More Leadership With The Marines by Max Garcia

Now, we will talk about the different leadership characteristics and what they mean so you can begin to apply these with your motivational leadership style starting today.

If you are a leadership speaker these will make you look like gold if you mention them during your next speaking engagement. Most people are expecting a leadership speaker to talk about the same old things at training seminars. When you get up there and start talking leadership characteristics the Marine Corps way people will sit up straight and listen. Just posting these fourteen leadership traits up in the bathroom at work will inspire motivational leadership at the lowest levels. I know because I do exactly that at work. Guys need something to look at while they stand at the urinal why not something that will improve my company. Ok, lets get in right in to it.

1) Justice - this can have several meanings, you do justice not only by punishing or counseling those who do wrong to show that you mean business, you also do justice by making sure those who take care of you are recognized for their performance. This could mean an award, verbal comment, e mail, trophy, letter of appreciation, raise, gift certificate and the list goes on. I have pushed for people to lose a stripe and others to gain one in the same day. Your people must know that you will drop the hammer if you need to at anytime but they must also know you will take care of those who do right because you have their best interest at hear. That is motivational leadership.

2) The next leadership characteristic or trait is Judgement - this one is obvious you must be able to use good judgement on and off work. That means maybe not sleeping with any ones wife you work with, any of your subordinates or not getting too drunk and acting a fool at the company party. Of course there are many more examples too many to list, talking back, driving the company car recklessly ect.

3) Decisiveness - Any leadership speaker will tell you this....As a leader you must be able to make decisions with out wasting too much time. If you are a lower level manager and you don't have the guts to make a decision with out asking the boss first your people will ask another manager for guidance. It's that simple, you will lose credibility. If you are the big boss let those lower level leaders make decisions and support them on it (even if it is not what you would have done). It will pay off in the long run.

To be continued.....

Leadership With The Marines by Max Garcia

As a leadership speaker I always make it a point to teach the powerful leadership characteristics I have learned in the Marine Corps. If you are of a motivational leadership style you will enjoy learning and teaching these 14 leadership characteristics to your managers and subordinates alike.

The Marines call these leadership characteristics the 14 leadership traits, also known as JJ DID TIE BUCKLE (we will get to that in a minute). I learned these traits very early in my career as a young lance corporal age 19 (E-3) trying to pick up the prestigious Corporal. At the rank of Corporal you become a Non-Commissioned Officer with new leadership responsibilities. The rank is not easy to obtain or maintain. The lesson has served me very well as I firmly believe in a lead by example, motivational leadership style.

The fourteen leadership traits are as follows:

1)Justice
2)Judgement
3)Decisiveness
4)Initiative
5)Dependability
6)Tact
7)Integrity
8)Endurance
9)Bearing
10)Unselfishness
11)Courage
12)Knowledge
13)Loyalty
14)Enthusiasm

Notice the JJ DID TIE BUCKLE to help you remember them. If you are already practicing or teaching a motivational leadership style these will help you put a more definite name on what you already know. If you are just starting your career you will clearly be able to notice these leadership characteristics or lack of them in your co workers and managers. Keeping these in mind on a daily basis will also help prepare you to be a manager and eventually a leadership speaker.

The 14 leadership traits are somewhat self explanatory, especially if you are already a leadership speaker. We will discuss them more in depth next. For now become familiar with them and establish for yourself what you think each characteristic means.

Talk To Yourself by Max Garcia

You can talk yourself in to building self confidence. I know this seems pretty far out there and I just jumped right in to it on purpose. When it comes to personal confidence most of us become our own wost enemy. Rather than speaking and thinking the right things we are too busy thinking about the last time something didn't go right. Thinking about these things shapes our universe and our brain in to the wrong direction. Most of us are saying things like I hope my "date doesn't think I'm a geek", "I hope the boss doesn't hate me", "I don't think my co worker likes me", "I hope I don't fail the test". Saying things like this will surely not improve confidence. Even though you want the opposite to become true your brain and the universe do not know that. All your brain heres is "fail the test, I'm a geek, boss hate me". The same way your brain hears or heres as I wrote in the last paragraph.

If you want to improve confidence you must speak what you want to happen. Not sure where he got it from but Anthony Robbins said in one of his teachings "speak that which you wish to become true". This is great advice when it comes to building self confidence for any situation. When ever the big boss is coming to my company for the day the night before I build my personal confidence by saying things like "my boss loves me, John Smith loves what I have done with the company". "I can only do right in my bosses eyes". I actually say this several days before the big boss arrives. This greatly helps my personal confidence because saying those things causes my brain to lead me to do the things that will make my boss love me and my company. I also improve confidence in the rest of the company. When I tell them the big boss is coming I don't act in a panic, I tell them that it's no big deal because the big boss loves us and we are doing business the right way anyhow. If you are serious about building self confidence and want to eliminate all your fears be sure to contact me and ask about one of my personal coaching programs http://www.themaxgarcia.com/. Have a blessed day.

Break Your Fears by Max Garcia

Here's the deal, in order to improve confidence you must take steps to break your fears. Building self confidence is never easy but it can be easy for you. For most of us our personal confidence in many areas is damaged by something or series of things that has happened in our life.

