The first thing to keep in mind is to not give up; self-improvement always pays off in the end as long as you stick to your guns and get the desired results you'll be fine. The other thing is you need to have someone else checking your progress. An independent evaluator makes sure that you are not cheating yourself of your development. Although it is sometimes healthy to be competitive in terms of achieving goals, there would always be times when people will get tired of running after so many things because they don t want other people to finish before they do. More often than not, people who compare themselves with others are the ones who are left behind without anything because they spend too much time thinking how they could outlast the other person, thus, neglecting his or her own priorities. The Japanese have a saying that the nail that stands out is going to be hammered. He problem is that sometimes that nail is standing out for a reason. Leadership development, at its heart, is all about finding the nails that need to be hammered and that don't. So what does leadership development mean actually? Character and integrity The 90s had produced some of the most blatant corporate arrogance among executives of certain huge corporations. (Think Enron and WorldCom.) This had triggered and accelerated sentiments among governing board members of companies that character and values shall be made more prominent in the leadership business. Meaningful integration They contend that there should be an array of developmental experiences to be designed and implemented that should be meaningfully integrated with one another. These efforts must also be ongoing and not just a single program or a one-time event. Ideally, leadership development within organizations should aim in linking a variety of developmental practices (including the work itself) and those of the other HR systems and strategies. In developing individual leaders, traditional approaches are usually used. These usually focus on targeting the individual s leadership abilities as well as assessing the attitudes of individuals when it comes to leading other people or an organization. Experts say that leadership may be innate to some people but if not recognized early and not nurtured properly, the effectiveness of his or her ability to lead may decrease over a period of time.