When you hear the word “leadership”, what do you think of?
Perhaps your mind immediately jumped to CEO’s and other high-level business executives. Or maybe you thought of politicians, ministers, coaches, or restaurant managers.
For many of us, we associate leadership with the responsibility of guiding and directing a group of people. We often define leaders as individuals in positions of authority or those who have the largest groups of people working beneath them.
However, as renowned speaker and leadership expert, Simon Sinek, points out, “Leadership is a choice, not a rank.” True leaders are not necessarily the people with the fanciest titles or largest groups of subordinates. There are plenty of executives and coaches that are terrible leaders.
Truly successful leaders are those who empower and inspire those around them to grow and achieve. According to Forbes magazine, leadership is defined as “a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.”
How is this accomplished? SUCCESSFUL LEADERS LEAD BY EXAMPLE.
If you are not personally invested in your own growth and achievement, it will be impossible for you to lead others. Authentic leadership always begins with you. You must lead yourself before you can lead others.
Self-leadership is an inside-out approach to leadership. It is the way in which you manage and influence yourself to achieve your goals. Self-directed leadership means taking a good hard look at your own life, actions, challenges, and successes and making changes as needed to continue making forward progress.
Individuals who apply self-directed leadership implement and maintain the following practices:
- Self Awareness – You cannot lead yourself if you do not know yourself! We are all a complicated mix of strengths and weaknesses, and a healthy awareness of BOTH is essential for true success.
What are your strengths?
What are the talents that others often identify in you?
What are the passions and values that shape who you are?
What are your vices or weaknesses that often stand in the way of true progress?Know yourself, so you can plan for yourself! The greater your self-knowledge, the better you will be able to capitalize on your strengths, make up for your weaknesses, and lead yourself to success.
- Self Confidence
“Confidence equals security equals positive emotion equals better performance.”
– Tony Schwartz
Do you believe that you are capable of great success? Do you own your strengths and skills and strategically use them to help you achieve?
Confidence is critically important if you hope to make any forward progress towards your goals. You will only be able to achieve what you believe you are capable of achieving.
Self-confidence is NOT believing that you are perfectly talented, invincible, or have all the answers. Rather, it is the humble knowledge that despite your particular areas of weakness, you also possess strengths and passions that make you capable of success and achievement. You have what it takes.
According to Forbes magazine, all truly successful professionals maintain confidence in their own ability to succeed. It is this self-confidence that keeps you going despite setbacks or challenges.
- Avoid Excuses – Stop letting yourself off the hook!We’ve all done it. We’ve all found ourselves in tough situations where the magnitude of our goals seems overwhelming and our willpower and commitment are tested. These moments often leave us making excuses to avoid our work, especially when the work requires us to “stretch” beyond our comfort zone.
I’ll get to it later. I don’t have time right now.
It’s too expensive. I’ll work it into next month’s budget.
It’s only one (drink, cookie, hour of Netflix….you name it).Sound familiar? Excuses are easy to make. They roll off the tongue before you’ve even thought them through. However, excuses never exist alone. They nearly always snowball into something bigger.
Have you ever found yourself saying that you’re just going to watch one episode of your favorite show, and the next thing you know, you’ve spent 3 hours watching one episode after another? Or perhaps that one “treat” you allowed yourself after a long, hard day turned into a week of neglecting your healthy diet.
One excuse leads to another, and pretty soon all forward progress towards your goals has stalled. Self-directed leaders take ownership over their actions, maintain their commitments, and avoid making excuses.
- Regular Feedback – Self leaders reflect, reframe, and revise.
How often do you stop to evaluate your true progress toward achieving your goals? Are you utilizing your strengths effectively? What are the areas of improvement?Whether your goals are personal or professional, seeking consistent feedback and using that feedback productively to make positive changes in your practice is essential for overall success.Just because you’ve always done something a particular way, doesn’t mean it is the best way. If you never take time to reflect on your work or revise your practice, you may be wasting time, energy and resources inefficiently working towards your goals.
Self-leaders take ownership of their actions and processes by reflecting on their own progress and seeking feedback from other people. If you haven’t already, find a trusted friend, colleague, or coach who can serve as a consistent and supportive source of feedback for you as you work towards achieving your goals.
Think about your own life and progress towards your goals. Are you satisfied with the progress you’ve made? If not, ask yourself: Am I truly taking ownership of my progress? Do I choose intentionally and consistently to lead myself first? It’s time to STEP UP AND BE THE BOSS OF YOU!
For support in taking ownership of your life and growing as a self-directed leader, sign up HERE to schedule a call to discuss whether you are primed and ready for Strategic Vision Coaching work!
References:
https://www.selfleadership.com/what-is-self-leadership/
https://amyfranko.com/self-leadership-need/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leadership/#42167b235b90
https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2017/05/09/why-confidence-is-always-a-leaders-best-friend/#172f6e2247be
https://hbr.org/2011/04/how-to-build-confidence
