Join me on the Fast Track to Grant Writer: www.teresahuff.com/vip Whether you think of yourself as a leader or not, you are. You impact and influence others whether you realize it or not.  We all feel the heat sometimes in this hectic world. Let’s glean some wisdom from someone who’s been in the trenches - literally. Today’s interview is with a former Green Beret, Otis McGregor, and it’s an honor to have him share his leadership and life lessons with us. Otis shares about learning how to grow as a leader, eliminating stress in your life, gaining positive structure for your day, and sharing the three aspects of trust that can make a huge difference in your success.   Lessons for Leaders from a Green Beret: Be clear in communicating to others what needs to be done. Clearly express how to do it, why it’s important, and how it fits into the bigger picture. When seeking out wisdom about how to grow as a leader, don’t pigeonhole yourself into only learning from people within your line of work. Great leadership skills and techniques can be learned from people in all different fields, implementing their tips and tricks into your wheelhouse. Accountability partners help keep you on track. When trying to make a large change, implement smaller increments of change at a time. This makes it easier to achieve the smaller goals. For example, say you want to start getting up early to exercise. When you get up at 6am normally, instead of jumping right to setting that alarm for 4am, start with 5:45am for a week, then 5:30am, and so on. Take smaller steps to make a long lasting, larger change.   Tips to Eliminate Stress and Handle Hard Situations: First things first, stop and assess the situation. When you realize you’re overwhelmed, slow down, take a breath, and write down all the things that you need to get done. Once you have this list, use the Eisenhower Decision Matrix to help you categorize and prioritize. Another tip to help eliminate stress is to shut off your electronics to avoid distractions, and just write down everything that’s been on your mind. Not with a goal to solve a problem or to create anything, but just to get everything out of your head. This can help us clear our minds and be more relaxed.    Break Your Day Up Into 3 Categories: Focus: This is a time in your day that is set apart to work on a specific thing or two that you want to handle and you do not allow people or things to sidetrack you. Do whatever you need to do to be unavailable to distractions. Flex: This is where a lot of us spend most of our time. This is where you’re working on different things for the day and you’re able to bounce around a bit more, allowing for interruptions or breaks.  Personal: This is the category a lot of us let be pushed under the rug when we’re stressed, but taking care of ourselves must be a priority. Have you ever heard the common phrase, “You can’t pour from an empty cup?” We can’t be our best selves when we’re drained. Take a walk, read a book, take a nap, spend time with friends, play an instrument, etc…whatever it is that helps you unwind and feel refreshed.    The Trust Triad As a leader it’s important to learn the power of the Trust Triad. The Trust Triad consists of three legs of trust: Trust yourself: Believe that the decisions you make, with the time available to you and the information at your disposal, are the best decisions that you can make. Trust your team: Believe they are capable of doing what they are here to do. The team must be able to trust you: They must believe that your decisions have the best interest of the organization in mind. Not yourself, not a specific person, not the money in your pocket, but the organization's success.  Strive to create strength in whatever area is lacking in the Trust Triad within your organization and see how much stronger you become.    Challenge Question: What lesson will you begin to implement right now to g