What is true leadership

True leaders know to adapt to different situations.

True leaders know when to shut up and listen!!

True leaders see what is coming!

True leaders know when to give warnings!!

True leadership know and understand the differences with people in their organizations!

True leaders understand the difference between collaboration and cooperation!!.

True leaders understand when to be empathetic to others!

The most important thing a true leader must understand is how to build a relationship.

To All Those Wanna Be Leaders

Here we are again and here is a great Quote and poster for you to share with those wannabee leaders that sit on leadership positions and have no idea how to lead!!!

Organization Theories And Reality Dr. Luciano Santini

Hello my friends and we are in one of those worlds where a person is measured by their success regardless of education and background. Just take a look at some of the most successful people in the world. They are the richest and  the most well known. The reason is simple they did not care about what people thought as far as their ideas and just believed in success for their life and now well they have what they wanted wealth fame and happiness.

In business it is the same process if you are serious regarding your success. If you care what your competition think about your ideas and never move forward regarding those ideas well my friends you will be swallowed up like the Whale who swallows the smaller fish in the ocean. Remember you are a small fish in the ocean of business and therefore you must innovate always to stay above the competition.

There are many theories in business for success but that is not what makes things happen. One has to remember that theories are theories;

Definition

A set of assumptions, propositions, or accepted facts that attempts to provide a plausible or rational explanation of cause-and-effect (causal) relationships among a group of observed phenomenon. The word's origin (from the Greek thorós, a spectator), stresses the fact that all theories are mental models of the perceived reality.

 

Assumptions, accepted facts. Just these twp for example assumptions and you know what happens when you assume anything- People get into trouble people ruin other people because of their assumptions pretty crazy and could be a career destroyer. Accepted facts are not facts they are facts that have been accepted if you think them to be true or believe they worked for one person  which will probably not work for the next one.

Let me just say that the basic human relation factors shows the operational conditions in any organization and what do I mean by this: Well regardless of the talent you may have in your organization if you do not have someone to lead them in the right direction with clear direction you have nothing. This is no assumption or accepted fact this is reality!

This usually will happen depending how your management is leading the team in any organization. Most managers will act as how thy think and will manage people the same way according to their way of thinking.

There are many theories out there to follow but you can do your own research and see what you are working with.

I will give you a few examples: Autocratic theory is to run an organization by fear somewhat but the jist of it is that a leader will show his/her power expects obedience from staff and depends on the fact that they are the boss and as far as morale well staff will be in compliance thus manager/leader will be happy and in a comfort zone.

How many times do you feel like talking back to your boss when they scold you or give you a project that you know you hate but take it to keep him/her happy and of your back!! I am laughing at this point because I know you have at one point or another right!

Well we do not talk back to the boss but we most certainly think back and they stay as thoughts in the minds of the frustrated individual which will in turn become aggression within the person which could lead to violence in the workplace!! When the person quits he/she may go off one the manager who made their life miserable.

I guess leadership is a pretty big need to run a n operation,but what does a leader look like or need to show to be a leader int he eyes of his peers and employees. Well from my research it seems like society is catching on regarding leadership skills or have they? I have spoken to human resource people who have their positions because they have some kind of thought process regarding human behavior and yet I have found that they lack the skills to build relationships with people. I have found that a leaders will show his style by his/her acts rather than by their traits.

Organizations today look for certain traits for a leader and create this cheat sheet if you will to follow during interviews and make a person fit into all of them and then fail to find the right person because they do not have the skills to find the right person. Why is this? It is because you will never ever find one person to have all the traits because leadership is situational issue it works around a situation when faced and either they will deal with it and solve it or not. Dow this make him/her a bad leader well it depends on the situation.

In a research that I was involved in our university we asked people what were the issues they faced with their worst bosses and they are; The disrespect they showed when they had ideas or suggestions; They had no skills building relationships; Very bad emotional intelligence and extremely bad communication skills.

I believe that these pretty much sum up what any organization might be looking for in a leader but the real question is will you find one-good luck my friends.

