Years ago, I had the opportunity to lead a women’s group at company I was working for. Part of my responsibility was to pick a theme for the year and then pick three areas to focus on, based on that theme, throughout the year. The theme for me was easy. I loved the topic of leadership and knew I wanted that to be our focus for the year, but when it came to picking my focus areas, I struggled to figure out where to start. Luckily, I had a great mentor at the time who suggested we start by focusing on how to lead yourself. He explained to me that in order to be a great leader, one must first be able to lead themselves. As I dove deeper into the topic I realized how important this concept really is and I continue to believe this is a crucial foundation for leadership success.
So, what does leading yourself really mean? I’ve done a lot of research on the topic and what I have discovered is that it could mean a lot of different things, depending on who you ask. So today I am sharing with you what I think it takes to lead yourself and some tips for how get even better at leading yourself.
- To lead yourself you must get to know yourself. Knowing yourself, your values, your purpose, what you like, what you don’t like, your strength and your weaknesses. Understand your underlying beliefs and behaviors. When you know yourself, you can better understand why you show up at work the way you do and you can utilize your strengths to your advantage. To get to know yourself better, spend some time reflecting on what is important to you and understanding your own story. Journaling is a great way to jumpstart your self-reflection journey.
- To lead yourself you have to take care of yourself. Leaders often think that they have to work harder and longer than anyone else in order to be successful. They wear the title “workaholic” like a badge of honor and drive themselves to the brink of exhaustion. I am here to tell you that working yourself to the point of exhaustion is not the path to great leadership. In order to be a great leader, you have to be seen as capable of handling the role. If you are constantly working yourself sick, people will notice and your credibility as a leader will suffer. Start making self-care a priority, you can’t pour from an empty cup! Set boundaries for yourself and put time on your calendar to relax and recharge, it doesn’t have to be meditation or yoga, it just has to be something that allows you to recharge your batteries.
- To lead yourself you have to invest in yourself. Don’t wait for your boss or your organization to develop your skills as a leader, take charge of your own development and be a continuous learner. Take a look at where you want and/or need to develop and invest in your own learning. Look at your goals, what it’s going to take you to get there and then take action. You are in charge of your own development!
- To lead yourself you have to hold yourself accountable. If you constantly break promises to yourself, you are not leading yourself. Accountability means you accept responsibility for your actions. To hold yourself accountable, start taking full ownership of your actions and accepting personal responsibility to get things done. Stop playing the blame game and start looking for ways to solve any problems that may arise.
Leading yourself really is the foundation for leadership success. The better you can lead yourself, the more others will see you as a leader of others and the it increases the impact that you can have on your team and in your organization. What does leading yourself look like for you?
