Leading Yourself

Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises was quite a brilliant chap.   Friedrich Hayak  was his student and was greatly influenced by him.  And von Mises is acknowledged as one of the leaders in the study of Praxeology, the study of human action.   The main concept being that we act purposely.  And any time you study why people do what they do, it’s fascinating...

To roughly paraphrase the work of von Mises, he believed that the way you get humans to make a change in behavior requires three steps:

• They are dissatisfied with their current state
• They have a vision of a better state
• They can see a path to get there

So if you’re a self-help author or a professional speaker, platoon leader or corporate exec, politician or team leader – that’s the model you need to follow.  The key is your ability to show you know the path to get to where people want to go.

Here’s the hardest part…

Applying the lesson to yourself.  Instead of waiting for someone else to lead, it’s all about choosing yourself.  Recognizing that you don’t like your current state, visualizing what your ideal state would be, and then mapping out a path to get there.

So how are you doing on that?

-RG