The key is when you hire a leaders look for those things but if they do not have them all the question then become what do you as an organization have in place to teach them those skills that are missing.

Tell Them Loudly"Watch me succeed"-Luciano Santini

Good day everyone and how are all my friends doing? I read about Steve Jobs a while back and the creativity this man had in his mind was just incredible. I read article that people would write about him and some were pretty negative and I always wondered why. I found the reason was that those who either were very envious or were afraid of his creativity and mostly his competition. He believed in a great product that changes lives and he followed his dreams, but he would have never ever accomplished it if it had not been for his teams that assisted him create the products Apple is so well known for.

I believe that life is the same way because sometimes you will take risks and hope for the best and yet you will find resistance and the negativity all around and well my friends you have to be able to stand up and say hey " I can do this and just watch me do it and well just go for it despite the negativity"-Luciano Santini 

My friends if you want to accomplish anything in life or in business you just have to take some risks when people challenge you just have to smile and let them know that no matter what happens you make it in life and in business.

Leadership is not an easy task for even the most seasoned people. I find that the better you are as an individual in mind and soul your leadership will come through as long as you do not allow negativity to poison your mind. Let us face reality with a strong stand of mind and allow our minds to grow within ourselves. My friends when we allow others to enter our minds with negativity our minds become vulnerable to failure because we allow our minds to weaken. In business my friends if we allow our competition to takes us down in our minds then we are beaten before they do or say anything.

Technology is the future and both in life and in business one must be aware of this future. My friends take a look at your children and see how advanced they are with technology. We as individuals cannot allow ourselves to stay behind. Just to give you a look into what and how technology affects both your life and your business; There are over one billion users on Facebook and there is over 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every single minute. My friends think about this and how this could make your business boom or fail as well as your personal life.

There is a vast difference between failure and temporary defeat.

Napoleon Hill

There is no such thing as failure, unless it is accepted as such. Every defeat is temporary unless you give up and allow it to become permanent. In fact, temporary defeat often makes us stronger and more capable. Each time we try and fail, we learn something that helps prepare us for eventual success. Only in the classroom is there a single correct answer for every problem. If you try an approach that doesn’t work, try something else. When you view adversity as nothing more than a learning experience, your successes in life will far outnumber your failures.

Please share with someone who needs to build self esteem or their confidence.

"The first step will always be the most difficult to take"-Dr. Luciano Santini

"The first step will always be the most difficult to take"-Dr. Luciano Santini

 

  Hello and here we are again to start a great weekend  and wondering why so many people seem angry at everyone around them specially those who are in high leadership roles and no one knows how they were able to get to  that position. Well let us see if I can bring some light to this ongoing question.

I find that so many people ask me during research or interviews with high executives and staff. The question that I would like to focus on today is one that comes up all the time. Why and how did that guy become our leader?

Question number two: Why does that person try so hard to keep me from promoting? I always tell them that I will try to find out the answers. Here is what I have found out. I believe that the answers go way back in time a time where there was no need to have a real education but hard work and learn as you go type of training.

However do not get me wrong there are some great leaders that have had no education and have been great leaders and have proved to have great teaching skills. The questions come from people that are from today's era the new generations that seem to want constant change.

 I have learned that some so called leaders who are in top positions have no idea how to manage knowledge but people only and they base whether to or not  to promote on what they believe is close to their type of education which seems to fail them constantly.

I have found that people get promoted based on how many favors you can do for them or how many times you invite them to lunch or coffee. I know you know the type I am talking about. Today's organizations are on a constant change and that is because change is inevitable and is the only thing that is constant in the circle of life and business.

 I know for a fact that most leaders know and understand this constant however they seem to fail on the part to teach and find the right people to do the jobs with the skills that are needed today and not yesteryear's.

