How to Be Successful in 2020 and Beyond

Under any circumstance, always do your best, no more and no less. It’s what we tell our children. It’s what our parents taught us and their parents taught them. It’s what our parents, family, educators, coaches, supervisors, mentors, leaders tell us to do. Always do your best, no more and no less. It is a can be challenging to put yourself in this mindset, but very achievable. But keep in mind that your best is never going to be the same from one moment to the next and should be viewed as such. It’s different for all of us. For some, our best is running a 7 minute mile. For others it’s walking a 15 minute mile. Your best will depend on whether you are feeling wonderful and happy, or upset, angry, or jealous. The best advice I was given during my Army career was by my former commander at the Warrant Officer Career College which was to wake up each day and commit to yourself that whatever you are presented with that day that you’ll simply do your best and be a leader of character. Under any circumstance, simply do your best every waking moment of your life, and you will avoid self-judgment, and regret. People join the military and other civilians professions with their character, pre-shaped by their background, beliefs, education, and experience. An mid-level manager’s job would be simpler if merely checking the team member’s personal values against the organizational values and developing a simple plan to align them sufficed. Reality is much different. Becoming a person of character and a leader of character is a career long process involving day-to-day experience, education, self-development, developmental counseling coaching, and mentoring. While individuals are responsible for their own character development, leaders are responsible for encouraging, supporting, and assessing the efforts of their people. Leaders of character can develop only through continual study, reflection, experience, and feedback. Leaders hold themselves and subordinates to the highest standards. The standards and values then spread throughout the team, unit, or organization and ultimately throughout the United States of America and the world.