A leader can emerge from the darkest ebb.

Beginning a journey in the gloom of life is daunting, especially under the weight of the countless decisions that must be made. Those choices begin with the quality of the environment surrounding both the decisions and you. It can feel as though you must claw your way out of the very conditions that shaped you. Be mindful of where you are, and of the obstacles and societal forces that resist every effort to move around or overcome them. Do not fear making decisions, and do not fail to make them. Venturing forward is a necessary task, because you have an appointment with destiny.

1. Understand Yourself

Determining what kind of leader you are becoming will help guide your undertaking. Time and lived experience are essential. Without them, we tend toward flippancy and quick judgment of other people's lives and circumstances. The lens through which we view life can become clouded and one dimensional, reflecting only a single perspective.

2. The Decision to Advance

Whatever your circumstances, you must decide to move forward. At times it will feel less like venturing and more like edging toward the light. Find a focal point that lifts you mentally and creates an internal drive toward the light you have prepared for yourself. That focus becomes the fuel to push past every obstacle and hindrance on the journey.

3. Take Ownership of Your Advancement

We live in an age where few adults admit to their mistakes. Taking ownership of errors deepens the introspection and self healing that leaders must embrace, because leadership requires a great deal of honest reflection.

4. Beware of Assumptions

Imagination runs wild. In some cultures it is second nature to assume the best or the worst and run with it, and rumor and embellishment become expected. But other people's lives are theirs, not yours to interpret or manipulate. This becomes especially serious for those in the public eye, as onlookers project their own desires onto the lives of the people they admire, never realizing what those individuals had to overcome to reach their success.

5. Embrace Transitions

Many of us neither notice nor resist the seasonal changes that move us from one chapter of life to another. Transition, by definition, means progression, shift, evolution, growth. I have often shared with friends how much I dislike life's transitions. I do not mind the growth itself, but growth happens outside my control, and so does seasonal change. Sometimes a move to a new, larger environment is necessary, and transplanting from one place to another can be its own kind of trauma.

6. Bring the Vision to Life

The intangible is what you see when nothing yet exists, the figment of imagination. Visions are dreams. Some appear in daydreams, and others arise from invention or inspiration. An objective is too small if it does not frighten the one pursuing it. A vision means little unless the willingness to take a chance becomes central to advancing it.

7. Take a Risk

Leap, and the net will appear. Early on, carrying too many people on the journey will prove too heavy for a fledgling idea. Get things off the ground first, then bring others in. You may be called crazy. Proceed anyway.

8. Build Resilience

The ability to bounce back is essential to any growth process. Remaining pliable allows you to yield so that progress can occur. Emerging from a tenacious growth structure builds understanding toward employees and customers alike. Often, by the time we become leaders, we have already been shaped by the very elements that formed us, and most of us have developed the ability to rebound from difficult circumstances.

9. Partner Wisely

When you find trusted help, you share the burden, reduce stress, and protect your health. Exponential progress happens when numbers combine and move in unison. Developing a vision alone with God is vital. It took me nearly eight years to bring mine to the forefront, and learning to safeguard ideas through the proper legal channels is part of the work. The old adage holds: two heads are better than one.

Do not fear making decisions, and do not fail to make them. You have an appointment with destiny.