I love this quote from Napoleon Hill and I also believe that there is so much truth to this;

It’s a sure thing that you’ll not finish if you don’t start. Napoleon Hill

An ancient proverb says, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” You have probably known people nearing the end of their life’s journey who looked back and said, “If only I had done things differently…. If only I had taken advantage of that opportunity when it came along.” Unfulfilled lives are filled with “if onlys.” 

They are the refrain of the timid souls whose lives were finished before they ever really got started. Life is filled with many opportunities — for great successes and spectacular failures. It is up to you to seize the initiative, to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way. You are condemned to a life of mediocrity — unless you get into action. Don’t delay; do it today! 

I believe that today's leaders again not all of them but those that seem to be failing with their staff because they are bad staff and they do not listen when the truth of the matter really is that they have no idea how to manage this types of knowledge and they become frightened by them which then becomes an issue and hinder them from promoting. 

There is only one way to succeed and be able to move forward if these type of leaders cannot be removed from their positions. The issue is that these leaders are so mind formed in their old ways that the only way this will change is to have them removed or forced to retire. Sometimes they can be retrained if they allow themselves to do so with an open mind but I can tell from research that most would rather retire then to make any type of change.

There are so many other issues in every organization that need to be resolved but leaders have to be able to understand that change is needed. So many organizations believe that because people somehow manage to get by despite language and cultural barriers, that this is not an issue when in face is a really really big problem.

The one thing that they need to understand is that there is a real cost to operational efficiency, also a cost in team cohesion, and a cost in safety. If these leaders whether old school or new era leaders can learn to improve efficiency, cohesion and safety by addressing language and cultural skills then and only then will business results be improved.  

I love the fact that when my blogs are read I find that leaders always call me or ask me how they are able to use some of my techniques and ideas which makes me so happy to see in action. 

Here is one last fact for you; 90% of business leaders surveyed stated that their staff have a deficiency in language and has become a very big challenge and also that only 1/3 go to HR to try to solve the issue and the rest just try to make it by which will lead to a dysfunction within the company and by the time the leaders get a whiff of this happening the organization will already be in distress. 

"Bang Your Head Hard Enough ideas Will Come"-Dr. Luciano Santini

Wise persons are those who think twice before speaking once.

Napoleon Hill

Perhaps the greatest quality in a leader and the most valuable skill in building relationships is the ability to think before you speak. If you have a tendency to speak hastily in anger and regret your actions at leisure, the childhood admonition to count to ten before speaking will still serve you well. When you pause — if only for a moment — to consider the consequences, you may think better of what you were about to say. And if you must speak strongly, it’s a good idea to sugarcoat the words — just in case you have to eat them later. 

This is something that I truly believe when you have a leader that you are working with. I have seen so many so called leaders open their mouth thinking that either people do not see their incompetence or that their staff are blind to their mistakes when it comes to people. So called leaders just do not understand people in general and so they will say things in front of people like little stabs thinking that people do not understand what is happening. So -called leaders have no idea when they stick their foot in their mouth and it is pretty sad to see it happen right before your eyes.

It is no wonder these so called leaders have no idea how to build a team. It is difficult enough to get people to come together but it is more difficult to live with a team that does not ever come together and the so called leaders turn their face away and simply avoid the real issues. One thing i teach and train leaders to do is to continuously visualize a positive end result as a team.

The leadership must always use the 70-20-10 rule which is 70 % listening 20 % to inquire with just the right amount of advocacy of course most leaders do not know or understand what this means.One of the most important things that a leader needs to learn is to always  put other people's needs to express his or her agenda ahead of their own. The biggest issue is that most leaders care about their agenda and suggestions then other people's ideas and what they do is shut them down.

One thing that I see across the board in both private industry and non profit but mostly in government jobs and positions is that leadership are not capable of getting the job needed for success done because they are afraid to remove people who are failing to help them build success instead these that stop success and others from moving forward will be rewarded simply to get them out their hair and thus avoid the real issues.

One other thing that I find is that employee\s today are hungry for real life training that will actually teach them something. Ineffective legacy training programs are so costly and actually under serve the organization's learner's. In this scenario about 40 % of training will fail and yet knowing this organizations continue to bring in this type of training for their employees. you have to understand as a true leader that when you bring in the right kind of training and at the right time and in the correct way your staff will respond stronger.

