Course 4. Foundational Leadership Principles: (Discussion #3) Lead Yourself
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Great Leadership, unsurprisingly, starts with yourself!
Practice what you preach. Lead by example. I am sure all of you heard these phrases. But why are they so iconic?
Because the journey starts with the first step and you are the person who is taking the initiative to lead -- Start a journey! So, you are the one who needs to take the first step before expecting others to do it.
To start with leading yourself, close your eyes and visualize two people: someone who inspired and encouraged you to be like them, and someone who discouraged you to be not like them.
Then, write down the good qualities of the person who inspired you as well as the qualities of the second person. You do not have to be specific with the details. Just a bulleted list.
Now, compare the list to yourself. Note the good qualities you have, the bad qualities you have, and give yourself a rating on a scale of 1-10. What we just did is identified your strengths and weaknesses and what you need in order to lead yourself. This allows you to create self-awareness.
Self-awareness is key to leading yourself in the right direction. But, leading yourself is not easy. Just being self-aware isn't enough. It's igniting the spark but not enough to catch the fire. To catch the fire, you need to be persistent with your practice, which is regular reflection. Be consistent with monitoring your efforts and holding yourself accountable.
You can't effectively lead others until you know how to lead yourself. That happens through Self-Observant Leadership: when you deeply understand your identity, compare it to your reputation (how others experience you) and then make meaning of the observations, and choose to adapt.
Exercise:
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
2. Please reply to 3 of your peers in this thread!
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@Heather225
One thing I scored low on my self awareness check in was that I doubt myself till the last moment, no matter how good the presentation is or how good the plan is, there is always self doubt until and unless it's done.
@Moonlemon48
I will improve by reminding myself that it's okay to not be perfect all the time and you need to do is try your best.
@Moonlemon48
I really liked this post! I agree with you, it's okay not to be perfect all the time. I will admit, as a perfectionist myself, I can be too hard with myself if I don't do things perfectly, so this is also something I need to work on.
@Moonlemon48
I totally agree with you! For sure, it’s very important to be confident in your decisions. How could others be confident in you when you can’t even be confident in yourself?
@Heather225
Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I feel that I must improve on my decision making. I feel that I may have a difficult time making decisions, especially if both options seem appealing to me, or I take a very long time to make a decision. One thing I will do to improve is to make sure I don’t take so much time to make decisions. I find that one reason I do so is due to my perfectionist tendencies. Basically, I must think through decisions to make sure it is the perfect decision for me. Sometimes, however, there are no perfect decisions, so instead I must choose one that will most benefit me long term.
@kindFish9215
Making decisions can be real hard sometimes, I agree.
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I should go a little easy on myself. I am a huge perfectionist so I want everything to be spot-on, which is good but sometimes, when I fail to achieve it, I tend to doubt myself and my knowledge. I need to understand that everything can't be perfect and imperfections can be beautiful too.
@Textingpals
One thing I might do to improve is to try to let things be as they are. Not try to perfection-ate everything, because perfection is a facade.
@Textingpals
That's great, Texting. As long as your try your best, you are as close to perfect as you can get at that moment. Take what you can from the experience and let go of what can't be changed. It's all just tips for next time.
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I want to improve on my self worth .
I feel like I need to be proud of the small achievements that I make throughout the day and start by taking small steps towards appreciation.
@jersey123456
All your small achievements are just steps of your worth. You are great, and I really hope you will be able to see this more clearly as you grow ^^
@jersey123456
It is so important to be proud of even small achievements because in the end, the small achievements can amount to and lead to very big ones if you look at the bigger picture!
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
In the self-awareness check-in, the trait that stood out to me about the discouraging person is their doubt in others. Though this trait isn't one that I have towards others, this trait is one that I have towards myself. Even when I'm capable of doing something, I doubt my abilities, and even after I do the task, I end up doubting myself. This type of self-doubt only hinders me from leadership and is one I need to work on. I think I will keep a journal of encouragement for myself, from myself, to help with my self-doubt.
@LavenderFlower
ohhhhh, I agree with this one. Self-efficacy can be very important to motivate yourself toward your goals and achievements in life, so I definitely agree that self-doubt can be a road block for many people like you and me who strive to be leaders
@Heather225
Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I'd say delegating tasks equally as sometimes I can take on too much tasks myself for the sake of efficiency. I will try to listen to my team members, ask them for their opinions, and trust them to carry out the tasks efficiently instead of taking on everything myself.
@xinyii11
I replied to the same thing on your post in the last discussion, but I also do this as well. I need to learn to delegate tasks equally and be more upfront toward others when they are "slacking" instead of doing the task for them
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I think I need to work on being more understanding of others and patient. Though I do have a lot of compassion and empathy for others, I think I can improve really making an effort to understand someone else's position and be patient with them if they are struggling. This is to say I do this very well on 7Cups, but maybe not so much at work or in my personal life. I think I can grow these skills on 7Cups and definitely teach myself to use the same skills in other aspects of my life.
@mikacv Glad that you're trying to show compassion in real life like you do in 7 cups!
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I am sure it's the communication I'll like to improve
@DarkPiT23 You'll surely become a good communicator! Keep practising!
@Heather225 1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I always try not to take criticism personally. Even though I try to be self-aware of the situation, I sometimes fail to notice what I gain from the feedback. I will step back from the situation and calm down before blaming myself. It will help me embrace constructive criticism.
@hopezzy
I think as a leader, being open to feedback is really important because it can show us areas where we succeed, and also areas where we need to improve.
@hopezzy i love that <3 accepting constructive criticism and not taking it personally at all really takes time and work ! i used to be the exact same way, and sometimes, it still happens to me haha. i hope we can both work on this and i also hope that you achieve your goal ! :)
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
One area I scored low on my self-awareness was in productivity. One thing I will do to improve is start by making lists of things I need to accomplish in a day and try to stick to completing that list.
@Gnibellen making a list is great ! it really helps to remind you not to do too much or too little-- just those things that are on the list.
@Gnibellen that is a great way to track your progress.