For example I recently had a great real estate deal go very bad, and in the back of my mind I have been noticing my hesitancy and extra cautiousness to look at other deals. I also find myself doubting my knowledge of real estate. Before that I had personal confidence in my ability to pick out good deals. Some of you might have been made fun of, picked on, rejected and or treated cruely in school by other kids, teachers relatives ect. This will surely damage your personal confidence if you are not careful with the thoughts that go through your head. Things like this cause people massive fear of public speaking. People would rather fight a lion than speak in front of ten people. For others it may have been rejection by the opposite sex. All these programming factors happen in adulthood as well. Ok great Max, we get the idea of all the bad that goes through peoples heads, now how do we improve confidence?

When building Self Confidence you must face your fears head on to break them. If you are afraid of heights go skydiving, if you talk like a little mouse when you have to give a presentation at school or work take a class on public speaking and join toast masters. After that get a side job or volunteer for something where you will have to speak to people. If you are nervous about talking to the opposite sex do five minute dating and make it a point to start small talk with everyone you come in to contact with every day. Doing exactly what you are afraid of will surely improve confidence. You are not alone, everyone has room for building self confidence in some area of their life, I sure do! The question is are you going to do something about those areas in your life or let another five years pass by and remain the same with the same resutls. If you truly want positive change in every area of your life and are not afraid to now do what it takes to get there check out my DVD called have confidence on www.themaxgarcia.com. E mail me and let me know how it improves your life.

Louder is Better by Max Garcia

Now before you look at this title and think to yourself, "I cant stand loud annoying people", stay with me for a minute here. For those people looking to desperately improve confidence, talking a little louder is the way to go. We have all heard people talk who clearly have no personal confidence what so ever. We hear them talk in such a wimpy voice that the other person has to struggle to hear them. What usually happens to those people in any situation?

That's right, they get eaten alive. People walk all over them knowing that if they can't even speak up enough in general conversation they will surely not be able to speak up for themselves during confrontation. This especially happens at work or school. If you are in the process of building self confidence pay attention to yourself the next time you do something as simple as giving your order for dinner or calling about a bill dispute. You will notice if you are a little louder people will generally give you more respect thinking that you have personal confidence.

Once again, I am not saying be one of those people that are annoying to call over the phone with their loud heeello or YEA! That will not serve you in business or any capacity. Just loud enough and clear enough that there is no doubt what you are saying or who you are saying it to. I tell my students that have a hard time with this to at least make an attempt to be more firm with their voice. Now ladies I don't mean a man voice just a firm one. Do this and you will improve confidence instantly for any situation.

Building self confidence is the seed for all your successes. When you have personal confidence, you will naturally get more dates, make more money, and live a happier life. Very seldom do ladies go for the shy guy standing in the corner talking to themselves. Ladies that improve confidence will turn more heads by the way they walk, dance, speak, stand ect. If you are like most people and still building self confidence check out my DVD called have confidence at www.themaxgarcia.com. Have a blessed day!

Know They are More Scared than You by Max Garcia

I recently attended a celebration of the Marine Corps Birthday. Somehow during conversation the subject of personal confidence and people approaching strangers came up. Oh, I remember now...I had a couple VIPs as my guest and at first only a few people approached and asked us for pictures. The VIPs and my wife were wondering why? I instantly said people were still building self confidence with a couple drinks to walk over. I told the VIPs and my wife that they were intimidating to the personal confidence of others. Of course I got the crazy look. So I went on to explain that despite the appearance of most people, they severely need to improve confidence. For most people this comes from previous programming. Everyone has things happen during their lifetime (usually childhood) that wound their personal confidence. The sad part is that people neglect to improve confidence despite their major accomplishments in life. I told the VIPs that people were in the process of debating and building self confidence in their own minds and that we should probably break up our little circle and move around to make us more approachable.


Most people will not feel comfortable approaching a group of due to the fear of being rejected and or humiliated, especially alone. If a guy walks past a group of girls and hears a few of them laugh what is the first thing that goes through the guy's mind? You guessed it! ARE THEY LAUGHING AT ME??? Folks, if this is you start building self confidence today! Do what ever you need to improve confidence. I have lots of free things on my web site www.themaxgarcia.com to help you get started.

Higher Self Esteem Through Better Posture by Max Garcia

It probably has never occurred to you that you could improve confidence through your body posture. When building self confidence just making some simple body changes will create dramatic results. Most people want to improve confidence but most people don't actually take action to do so.

When trying to improve confidence instantly on the spot (say on a date, job interview ect) follow these rules for your body. First do not play with your feet by rubbing your shoes on the ground, lightly kicking something or anything similar (no cracking knuckles, tapping fist in to your palm ect). These will only hurt personal confidence despite what ever you think about biting your nails ect. Those things may have helped your personal confidence as a kid because someone else did it but you are well past that now.

Instead, when building self confidence practice planting both feet shoulder width apart equal weight on each leg. You want to be as tall as possible. Raise your chin to the point where you are almost looking at the ceiling. Smile as often as possible, smile like you know something great that no one else knows. This will telegraph to others that you have something great going on in your life and you will naturally improve personal confidence. Make it a point to stop dragging your arms along and instead exaggerate swinging your arms in a powerful manner. This will make you look and feel unstoppable.

Remember, building self confidence is easy for anyone if you just know what to do. Like I said, most people want to improve confidence but most do nothing. I'll give it to you straight, no salt or lemon. If you are really serious about feeling better about yourself take a leap of faith and purchase my download called "have confidence" at http://www.themaxgarcia.com/ . It has many tactics that you can start using today. Or you can just continue down the same path you have been on since childhood. The choice is yours.