According to Grovo.com the five most important key values most people specially the new era employees such as the millennials are as follows;

Development- meaning  Hunger for learning the correct way.

Meaning- Have training and learning that matters and will make a difference in their lives.

Autonomic- Most people hate micromanagement and micro managers.

Efficiency- Train in a way that will always show a better way and be open to new ideas and suggestions.

Transparency- As leader you need to share information so employees know and understand the why.

'We need to believe that we can lives through information and the correct way of training so people can learn what and why the changes must take place'-Dr. Luciano Santini

Knowledge And Leadership-Dr.Luciano Santini

Knowledge

Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action and directed to a definite end. 

 

Let us talk today regarding knowledge. What is knowledge? Let me give you the definition according to the dictionary.

knowledge

noun knowl·edge \ˈnä-lij\

: information, understanding, or skill that you get from experience or education: awareness of something : the state of being aware of something 6 of our favorite terms for money and luxury »

Full Definition of KNOWLEDGE

1

obsolete :  cognizance

2

a (1) :  the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association (2) :  acquaintance with or understanding of a science, art, or technique

b (1) :  the fact or condition of being aware of something (2) :  the range of one's information or understanding <answered to the best of my knowledge>

c :  the circumstance or condition of apprehending truth or fact through reasoning :  cognition

d :  the fact or condition of having information or of being learned <a person of unusual knowledge>

 

 You see it does not say anything about being able to use knowledge so again to me knowledge is and can be powerful only when it is implemented. That word seems to come so many times over and over implementation.

 

When you treat others respectfully and never ask another to do something you would be unwilling to do yourself, you are entitled to the respect of others — and they will freely give it. But you cannot expect others to continue marching until they have blisters on their feet while you ride in the jeep. Leading others means you must be willing to give far more of yourself than you would ever ask from them. 

 

Leadership-What is leadership? Let me define it for you: Leadership is a multifaceted thing. In a nutshell - the ability to inspire others in such a fashion that they are willing to follow you, for a leader is not one who decides to be a leader, a leader is one whom others choose to follow. Without followers there can be no leader. Can it be taught? Most assuredly. The greater question is can it be learned? Not by all, perhaps not even by most.  (Yahoo Answers)

 

Leadership to me is when a person in charge does things the right things with respect humility and honor and expect nothing in return--Dr. Luciano Santini 

 

Giving a seminar on leadership

 Leadership is something that is so lacking in all organizations both private and more so in non-profits because you have to deal with so much more regarding funding. In government you  not only have to deal with funding but with resistance and that is so hard to deal with and let us not forget the fact that people do refuse to change.

Clients-Me- You And Life- We Are Here To serve That Is It-Luciano The Key Santini

Hello and good day to all who follow me on my blog,linked in ,Twitter and Facebook and I am sure there a few more that I cannot remember as of this moment. I was thinking this morning as I was driving around to get my hot cup of fresh coffee and thought about life in general and why do things happen that are unexpected in the journey of life.

I always try to keep in mind the point of view of my readers based on their suggestions to write about things that matter. Sometimes it can be challenging but that is always welcomed by me because we are always up for any challenge that comes our way. and so I do my very best to address them.

We all know we are here but for a while in what I like to call (borrowed time) When you think about it is not up to us how long we will live but how we decide to live our lives. I love to read books and people are always asking me what am I reading? Why do they ask,well because I am always holding a book or a magazine that has something to do with either business strategies or psychology or something to do with people.

A book is something that you can read at any time and the stories will take you where ever you want to go. A good book can take you into the future or into the past. A good book can take you to places you have only dreamed of. In a book you can meet people you have always wanted to meet and learn about how they lived and perhaps serve as a mentors for you.

A book can teach you so much about life if we but read between the lines. I can tell you that sometimes authors do not always write what they mean to write and so you have to come up with your own synopsis of what something means.

