As a leader, there are certain qualities and characteristics of lions that you might find useful to consider – for yourself and your “pride.” Let us just take a few minutes to explore these and as with all metaphors, we aren’t going to beat this one to death.

1. Protective

You don’t have to watch very many Discovery Channel shows about lions to see how very protective they are – of territory, themselves, their young, and so forth. As far as being more lion-like, what do you need to be protective of? Protective of yourself? Your money? Your children? Your partner? Your spouse? Your business? Your colleagues? Your position? Your beliefs? So, exactly what do you need to be protective of?

2. Brave

Being lion-like means you are brave and courageous. Naturally, you choose when and where to be brave vs. timid, courageous vs. cowardly. We all make choices every day. Look for opportunities today and every day where you can be brave. It does make a difference, both for you and for others.

3. Willing to fight

Hmm…we know that lions will fight when need be. They don’t pick fights but because they are willing to protect their food, their mates, their territory and so forth, they will fight if necessary. What is the one thing you are willing to fight for?

Many readers are parents and my guess is that many parents would be willing to fight for their children. Or maybe you are a professor who is willing to fight when you see other faculty members being bullied. Maybe you are a teacher who is fighting for particular students who need your “protection.”

What is it for you? Really. What are you willing to fight for? The one thing?

4. Hunters

LOTS of people are concerned right now about financial issues. Someone wrote to me recently that she had overheard middle school girls in the bathroom at a movie talking about how they needed to come up some ways to earn money because after the legislature was over, their parents weren’t going to be able to give them money for the movies any longer. You might be one of the people who is “hunting” for money. You might be hunting for it for your own personal situation or you are hunting money for projects at work or for community needs and the like.

But what else do us lion-like folks hunt for? You might describe it thus:

• Bravery to find what really makes me happy

• Bravery to ignore what others feel is successful and find my own success

• Bravery to dare to make dramatic changes in the path of my career that will also change my personal life…and vice versa

What are you hunting? And just like a lion on the Savannah, you may or may not find it, but you hunt regardless.

5. Group members (part of a pride)

6. Loners in the big scheme of things

The last two – being part of a group (i.e., a pride) and also being somewhat loners in the big scheme of things – let’s think about these together.

As a person who is seeking ways of staying positive, no matter how crazy things are around us, we need both to see ourselves as being part of a pride – a team – a family – a group – an association – a community – or whatever you might call it. We have to deliberately assemble our group – small or large – that will assist us in our – if I can use this word – survival. Lions aren’t part of prides for no reason. There’s a reason. You need a “pride” of your own if you are to “survive” in your positive place.

And, here’s the other part (at least as my little brain considers this), we are also loners in the bigger scheme of things. What I mean by that is, just as lions are not hanging out with all the other animals but rather hang out – sometimes completely alone – but certainly mostly just with a few other lions, we also may need to separate ourselves sometimes.

1. Significant other. Do you have a significant other and if so, is he/she a part of your team? If you don’t have a significant other, you don’t necessarily need to go get one (ha!), however, if you DO have one, then you want to enlist his/her support. You might just need to ask or you might need some serious conversations around this topic.       

2. Accountant. Maybe you only need this person for a few hours a year, but it’s worth knowing you have one on your team. Be sure to find out whether the accountant is knowledgeable in the area of small business; just because someone can do your personal taxes does not mean that he/she is able to advise you on your entrepreneurial efforts.       

3. Legal advisor. If you had to call an attorney, do you have one on your team or would you be frantically hunting through the yellow pages? Ask friend and colleagues for recommendations, if you don’t already have someone lined up.       

4. Coach. Hire a life coach. This person is always in your corner and will push and challenge you in ways that you can’t push and challenge yourself.       

5. MasterMind group or accountability partners. Do you have one or two trusted people with whom you can think great thoughts, plan big dreams, explore fabulous ideas?       

6. Friend(s). You don’t need thousands, but you need at least one real friend on your team.       

7. Assistant or virtual assistant. For even a few hours each week or month, is there an assistant you can call on to come to your aid (either in person or “virtually”)? There are a multitude of resources on the internet related to virtual assistants (including http://ivaa.org - The International Virtual Assistants Association) where you can learn more.       

8. Someone you can call on quickly for work-related items. In a crunch, you have someone you can depend on for answers, help, listening, or whatever else you might need.       

9. Someone you can call on quickly for family-related issues. Whatever family issues you are part of (parent, child, caregiver, pet owner, or all of these), do you have a person who can lend a hand, an ear, or a shoulder when you need it? In some cases you should pay for this assistance. Your helper will be more likely to say “yes” in the future if s/he was paid last time you needed help.       

10. Computer guru. In today’s world, if your computer hardware or software isn’t working, you are in big, BIG trouble. You need to have someone (a professional) on your team. It’s worth what you pay to have someone who is ready, willing, and able to help in a crisis (be it a crisis or a CRISIS). In the last year, I’ve been using a virtual service to assist with my hardware repair and it’s been fabulous! Even though they are located right in town where I live, they just ‘remote’ in to my computer and we’re set!

Just consider adding one of these that you currently don’t have, and see the difference it makes.

Become more entrepreneurial regardless of the type of work you’re in. Being an entrepreneur means you are looking for control, challenge, and opportunity–and that can happen in ANY position.

If you want to have support in your entrepreneurial endeavors, you can join Meggin’s Life of E’s program (http://www.LifeofEs.com) You may also want to join others (worldwide) who receive Meggin’s weekly emails (and see what is available for download at no cost at the following website):

**Top Ten Productivity Tips (http://TopTenProductivityTips.com)

(c) 2008 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do. Sound interesting? It is!

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