“I spend my life constantly calling in ‘imaginary’ debts that aren’t owed to me in order to avoid the ‘real’ debts that I owe to others, and so everybody ends up bankrupt.”  – Craig D. Lounsbrough

As I shift my attention to the new year, I thought I would take a slightly different approach to my leadership blog posts. This year, or at least for the next few months, I’d like to focus on the topic of “Success” by contrasting the different attributes of successful vs. unsuccessful people. So, let’s start this series out with a discussion on entitlement vs. empowerment.

More and more these days I find myself running in to the issue of entitlement. Sure, you have all heard plenty about the ‘entitlement’ mentality of the millennials (which I think is both incorrect and misunderstood). But to be honest, I’m seeing the issue of entitlement just as frequently (perhaps even more so) in the older generations. I’ll avoid any political association to this post and simply say that I believe entitlement has become far too prevalent today. And yes, there is a difference between social responsibility and entitlement. Continue reading →

NOTE from Editor: I had full intention of posting a blog on new year’s resolutions, with a theme around “start small and built it up”. While researching, I stumbled across a friend’s blog who had just written a similar piece. In the spirit of cooperation, I’ve received his blessing to share his post here on leadingwright. Hope you enjoy, and thank you Brian Beckcom for the insight!

With the new year upon us, many of you are hoping to achieve some New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, the statistics of people actually achieving New Year’s resolutions are shockingly small. Why?

Perhaps because once our brains are hardwired with a particular habit, it is almost impossible to “get rid” of that habit. That habit has literally become part of the physical wiring of our brain.

But people can – and do – change. And people can – and do – meet their New Year’s resolutions. The obvious question is, why do most people ultimately fail but a few succeed?

I recently read an awesome story about how to change your habits. First, you have to understand that you’re not really changing your habits. Instead, you’re forming new habits that override the old ones. Here are some tips on creating amazing new habits: Continue reading →