Know what you want to achieve. Make a list, if you wish, of the qualities you want to have as a strong business leader. Believing in yourself, knowing who you want to be, is key to success.

Take a moment today and make a list of both short term goals and long term goals.

Now take it a step further. Beyond knowing what you want to be, you have to know which actions will take you there. Your actions have to reflect your confidence in yourself. To become a strong leader, you have to know what kind of leader you want to be and then know how to achieve your ends…produce results…staying true to that idea.

By formally defining your goals and dreams, you are taking the initial steps in turning them into a reality.

After a brief thread of comments on Facebook between an old friend, Jennifer Oakes, she reminded me of a Stoic I studied for a Greek Mythology class once; Epictetus, who uttered his famous line “first say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do” in the first century BC, began his life as a Roman slave. But, that didn’t hinder him. He was determined to stand out from the crowd. He studied the Stoic philosophy and in a few years founded his own philosophical school in Greece, where he achieved fame. Epictetus believed that, despite adversity, you can be a master of your own life by harnessing strength of will and self-knowledge. Epictetus might very well have originated the familiar refrain we hear today: “Bite the bullet.” Regardless of how it’s said, you simply need to get the job done. Just do it.

Ask yourself: “What am I doing today that is creating my tomorrow and how can I make it better?”