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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1 self care
I need to work on is to recognize when I need self care when I am overwhelmed or Overstimulating. It seems like when things get that way it's hard for me to make my self do self care.
@Colorfulcatsofhope
I constantly forget that self care will improve my productivity and is an essential. Probably need to put it on my to do list.
@ColorfuldogsofParadise
Hey hope you're taking good care of yourself!
@Heather225
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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 is time management.
One thing that I have done recently to combat this issue is to write down checklists for the day so that I know exactly what to do and avoid procrastination
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@cuteOrange213
Writing down your daily tasks is a great way to get things done!
@cuteOrange213 Check-list sounds good idea.
@Heather225
I struggle with setting boundaries. I think the first step I can take is quantifying my work time better. I need to make it distinct from my personal life with alarms and reminders, make my laptop switch on and off automatically, etc. On a more emotional level, I need to be upfront with people when something triggers me and when I am not in a space to support them.
@jovialButterfly6752
It's hard for sure to say no to people when they want help but we are in need of a break ourselves. You can do it, taking care of you matters!
@jovialButterfly6752
I understand it can be hard to set clear boundaries at times, but good luck working on it!
@Heather225
I need to improve on my boundaries and how I set my boundaries with all types of relationships (my personal ones, my professional ones, etc.). I noticed in my self-awareness check-in that this is one thing I do not have proficiency in. I tend to either be too harsh, and be unyielding in my boundaries, or I have noticed I can go the opposite way and lose my self-care in exchange for being walked over by others. This is really important for me to develop for my own life as well as to develop to be the best leader possible.
@warmLove3625
Setting boundaries is a very important thing for both you and the other person
@warmLove3625 Oh, boundary setting is a tricky thing. I hope you will improve on it and find your balance.
Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I believe I need to show more confidence and to not worry as much about trying to keep everyone happy. It will never happen, I have to accept it that when I make a call then that is it, the decision has been made, it may not please everyone and I shouldn’t take it to heart when not everyone is pleased with my decision.
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I like procrastination and it makes me feel more stress than better. I will try to not overthink tasks in order to have less procrastination.
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
Decision making wasn't always my strong suit, I was always so indecisive and had a hard time making simple choices, I was overthinking every little thing. To improve, I will take things one step at a time and state the pros and cons of each situation. I will try to make decisions as quick as possible to avoid overthinking.
@BellatheHappyHelper
I can totally relate
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
Accepting: I sometimes put so much time wishing that people were different and had different attitudes, way of thinking and actions. I mostly spend a lot of time talking about how they could be better in certain aspects of their life.
I would like to start seeing every different person as an opportunity to understand how to deal with a challenge instead of wishing they were different. I want to be ok with our differences and remember that they see something in me that they don't like too.
@generousBreeze169 Totally relatable. Accepting others can be challenging but it's really worth it because we can see it as opportunity.
@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 could improve in self care , I could take a break on a day each week maybe to do this, since I'm on here a lot, I think improving on my self care would help me feel more ready for the day I would have ahead. It would also help me enjoy being on cups longer.
@kieran000
Certainly agreed upon and very relatable , it's important to balance our time and energy so that we dont feel exhausted even from something that used to make us feel good earlier. Great skill to improve upon . Best wishes ❤
@Heather225 Asking for help can be a hard thing for me, this is something I plan to work on.
@KristinHelps
I relate too ,Kris ! Asking for help can be very difficult even though we ourselves are always eager to help everyone hehe . It's great to ask for help though, we can't do everything alone , and certainly some support can do wonders. Go Youuu❤
