The Unlocked Leader

CHAPTER 10Empower Your Inner Leader: Four Practices to Better Connect with Yourself

Smelling the sweet fragrance of roses, the child is about to embark on the path. Two wolves stand beside him. One is pulling him onto the path. The other is pulling him backwards.

“Which one will win?” the child asks.

The magician smiles. “The one you feed.”

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After shifting your mindtraps (Part 2) and adopting a new outlook, you're now on your path of roses. In Chapter 9, you decided how you want it to look and smell like. This is only the beginning, however. You need to keep walking and stay on course. And as you do, you need to care for it, keep the weeds out, feed the soil, and water the roses you've chosen. Mindbuilding requires the same consistent and regular approach so the new neural pathways you've now created can strengthen over time.

Bestselling authors Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen tell the story of two teams of explorers that raced to the South Pole in 1911. They had similar experience and skills, had equivalent distances to cover, and faced similarly brutal conditions. The team led by explorer Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole first and returned home safely. The second, led by Robert Falcon Scott, arrived 34 days later to find their rival team's flag already planted, and they perished on the way back. The difference? Discipline and consistency. Amundsen's team walked 15–20 miles every single day, regardless of conditions: they pushed on through blizzards, but also stopped ...