It Builds Character
I first became attracted to leadership when I discovered John Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.
One day in high school, I decided to purchase the book with the entirety of a gift card. That’s where my interest in leadership began.
Since reading that book, I can see that my life took its course around this fascinating topic. I studied business with the hopes of becoming a leader in the corporate world. My Catholic faith impacted my life in university and that changed my career trajectory. Now I am working within a faith and leadership-oriented movement across Canada. I’ve also coached swim teams, was a teaching assistant to some finances courses, and participated in competitive sports. Leadership followed me through different coaching, mentoring, and teaching initiatives.
It’s neat because we all have different strengths and areas of talent. I think about my family for instance. For me, I would say leadership would be one of my strongest gifts. My brother Kenton is gifted with do-it-yourself projects and hands-on work. My sister Emily is talented with teaching and cooking. My youngest sister Andrea has the most beautiful voice in the family and almost always beats us at any card game. My Mom has a creative flare with her art projects and my Dad was an entrepreneur in starting up a few businesses.
Now my father passed away from a bad accident last year. It was horribly tragic.
I reflected on many things because of this experience. One of which is that we should make the most out of our lives and share our gifts.
My Dad was a man of many talents. He was particularly good at writing. He ran a few businesses and was a swimming coach. He excelled at training in his professional life. The apple doesn’t fall from the tree they say. In seeing life flash by unexpectedly, I developed a strong desire not to let my talents go to waste. And so I began my quest to launch a leadership blog.
My Dad believed in virtue and he believed in building good character. I remember moments when I would not want to wash the dishes. I can remember him say, ‘It builds character.’ I remember another time I did not want to bike in the rain. I can remember him say, ‘It builds character.’ Even to this day I can still hear him repeatedly say, ‘It builds character.’
As I bridge my love for leadership and virtue, I present to you this leadership blog. I dedicate this site to my Dad, Tom Anzai.
It’s called Lead Your Life. It’s based on developing virtue in our lives and on building character. Leadership starts with ourselves first.
While I admit to practising a life of virtue, I realise how much I still have to grow. I am not a leadership expert nor do I intend to reveal groundbreaking posts. I am an ordinary person hoping to shine light on the goodness and greatness of a virtuous life. So take these posts for what they are. May they inspire us to build character.
Welcome to my passion project, Lead Your Life.
4 thoughts on “It Builds Character”
Thank you for your words Trevor. I just stumbled across your posts, and I was not aware that your father had passed away. I’m sorry for your family’s loss. I knew your dad, his older brother Doug, and his sister Linda when they lived across from my family on Bellevue Street in Peterborough. I considered your aunt to be one of my closest childhood friends prior to the family moving toOttawa. We later encountered your family in the swim world; my son Tony Liew, and daughter Kieran competed with members of your team on many occasions. Ironically, your family introduced me to swimming, and my love of swimming was passed on to my own children. God bless you on your leadership journey.
Hi Gayelyn, thank you for commenting. Thank you as well for your kind words. My Dad taught me a lot about leadership and this blog is dedicated to him. I hope that you can learn something from my posts!
I really enjoyed reading your blog, it is down to earth with a Catholic tone and it triggered many thoughts within me when I read it. I was reading it backwards from “5 functions of a strong team”. I wish I did more planning on my life when I was younger, I wish I spent more time on developing my faith/relationship with Jesus. Looking back, I wasted a lot of time on unimportant things instead of learning/practicing good virtues that build good characters …
Knowing that Jesus is kind and merciful, I pray that your family will reunite with each other again in Heaven.
Hi David, thank you for your comment. I am glad you enjoyed reading the blog. Don’t look back at the past and regret what you did or didn’t do. Always look forward! Ever forward, never backward – as a good friend of mine would say. Your words are kind. I hope that you learned a little something to put virtue into practice. I don’t consider myself an expert, just a student of leadership. So take these posts for what they are. Blessings to you and your family!