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
i scored low on a self-awareness check-in due to burnout. i sometimes tend to take too much work on at one time and i don't really allow myself to take breaks. my mind always goes to "just one more" and i end up doing more than one thing haha. i'm a bit of a workaholic sometimes and when i get too stressed, i just stop everything i'm doing and let things pile up on me. i'll try to improve by only remembering to take on a few things at a time. for example, i'll take 4-5 chats everyday ! or, i'll work on 3 program assignments everyday :) i'll practice not going below or above these numbers
@rrretsuko
Breaks are important.
@rrretsuko i wish you well rest and keep up good work.
@Heather225
I think my patience is the answers I think I need to improve more on being patient so that I can improve on decision making it will help me to be more confident about my choices
Decision-making can definitely be hard! working on making decisive choices can help you improve for sure<3
@Estrellitaa
Some times its very tough its true
@nessa104
Good point.
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I need to carry myself more confidently so that others will take me seriously. I will need to work on my confidence and reassure myself that I know what I’m doing.
@anjellyna Great post!
I can relate anjellyna<3 confidence can definitely be challening
@anjellyna knowing what you are is the key to change so i know you will be better yourself.
@anjellyna
yes confidence is key in everything
@Heather225
My patience, which is regularly tested, needs the most improvement. I will strive to not hold others to my expectations and standards.
Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in
I think that balance is an area that I scored low on. I think that a good leader has good time management skills. They can prioritize what needs to get done, which includes making decisive decisions, and not procrastinating tasks. They also have firm boundaries. They know when to say no and when to take self-care breaks. I think balance also ties into high warmth and expectations. A leader must be kind and be confirmed to grow the team. I think the final thing that balance includes is the balance of confidence. One leader that I really look up to has confidence. They are firm with their beliefs and are confident in themself and have self-love. They help people grow on both good and bad days. The type of leader that we are influences others
One thing you will do to improve?
I think that I might have talked about more than one thing that I can work on but here are some things that i can do to work on this point to improve on
Making a colored to-do list label like the one in the soul searching book labeling whether items are urgent or time-sensitive
Practice self-care activities daily. Have set self-care breaks, so I can feel recharged and ready to help others
Practice more gratitude/Journaling
@Estrellitaa i like how your writing is colorful. Good summary.
@Estrellitaa
@Estrellitaa It's the most insightful answer here.
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
Being distant from my emotions- I can listen to them and process how to use them.
1-share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
At the beginning of my journey to self-awareness I recorded. Low levels of how to control the anger inside me, so most of the times I don't know how to deal with it properly or get rid of it! But over time, I began to control and control it to a greater extent than before, and the thing that helped me to improve this is deep breathing exercises and also not to pass judgment on others because judgments help increase anger inside me!
@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 where I scored a bit low is my indecisiveness. I can tend to take a bit of time when it comes to making a decision, and one that I will do to help is setting time limits for myself when it comes to making a decision. This will help me make decisions at a more efficient speed.
@magicmango26
indecisiveness leads to lack in confidence. its difficult there i think dont you
@magicmango26 I understand that indecisiveness/confidence issue. What are you doing to help yourself with this?
@magicmango26I also want to improve decision-making.
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
- An aspect of my self-awareness that I would like to improve on is seeing things from the point of others more often. To improve, I will try to put myself in their shoes.
@NoelleListens It is good to put yourself in other shoes. How would you put yourself in their shoes?
@NoelleListens
yeah perspective is very important in leadership
@Heather225
Patience to wait for a person to understand and work on their respective tasks. I am quick and need every one to be quick loose patience there. I would say
@incrediblelistener78
I need to improve in my patience.
@incrediblelistener78 Patience is a great tool to have and it is something that you can lose easily.
@TheRusticMystic74
reminds me of the quote "patience is like a muscle, some people are better at it because they work out"