We often believe that the problems we are encountering are unique to us – that is far from the truth.  Your issues, frustrations and challenges are ones other people have likely had to deal with before.  So before you start to waste time feeling sorry for yourself, determine what it is you can do to make things change for the better.It’s never too late to change. Once you are able to acknowledge that a problem exists, seek help from someone with more experience who will be able to see things from a different perspective. 

Improvement takes some work but it is comforting to know that we do not live on an island – other people have probably experienced what we are going through and can offer insight that can help us to see things differently. In order to become a leader instead of an employee, there are some rights and freedoms that you must lose.  You can no longer speak down on upper management, you can no longer pass blame on a problem in your department, and you become responsible for managing other people’s time which makes you lose some rights to your own time.  It’s important to accept TOTAL responsibility for the things that happen in our lives inured to foster change, it’s very easy to say ‘I was late because traffic was heavy on the high-way’ – well that might be true, but what are the adjustments you could have made based on that realization? You could have taken a different route, called to change your time of arrival or left earlier in anticipation of the fact that anything can happen. 

 It’s very easy for us to find an excuse for the problems that we are facing – leaders spend their time finding a solution instead of a scapegoat.You have total control over how you react to situations and taking responsibility for your actions is the first step to accomplishing your goals.  I can be very bad at getting back to people, I blame it on my workload, interruptions and other circumstances, but the bottom line is – it is really my fault. Start by writing down the things that you actively plan on changing, anything you write becomes a commitment to getting it done.  You are a few steps away from success.