Are your kids proud of you?

From a passenger ship, everyone can see a bearded man on a small island desperately waving his hands, seemingly shouting.

“Who is that man, and why is he so upset?” a passenger asks the captain.

“I’ve no idea,” the captain replied, “But every year when we pass by, he goes crazy.”

How could people miss the obvious? It’s mind-boggling, amazing even. I don’t get it.

Here is my observation.

If you want to be successful, hang around successful people.

If you want to build a business with leaders, be a great leader.

If you want to marry the right person, be the right person.

If you want to have joy in your life, be a joyful person.

If you want to experience a loving relationship, be a loving person.

You always attract what you are.

Now look at all these from the other side.

If you constantly have friends who are negative, if your spouse does not support you, and if you find that things always seem to go wrong with what you do and who you do it with, then may I make a suggestion? You may want to take a long and hard look at yourself in the mirror. I do a two-day workshop seminar on leadership which starts around nine in the morning and ends around five in the afternoon. The program is strenuous, and more often than not, it drains me. But I love doing the program because over the years I have seen its visible, positive change results on the participants. They’ve told me about it, they’ve emailed me about it, and they’ve Facebook-ed me about it as well.

Let me ask you then: As a leader, are you proud to be one? More important, as a leader, do you get the respect of your people?

First things first. If you are not proud of who you are and what you are doing, how would you ever earn the respect of your people? It just won’t happen. Ever heard of the saying, “It takes one to know one?” It takes a leader to recognize a leader.

I tell high school kids all the time that if they are serious and mature, they will attract people of the same disposition. If they are reckless, negligent and irresponsible, they will attract losers. If they are a flirt, they will attract sex maniacs. It’s the same with you and me - we always attract what we are. So rather than complaining about other people, you just may want to start with working on you! Once the “you” begin to change, the whole world changes with you.

Business philosopher Jim Rohn said many years ago, “Your success in life has very little to do with the economy. Your success in life has everything to do with your philosophy. And if this is so, you better work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” Rohn’s words never left me.

And then an amazing thing happened. I found myself constantly in the company of achievers. I found myself attending world-class seminars. I found myself able to help others succeed too. And the biggest benefit thus far is that I can see my kids proud of their dad as he helps them in their journey of self-development as well.

God does not invent junk; human beings make junk out of themselves. So here’s a question for you to think through: The moment your kids’ classmates get to know who you are and what you do, would that make your kids proud?

(I’d love to hear from you! Click on to www.franciskong.com to send me your feedback. For more tips on business, career and life, listen to my radio program “Business Matters” aired at 8 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, over the classical music station, 98.7 dzFE-FM ‘The Master’s Touch’.)