I have spent many years figuring out the anomaly in the human mind. One set of motivators might have no significance or relevance to the next person. Though we all want to have food, money, and sex fulfilled to provide for our basic needs, there is something else that our mind seeks. Our mind naturally seeks comfort, but the anomaly occurs when people push past comfort in hopes of having a more fulfilled life. In today’s blog, I will be breaking down the mindset of leaders and followers.

Whether you have a leader or a follower mindset will depend on your current mindset. The main factors will be your upbringing, and the second will be your outlook. The outlook factor is one of those randomized factors in life that can be adjusted with mindset coaching. However, many people will not choose to change their past circumstances and replace them with better circumstances. That has made me wonder why people are unwilling to go after more in their lives or change their trajectory. This is a rabbit hole I am prepared to go down, and I will go down it even more on the podcast, so make sure to watch the corresponding episode of this article.

I will not go into all the specific details as to why we do not go down a particular path in life because that would be a whole book. However, the simple answer to the question of what makes a mindset of a leader and follower is how we view negativity. This simple answer can change your mindset or keep you stagnant in life. Many people will not evolve their minds because they view negativity as a norm for them and tie attachments to that negativity. In the end, those negativities become their identity, their character. This means that many people will identify as a victim before becoming a victor.

Though these people might want to have wonderful things in life, they will self-sabotage their progress to remain in their old mindset. There is a way to get out of this way of thinking, but you will be looking at years of introspection and coaching to get ahold of a more aligned mindset. Typically, our minds attach a goal or desire to a thought and then apply action. However, in a follower’s mindset, the passion or belief becomes a good idea, and that idea stays an idea with no clear focus of completion. That vague way of looking at our life will lead us down the path to becoming a follower.

A follower will look to others to guide them in life. If you are a follower, it is not a bad thing; you just need to understand where your mind is and then make any adjustments on how you want to live life. There is no wrong way to live life per se, but there is a way to have more than what you have now. Followers will typically take what they are given, and they will not pursue more even though they want more. They consider themselves fortunate to some degree but yearn for more. This is the case for many followers, but not every one of them.

Some followers are simply looking for a community of like-minded people to build a sense of security. The lone wolf aspect doesn’t bode well with followers, so they will tend to congregate together, and the way they think will resonate with others which puts them in a trance-like state that will stop them from any change because the mind won’t treat these thoughts as a foreign entity. Those people will continue to allow limiting beliefs and a sense of camaraderie and justice to sway them to think in a mob-style mentality that takes away their true desires for a different mindset. On the other hand, a leader will not allow their mind to give up or be swayed by mere words of comfort.

The mindset of a leader will see negativity and looks for a solution to come out on top. This is one of the biggest reasons a leader is a leader and a follower is a follower. Followers will look for a way out but would rather have a leader guide them because it takes all the stress off their brains. The problem with this is that an incompetent leader can lead everyone off a cliff. Though the leader is trying to find a solution and has a plan and taking action, it doesn’t mean they will be able to get to the finish.

Sometimes, it can take many attempts or years for a leader-type mindset to get to a goal finally. That doesn’t mean they are incompetent, but it is a good indicator that the person has much more to learn and understand. Once you have someone who has had the many failures it requires to be a strong leader, then they will be able to lead a team with no falsehoods. That certainty that comes with this type of mindset does not happen overnight. It takes a considerable amount of effort and the relinquishing of comfort from the brain. Our mindset, in the end, will either lead us to victory or demise. 

Defeat is another one of those unknown factors that can become a reality. How we view failure will indicate how our mind is focused. If we have a defeat and say we lost the battle but not the war, then we will have a mindset more in line with a leader than if we had a defeat and walked around with our tail between our legs. There is a human reason we do this that goes beyond comfort: acceptance. If we cannot celebrate what we do, we are left to sit in despair and unhappiness. The brain likes to feel happy. It gives us a good feeling, and it is almost an addiction. So much of an obsession that we come up with plans and ideas that will get us or bring us more happiness.

The problem is that a follower’s mindset will not pursue a long-term plan. They want things easy and now. It is that sense of instant gratification instead of delayed gratification. A leader’s mindset knows that good things come in time, and if they can stay focused and accountable, they have a higher probability of success. In the end, that is what goal-related success is. We give ourselves a mission, and as long as we can remain optimistic, we increase the likelihood of success being realized. Though optimism if one of those things like motivation, it is a factor but not the sole factor as to why someone will succeed or be viewed as a leader or follower.

Over the years, I can tell you from working with many leader-type mindsets that they want to show up every day. The way they speak to themselves and others will be positive for the most part, and if it is not, it is due to another leader going against a current set of beliefs. We all have a sense of purpose and meaning in life, or we would like to think we do. If we didn’t, we would have no motivators to continue living life. It is a struggle each day if you think about what life is. You have to wake up, go to work, feed yourself, bathe, etc. There is a list of things that has to happen in our lives that we might not want to do. However, in the sense of mindset, a leader will do the things they do not want to do because they know on the other side lies the goal.

A leader-type mindset will take you places a follower-type mindset won’t be able to. Followers are stuck between belief and opinions, so they look for truth from someone else. If that truth is related or close to their own, they will co-mingle and form a team. This doesn’t have to be wrong, but many people have given up on critical thinking and left it up to others in recent years. That will lead many people down a road they will not recover from. It is said that our leaders cannot hold values that exemplify the characteristics of an upstanding society. If they did, we would not have to label people as followers or leaders.

In closing, no matter what type of mindset you have, you can have a good life. No one mindset will lead you to where you want to be, but there will be differences in how you get to your desired location depending on which mindset you gravitate more. If you wish to change your current mindset, you will be looking at years of transformation, but you can always seek help from a coach that will help you get there quicker. If you are trying to change your mindset without trauma, you must have complete faith in your coach and do what they recommend. If not, you will fall back into your old habits and routines, which can be a death sentence to your dreams. 

Which mindset do you have, and what are the pros and cons? If you can answer these questions honestly, you will be able to learn more about yourself than any test or horoscope result. Many of the answers you seek come from within first, and then you set out to find the missing pieces of the puzzle. A leader will want to complete their puzzle and fully control their destiny. A follower will sway from their destiny to chase to a degree because society told them that was the right thing to do. Make sure you are in the right state of mind when doing specific tasks and concluding decisions that will significantly impact your life. When it comes to your future and livelihood, choosing a leadership-type mindset will be the high road, but many challenges await, and equip yourself for whichever journey you embark on. 

 

Until then,

Michael Rearden

Founder of Reven Concepts