 I always find it fascinating to read a book that never makes sense until I start to break it down into paragraphs and the start to put it all together a page at a time and then it becomes fun trying to figure out what it all means kind of like those old mysteries where you could make up your own ending so much fun!!!

One of the best things people can do to listen to a person or a loved one is to have interaction with them on a regular basis because this is what will create great relationships for the future and they will always remember those interactions. 

What does this have to do with business; Well I can tell you that when leaders do not have interactions with their employees the employees will go into a thought process that is negative regarding leadership because in their minds the leadership could care less of their well being or concerns.

What is the difference between information and communication?

I have found that when employees are given information they do not understand the information and thus creates a very negative feeling and makes them feel incompetent. They fear asking for more information because it might make them, look incompetent.

The fact is that when giving information to employees a leader should also give the meaning of the information and yes!! most do not do that. They keep it to themselves and that is so wrong in so many ways and yet some so called leaders think of it as power over the minions!!WOW RIGHT! YEA that is what said wrong wrong wrong!!!!!

The other great thing that I find astonishing to me personally is when a leader is asking you for information and smiling at you but their body language is very threatening. Why does this happen? It happens because the leaders do not know how to control their emotions internally. You (Leader) think that by smiling you are doing well but yet you cross your arms when you are saying it HELLO!!

Expectations is another big one. leaders will give out information and tell people what to do and that is it. WHYYYYYYY do you do that? It is because some leaders will assume that there was a clear understanding of the information and expectations NOOO you actually have to take the time to share and explain expectations and be very clear and specific uHHH let me see I am assuming there are expectation to begin with.

How about reaching out to the disengaged employees OOOOhhh that is a whole new other blog posting for next time.

I am here to serve you  I am your solutions provider

Leadership Do The Staus Quo or Do The Right Thing That is The Question !!! Luciano the Key Santini

Hello everyone and thank you for your continued support on my journey to a better  world by simply reading my blog posts. I do many one one  meetings with individuals who believe they have been put in positions to fail and the biggest question they ask is why. My answer is many. I believe that if you are a leader and you believe you are a leader you need to figure out on your own if you are a real leader or simply a wannabe  individual who thinks is a leader.

Before I start this conversation let me make on thing very clear. If you are a leader the you must have a very pristine and clear understanding of what leadership is:

People or most people do understand but fail miserably to keep in their minds that our personal fulfillment is closely combined

with how we help others more so then how we help ourselves. In other words sometimes we need to break the rules to make a right but most so called leaders will follow the process then to do the right thing and that is the number one fact most so called leaders fail miserably.

People are good people or at least that is what I believe everyone to be until proven otherwise. If it turns to be otherwise then I simply try to help them. What happen is that sometimes their ethical beliefs are so off that they believe it to be true and they are so wrong.

Here is what some people who are in positions of leadership but should not be in those positions will do which gives them away if you of course know what to look for.

These so called leaders will care more about a process then their people. The real sad part of this is that they need to understand that without the people who actually do the work they have nothing and when someone places a process above people well simply put!! You have failed your people. 

This but one thing to look for. You see when you fail people that have worked hard for you and then because of a process or status quo you fail them then of course people will know why you are not a leader and the truth will spread like wildfire.

The so called leaders will make promises to other to keep  and avoid the real problem and avoid any type of conflict to keep them selves from any confrontation because they are afraid to face the truth. Leadership isn’t about your how well you speak it is about what you do for others and the actions you take. Leadership might begin with a vision, but it’s delivering the vision that will ultimately determine your success as a leader.

 Sometime we believe that because we can talk the politics in a world other do not believe in or involve themselves with will make you a leader it does not; it simply shows how much a follower you are and not a leader. I believe you must be a follower to learn how to lead that is a requirement and there is nothing wrong in learning the way to become a leader but if you are at the stage of a follower you should understand that you are not a leader.

