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
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
To be honest, there are a couple of times I felt I am doing extremely well in terms of my skillset. But it's when I started interacting with a lot many people, I understood how less of the skillset I possess. So for that, I started and always will interact with people. That would help me measure my knowledge and provide me the push to upskill.
@wishfulMoment42
That must have taken a lot of reflection to some up with, great in depth answer! ♥️
@wishfulMoment42
Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in
For me it was consistency, as a person I'm a little all over the place and this can be great when I'm doing 100% for ages but not so great when I'm putting in the minimal 5% because I've lost interest.
one thing you will do to improve?
I am going to try and create a schedule so can remain more consistent with my tasks the amount of effort that goes in and when I do them.
@Azalea98 Interesting! Like this perspective :) you've got this
@Heather225
. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
confidence with myself- I should accept and be comfortable with who I am and enhance this aspect instead of hiding myself and increase unnecessary fears within me. I should love who I am and my uniqueness ♡
@Dazzle28purvi
I agree with your point. Keep it up ❤
@Dazzle28purvi
I like your perspective!
it hard some times to accept you for. Who you are. Good luck. With making this happen@Dazzle28purvi
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
empathy - moderate the tone I use when talking to people, especially if they are hurting or if I don't like what they are saying.
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
With regard to self-awareness, one thing I can improve on is assertiveness. I can be quite assertive, but the leadership individuals I have met while lacking in empathy, are able to invoke a sense of urgency in their workers. I would not want to foster fear in others, but respect.
Assertiveness could be the balanced space between �aggression and empathy, where respect could be made. �
@JoeyTribbbiani
I agree that assertiveness could be the balanced space between aggression and empathy. Thanks for sharing.
@JoeyTribbbiani
Great point Joey! Agreed it should be balance yet not an easy thing in practice
@JoeyTribbbiani
I struggle to be assertive out of fear of hurting others. It's hard to find the fine line between being considerate but firm.
@JoeyTribbbiani
I think it is wonderful you want to work on your assertiveness :) I also chose a similar aspect to work on - my boundaries.
I appreciated how you explained your goals and how you wished to achieve it. Seems like you have a solid plan ahead!
I wish you the best on your LDP Journey!
@JoeyTribbbiani
Thats a good answer, asertivness i didnt even think off ;)
Great reply!
@JoeyTribbbiani awesome answer!
@JoeyTribbbiani
Thank you for sharing!
Good Job on the description!
Thank you🙈🙈
@JoeyTribbbiani
I can feel that you really want to improve. I support you!
Thank you🙈🙈
@JoeyTribbbiani
I agree with not fostering fear but respect, well said!
@JoeyTribbbiani awesome!
@JoeyTribbbiani
I really like your answer, you are doing it incredible
@JoeyTribbbiani
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?
Indecisiveness: At times, I find it difficult to decide on even simpler things in life. For instance, choosing a theme for my presentation - takes me longer than usual to decide on. Although I love variety in everything maybe this is what makes it difficult for me to choose from so many options.
I am working on being able to be more decisive by not overthinking before making any decision. (No matter how small)
2. Please reply to 3 of your peers in this thread!
Done!
@lyricalAngel70
i like that idea. I struggle with being indecisive and second guessing my decision. You got this! :-)
@Containedchaos
Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. I know it is so difficult. 😓
How do you manage it?
@lyricalAngel70
Haha, I want to say I do not. It is a conscious decision everyday to just stop, breathe and no answer is wrong, it is okay to have an opinion.
Lovely response. ❤
I agree that it is okay to not have an answer at times. Life is too short to ponder over things that we can't control. I believe it is best to leave it as it is if you are not able to change it
@lyricalAngel70
I can relate. Indecisiveness is an issue for me too.
@cuteOrange213
Oh, I am so sorry 😐
I can understand how difficult it must be for you
@lyricalAngel70
Well done notticing that you need to be more decisive. Wish you the best of luck with that ;)
@Fergie12299
Thank you so much. I wish you a great year ahead. ❤
@lyricalAngel70
Great Response!
@kieran000
Thank you 💜
Have a great year ahead ❤
@lyricalAngel70 great answers!
@optimisticDay8079
Thank you. 
@lyricalAngel70
Agreed, I do the same thing!
I love the color!
@AdylynS
Likewise. ❤
Thanks a lot. ❤
@lyricalAngel70
Thank you for the thoughtful post. I enojoyed reading it.
@UnicornsCottonCandy
Thanks for reading & your valuable feedback ❤
@lyricalAngel70
great response!
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
Stick to a priority scale. I have my priority scale set, but I have a tendency to do what I enjoy first. It's only luck when the higher priority is also what I enjoy doing.
@ouiCherie
That is something I also need to improve. :-)
@Containedchaos
hahaa hi5! ❤
@ouiCherie
Missed to answer what I will do to improve the above, so here you go:
⭐︎ Daily plan - do - act - assess and repeat using agenda
⭐︎ Always...always check my agenda during the day
@ouiCherie Interesting point. We need to sometimes separate what we truly need, from what we desire/find-enjoyable at the time.
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I would like to be better at having crucial conversations. I would avoid them, but now I need to be better with timing and understanding when they need to happen and when it is best to let the issue go. I think talking to my mentor, my listener, or at work talking to my supervisor to talk the situation through.
@Containedchaos
That's such an important thing! I really liked the clarity of how you were going to work on it as well. Best of luck <3
@Containedchaos
Crucial conversations are a great skill to improve on. 
@Containedchaos
I think this is a good step for me to take as well. I feel like I don't stand up for myself enough but it's hard to figure out when it is necessary for me to have such conversations.
@Containedchaos
I also feel vulnerable to the area of improvement you mentioned. Thank you for reminding me! Love your post.
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
One area where I scored low is confidence. I don't really find myself confident doing things sometimes and I really need to work on it. In order to improve, I can try to think in a positive way and trust myself more.
@sia1325
Confidence is such a tricky thing, I know I haven't managed it. Best of luck in your journey! <3
I totally. Get since I am the same way .@sia1325
@sia1325
Confidence is definitely important. Good luck!
@sia1325
Confidence is always right up there with where we can all improve. You are not alone ;)
@sia1325
Self doubt and lack of confidence can be surely deterring as a leader, good thing is most of us experience it and can work on bettering this skill . Yayy , to keep on growing ❤
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
Decision making most definitely, I really struggle with that. I think that practice in various different ways is a good way for me to go about it. I need to test out new processes to see what sits with me best and what seems the most useful to have as a tool, or if there are different ways I can go about things for different situations.
That is a tough. One to get right but I know you would get it one day .@GlitteringNights