at yourself in the mirror, I want you to imagine the things you want to be successful with in life. Picture yourself celebrating that success, getting that degree that you've always wanted, or getting the promotion you have worked so hard to earn. How do you look in that moment? Trust me – it matters, and I will make my point soon enough. Now I want you to imagine you are someone else meeting you for the first time, and what they see right now is who you are looking at in the mirror.
How is your body language, your smile, and your posture? Do you look approachable, pleasant, or inviting? Would you want to meet you? Would you feel comfortable walking up to that person and introducing yourself to them for the first time? Or would you feel intimidated by what you saw, or perhaps even frightened? So the point is obviously this: leadership is all about you. It begins with you and ends with you.
As a leader, you are accountable for everything and you have to be the role model for the desired results you want. You can't be late and expect your people to be on time. They are going to mimic your actions all the time. Trust me, I have lived in a world of watching leaders be late for work and then try to write someone else up for being late. All that does is create so much animosity from the employee towards the manager that they quickly become the punchline to every joke around the office. So it all begins with that first look in the mirror, the first impression. Make sure you constantly re-visit this skill often. Consider this your visual check-up. It keeps you accountable to the most important person you have to be accountable to – you.
Make notes of what you see the first time you do this skill. Make a list of what you like and what you don't like with what you see. You have the power to change everything that you dislike. If you take this action plan seriously, then the next time you do this particular skill, make sure you re-visit your notes and see what has changed. If you have moved things off of your dislike list and now you have more items on the like list, then celebrate your achievements. You have just mastered the art of setting goals and achieving them.
Congratulations, you may not have realized it, but setting goals is one of the fundamental core concepts for all leaders.
Later on, I will tell you the story of how Garth Brooks inspired my love for photography. He also inspired my love of music and achieving my personal goal of learning to play the guitar. I didn't like the person I saw when I looked in the mirror back then and needed an inspiration. I was out of shape and suffered from chronic back pain and had no real motivation to do anything. I purchased my first acoustic guitar almost immediately following my first Garth concert in 1997.