Being a boss is more than having the top position or just earning more. Being a boss means being excellent at whatever one undertakes, be it money, leadership, and influence. 

According to Jessica Moodley, author and philosopher, being a boss is more of being an example and servant, rather than being bossy, yet in one way or another, it gets you more respected and fit for your position than ever, instead of getting you to be looked down upon like many would think.

It is true that many people strive, rather crave, for the position, the respect, the title, whether that may be in the office, or in their own lives. Some go even to deadly ends or at the expense of others, just to have it. Why is it then, that only a few get to have it? Or is there a way one can truly have it?

Moodley argues that it all starts with a mindset. "If you want to be the boss, you need to act like one. There’s a need to stand out,” she writes.

Having the boss mentality means being one who is confident, leads and takes risks, and owns up the consequences. This mentality is not only for those in leadership positions, it is useful in other aspects of life as well. Be it at work, home, school, etc. It could be being the one who coordinates the team work or who cleans the blackboard for the whole class. It means taking the initiative and necessary steps to stand out.

The opposite of boss mentality is employee mentality. When you have this mentality, you limit what you can do. Employees seek to fill a pre-defined role, never overstepping. They wait and follow instructions and ask for permission. They never go the extra mile.

In Yameen Khurshid’s article on ‘boss is not a title, it’s a mindset’, it is written, "to be the boss, you must think like a boss. Even without the title, it is important to do so by focusing on leadership, growth and success.”

To beat the employee mentality, one has to put it in their habits and lifestyle to crush the status quo, the common. Khurshid notes that, the most successful people are successful because they stood out from the crowd, by doing things that nobody else had dared to do.

Again, what differentiates the average from the successful is that the latter accept their situation and control their reaction. It is impossible to fully control what happens in life, but surely you can control the way you react to it. 

There are those who look at life, act upon it unapologetically, own up their mistakes, without taking failure to heart and look for ways to better themselves continuously and positively. There are also those who demoralise themselves, shrink their dreams and minimise their imagination. One consciously chooses where to belong, in the everyday habits, lifestyle and mindsets they adopt.

The point of the boss mentality is to change the way you look at life. Move from just doing the bare minimum, never taking risks, expecting things from others, etc, to being in charge, doing everything ten times better than anyone else but most especially ‘yourself vs yourself’, killing excuses, taking every opportunity to improve, relying on yourself for results, and recognising your own efforts.