Have you ever looked at one of your idols, someone you admire greatly, and thought, “I wanna be just like them?” I used to casually say, “I wanna grow up to be… (whoever it was). The Colonel said to me, “Just do you. Just be yourself, kid. Everyone else is taken.” He said that, or a version of it, so many times in my life it felt like a broken record.
You see, each time we were re-stationed to a new Air Force base, there was a new city, neighborhood, and school that I was suddenly thrust into. I had to make new friends and find new groups and new activities. It wasn’t easy, but it taught me to get more comfortable in my own skin and become a more reliable friend to myself. Each new school held unique challenges, and it was always tempting to try to fit in with the “cool kids” group. Dad would see that struggle—every time. His advice never changed: “Don’t try to be the someone you think everyone else expects you to be. When you know who you are, the friends you are supposed to find will naturally gravitate to you.”
This advice has served me well throughout my life, although there have been times when I’ve forgotten it for a while and struggled with my identity. When I stepped away from a public seminar company and began speaking under my own name and platform, I didn’t know what that platform was or who I was as a speaker. Did I need to be Lisa Nichols, Suze Orman, Jeanne Robertson, or Joyce Meyers? Well, the answer, of course, is none of the above. I needed to be ME and develop MY voice as I grew in my business and career. Each time I feel a bit off or out of my element in a situation, I try and remember Dad’s wise words.
Folks, you can’t lead and be significant if you are trying to be someone else. That someone else was destined to be significant in their unique way. And so are you. Trying to be THEM not only waters down THEIR significance, it delays or defeats who YOU are intended to be and your own significance. Trying to be someone else is not leadership – it’s acting.
As The Colonel would say, “Kiddo, just do you. You’re perfect the way you are.”
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