How about when you try to get results doing things the wrong way; If the only way you can solve issues is through manipulation or lying to people you’re not a leader. The ends don’t justify the means. If you abuse your influence through your position and do not treat employees like people with respect then you are not a leader. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to confuse manipulation with leadership, you may come out on top a few times but at the end you will loose many good people and you will not be trusted and no one will believe in you anymore thus for not a leader. Manipulation over ethics never ends well.

I believe that rules are put in place with in every organization but sometimes the rules are wrong and if you are a leader you need to be able to recognize them and be able to break them. Leadership must be understood it is simply knowing the need for change and being able to deliver execution

Fear, Manipulation,Comfort Zones And The Mind--Luciano The Key Santini

Hello and how are we doing this weekend? This past week has been a great week because I have been able to learn so much more regarding my intellect and the reason I say this is because I have found that if you but make up your mind to learn anything you can learn it pretty quickly. I have known this for a very long time but a\sometimes though we might know something for a long time we will forget and then suddenly you have an AHA moment and though not new you feel great and this past week was one of those weeks.

I always tell people that we fall into a comfort zone and when we do that we become stifled if you will and we get stuck on a routine which can be bad for you and your mind.People who know me always ask me what I am reading or writing about because they always see me with a book at my favorite coffee shop or with a writing pad.

Let us talk a bit about fear and how much damage fear can do to an individual and to the mind. Fear is an indispensable part in the human mind. We can try to dispense it but that would be dangerous depending on the form or situation. Did you know that even a fearless man in the most modest city street would be dead before the day is over if the phrase be taken literally. Fear can also be a powerful motivator for the human mind again depending on the situation. 

When we think about fear throughout all industries some grow from fear of penury ( Extreme poverty scarcity or destruction) Many discoveries in the medical field for the fear of diseases. There is also all the fear abnormalities such as hysteria,phobias and there are many out there in the world. There is also obsessive anxieties and believe me when i tell you that all of the above can tear a persons life to pieces, I have seen it so many times while being an executive coach for CEOS and management teams.

There is a few facts that we as human beings need to understand about fear. The one big fact is that human seek stimulus in hazardous situations and strange as that sounds it is in us. Believe it or not know that danger is an individuals love because sometimes that is where we find motivation deep inside us Think about this when we as individuals are not challenged we go out and seek that challenge that will make fell needed whether in our jobs in our daily routines and when we do not then we should realize that  we have become  conformed and when get to this point we need to look for things to stimulate the mind within us to keep us feeling alive.

One of my favorite things to do with people I meet is this. I watch to see what they are cynical about and I get to find out what makes them tick! and what makes them move or not move in life. We all have the power to turn a negative into a positive if but choose to change the mind. So many times when we try to help someone else we fail and the reason for this is because most of the time the solutions we come up with has no relation to the situation or issue.

If this happens there are so many elements to all of this such as knowing and understanding the issue. The real revelation here can be that something so simple as giving direction to someone could be an endemic obstacle to either a business or an individual.

Your real courage shows best in the hour of adversity.

Some setbacks are so severe that to give in to them means losing the whole ball game. When he assumed command of the Korean War, Gen. Matthew Ridgeway found his forces pushed far to the south, hard pressed by the invaders. Only a determined decision to hold the lines allowed the American forces to keep from being swept into the sea and to eventually regain all the territory they had lost. When a defeat strikes, you may not have the time to withdraw and contemplate your mistakes without risking further setbacks. Don’t succumb to paralysis.

 

 It is important to know at that moment what it is you truly desire and to act to preserve your resources and your hope. If you crumble utterly, you will take a blow to your self-esteem that will be hard to repair. Instead, stick to your principles, and you will know, at the very least, that you have protected the most important thing you have. Your successes in life will far outnumber your failures.

Have you ever felt manipulated in the workplace common now be honest!! We all have at one point or another, here are some tips to see them coming your way;

 

A skilled workplace manipulator is usually an expert at smiling. Through artful, indirect and devious methods, he/she influences and controls others. Like a clever politician, a manipulative workplace bully keeps his/her desires hidden. They will always make you feel good but take credit for something they did not do behind your back or closed doors.

