Are you living in a prison? Even if you’ve never been convicted of any crime, and if you are living a free life of your own on your own, you may still be living a prison. It is an invisible prison that your mind sets up for you. It binds you to a life that you are not satisfied with, or have troubles and strife with, but are unwilling to escape. You stay a prisoner, when the key is in your hand and the door is even open. You choose to remain confined, because you fear the escape more than you dislike staying there. Yes, life is full of risks, but which life would you rather live — the life of wishing things were different or the life of making them different and living life up to your potential or as you desire?
Leaders are not prisoners. Leaders do what needs to be done to make progress towards a desired end goal. A leader does not need to be in charge of an army, or be the CEO of some company, or even be the captain of some team. A leader can be a teenager who cannot afford college but makes it happen somehow instead of saying that it’s impossible. A leader is a person who not only has a dream, but takes action to make that dream happen. A leader does not give up when many obstacles are in the way of achieving a goal, but rather thinks, “How can this obstacle make me a better person, what can I learn from it, and how can I work around this obstacle to still reach my goal?” The mind of a leader has no boundaries, no chains to keep them from reaching their potential. It may take a lifetime for a leader to reach a final dream, but they will never stop striving to reach it, and will make many contributions along the way, even if it is to only inspire others to also be leaders.
Even if a person actually is in prison, or has been in prison, their mind, their outlook, and their attitude can never be imprisoned by someone else. Some of the best works written were written inside prison walls. Everyone is their own guard keeper. Everyone decides for themselves if they will choose to be imprisoned by their fears or disbelief in themselves, their lack of motivation to follow a dream, their lack of action to reach a goal, or if they will set themselves free to consistently take steps to achieve their potential improved situation for themselves, their families, or even the world.