If you are reading this, chances are you are not a natural born leader. Most natural born leaders know they are leaders and have what it takes and don’t need to read an article on leadership, and probably won’t. It’s already in their personality.

So, if you’re not a natural born leader how do you know if you have what it takes to be a good leader? Leadership can be taught. Trust me. I’m not a natural born leader, I’ve had to learn what it means to be a leader and I’ve had to grow in some areas so that those things are natural for me now. If I can do it, so can you.

I’m going to show you some of the things I’ve done to increase my leadership ability. These things do take time, effort and even some money. I believe there is no better investment than helping others. When you are in a leadership position that is what you should be doing, helping others. If you are going into leadership for any other reason, say for the glory, credit or recognition, then you are going in for the wrong reason. In addition, you probably won’t be a leader very long if you are in it only for yourself.

The first thing you should do is examine yourself. Ask yourself some questions like:

• What areas am I strong in? Am I naturally social or am I more reserved and shy? If you are naturally social, then you won’t have a problem talking to people. However if you are naturally shy, then you will need to work on this. I recommend you take some classes or read some books on growing your self confidence.

• Am I organized and do I know how to prioritize my time? If you aren’t a naturally organized person, practice being organized. How do you do that? Watch some TV shows on organization or get some DVD’s that teach you how to organize. You can learn to be organized. If you’re horrible at prioritizing your time, you can learn that too. Take some time management classes or have your up line teach you!

• Am I an available leader? Will I make time for my clients and recruits? Or do I get annoyed if they call at an unscheduled time with an urgent matter or emergency? Your recruit might be in the middle of a class and need an answer to a question right away that may make or break a sale. How will you handle that? You will need patience and understanding. Yes, you can learn to be patient, but you have to practice patience to learn it.

• How’s my attitude? Am I haughty or do I have a better than thou attitude? Or do I know that I make mistakes and so does everyone else? Do I quickly learn from my mistakes or do I let them get me down? If you allow your mistakes or the mistakes of others for that matter, bring you down and you have a defeatist attitude all the time, you won’t be a successful leader. There will always be someone somewhere that is going to point out your mistakes. It’s best to get over it, learn from it and move on. Don’t let a mistake stop you from reaching your goals.

Good leadership takes patience, strength, perseverance and a good attitude. When you have all of those traits combined you have what it takes to be a good leader. These tips, coupled with the reading of books on leadership and/or attending a leadership conference or workshop, you too can learn to be a good leader.