Pretending to pursue the greater good, he/she adopts the mantra of “company first” with a fervency that inspires admiration and respect, and most people accept his/her claims of selfless pursuit of noble causes.

But underneath his/her self-righteous image lies the essence of a manipulator: someone who shrewdly and deviously attempts to control how you feel, think and behave.

Be aware my friends but learn to see it coming and do not be afraid. 

 

Serving Those Who Served And Making The World A Better Place-Luciano The Key Santini

Good morning everyone and how are we doing this beautiful day? Well where do I start of yes of course LOL I would like to say thank you to all my followers and readers who continue to endorse me and refer me to other businesses. I have to say to all who have been part of my life thank you and thank you and thank you and many many more thank you's. I have to say that without your trust we would never have created the great relationships we have today.

To show how important it is to create relationships in your community and what it means to the community and all the people that live in it.

The Great Veterans Academy Created by Luciano The Key Santini and Jean Nicolas

This academy was created with the community in mind and the people that live in it but it would not have been a success without the the support of our upper management in the Employment Development Department who allowed us to pilot it in the local area and all the Partners who came together for the community and the people who live in it especially the veteran community.

 The Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce,Hancock College just to name a few and so many more and so many peers who came together as well. This was a way to show that yes one idea can change a community and give back to as many who have given so much for us to live in a free country thank you to all our veterans around  this beautiful country.

I believe that we can all change the world we live in if we but choose to do so;

Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World

by Henrik Edberg

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.”

“If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.”

Mahatma Gandhi needs no long introduction. Everyone knows about the man who lead the Indian people to independence from British rule in 1947.

So let’s just move on to some of my favourite tips from Mahatma Gandhi.

1. Change yourself.

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”

If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change. Not only because you are now viewing your environment through new lenses of thoughts and emotions but also because the change within can allow you to take action in ways you wouldn’t have – or maybe even have thought about – while stuck in your old thought patterns.

And the problem with changing your outer world without changing yourself is that you will still be you when you reach that change you have strived for. You will still have your flaws, anger, negativity, self-sabotaging tendencies etc. intact.

And so in this new situation you will still not find what you hoped for since your mind is still seeping with that negative stuff. And if you get more without having some insight into and distance from your ego it may grow more powerful. Since your ego loves to divide things, to find enemies and to create separation it may start to try to create even more problems and conflicts in your life and world.

2. You are in control.

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you. There may be a “normal” or a common way to react to different things. But that’s mostly just all it is.

You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions to pretty much everything. You don’t have to freak out, overreact of even react in a negative way. Perhaps not every time or instantly. Sometimes a knee-jerk reaction just goes off. Or an old thought habit kicks in.

And as you realize that no-one outside of yourself can actually control how you feel you can start to incorporate this thinking into your daily life and develop it as a thought habit. A habit that you can grow stronger and stronger over time. Doing this makes life a whole lot easier and more pleasurable.

3. Forgive and let it go.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

Fighting evil with evil won’t help anyone. And as said in the previous tip, you always choose how to react to something. When you can incorporate such a thought habit more and more into your life then you can react in a way that is more useful to you and others.

You realize that forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service. And spending your time in some negative memory won’t help you after you have learned the lessons you can learn from that experience. You’ll probably just cause yourself more suffering and paralyze yourself from taking action in this present moment.

If you don’t forgive then you let the past and another person to control how you feel. By forgiving you release yourself from those bonds. And then you can focus totally on, for instance, the next point.

4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere.

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

Without taking action very little will be done. However, taking action can be hard and difficult. There can be much inner resistance.

And so you may resort to preaching, as Gandhi says. Or reading and studying endlessly. And feeling like you are moving forward. But getting little or no practical results in real life.

So, to really get where you want to go and to really understand yourself and your world you need to practice. Books can mostly just bring you knowledge. You have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.

5. Take care of this moment.

“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”

The best way that I have found to overcome the inner resistance that often stops us from taking action is to stay in the present as much as possible and to be accepting.

Why? Well, when you are in the present moment you don’t worry about the next moment that you can’t control anyway. And the resistance to action that comes from you imagining negative future consequences – or reflecting on past failures – of your actions loses its power. And so it becomes easier to both take action and to keep your focus on this moment and perform better.

 And remember that reconnecting with and staying in the now is a mental habit – a sort of muscle – that you grow. Over time it becomes more powerful and makes it easier to slip into the present moment.

6. Everyone is human.

“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

When you start to make myths out of people – even though they may have produced extraordinary results – you run the risk of becoming disconnected from them. You can start to feel like you could never achieve similar things that they did because they are so very different. So it’s important to keep in mind that everyone is just a human being no matter who they are.

And I think it’s important to remember that we are all human and prone to make mistakes. Holding people to unreasonable standards will only create more unnecessary conflicts in your world and negativity within you.

It’s also important to remember this to avoid falling into the pretty useless habit of beating yourself up over mistakes that you have made. And instead be able to see with clarity where you went wrong and what you can learn from your mistake. And then try again.

7. Persist.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Be persistent. In time the opposition around you will fade and fall away. And your inner resistance and self-sabotaging tendencies that want to hold you back and keep you like you have always been will grow weaker.

Find what you really like to do. Then you’ll find the inner motivation to keep going, going and going. You can also find a lot of useful tips on how keep your motivation up in 

One reason Gandhi was so successful with his method of non-violence was because he and his followers were so persistent. They just didn’t give up.

Success or victory will seldom come as quickly as you would have liked it to. I think one of the reasons people don’t get what they want is simply because they give up too soon. The time they think an achievement will require isn’t the same amount of time it usually takes to achieve that goal. This faulty belief partly comes from the world we live in. A world full of magic pill solutions where advertising continually promises us that we can lose a lot of weight or earn a ton of money in just 30 days.

Finally, one useful tip to keep your persistence going is to listen to Gandhi’s third quote in this article and keep a sense of humor. It can lighten things up at the toughest of times.

8. See the good in people and help them.

“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”

“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.”

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”

There is pretty much always something good in people. And things that may not be so good. But you can choose what things to focus on. And if you want improvement then focusing on the good in people is a useful choice. It also makes life easier for you as your world and relationships become more pleasant and positive.

And when you see the good in people it becomes easier to motivate yourself to be of service to them. By being of service to other people, by giving them value you not only make their lives better. Over time you tend to get what you give. And the people you help may feel more inclined to help other people. And so you, together, create an upward spiral of positive change that grows and becomes stronger.

By strengthening your social skills you can become a more influential person and make this upward spiral even stronger. A few articles that may provide you with useful advice in that department are  Or you can just move on to the next tip.

9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”

I think that one of the best tips for improving your social skills is to behave in a congruent manner and communicate in an authentic way. People seem to really like authentic communication. And there is much inner enjoyment to be found when your thoughts, words and actions are aligned.

When words and thoughts are aligned then that shows through in your communication. Because now you have your voice tonality and body language – some say they are over 90 percent of communication – in alignment with your words.

With these channels in alignment people tend to really listen to what you’re saying. You are communicating without in congruency, mixed messages or perhaps a sort of phoniness.

Also, if your actions aren’t in alignment with what you’re communicating then you start to hurt your own belief in what you can do. And other people’s belief in you too.

10. Continue to grow and evolve.

”Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”

You can pretty much always improve your skills, habits or re-evaluate your evaluations. You can gain deeper understanding of yourself and the world.

Sure, you may look inconsistent or like you don’t know what you are doing from time to time. You may have trouble to act congruently or to communicate authentically. But if you don’t then you will, as Gandhi says, drive yourself into a false position. A place where you try to uphold or cling to your old views to appear consistent while you realize within that something is wrong. It’s not a fun place to be. To choose to grow and evolve is a happier and more useful path to take.