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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Confidence is one of the things that I need to improve because I’m not always confident even though I try to make myself seem more confident than I am.
@glowingSoul93
Yes confidence is very important
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve? Setting boundaries. Maybe I should take some time and focus on myself. I need to learn to put myself as my first priority and assist others only when I feel like I can focus on that individual and guide them through the path that makes the most sense to them. Self-care breaks can definitely help with focusing on myself and figuring out how I can set some more effective boundaries!
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
Focus. I have issues staying focused on one thing and finishing it before moving onto someone else. What I will do to improve is making sure I finish a task before moving onto the next one.
@Dan76
Yes this is a similar problem I face on a recent basis, I want to do a million tasks at the same time and it leaves me feeling overwhelmed
I scored low on Emotional intelligence. And this is the one thing that I want to improve in myself because I always get so emotional in hard and difficult situations and lose my strength to tackle the situations.
@Zarram77
That is a great point. Sometimes I think that being emotional is a sign of empathy, in the case that we are emotional because of the sad stories of others, etc.
@Heather225
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 is decision making, at times I can be indecisive, especially if there is more than one great idea to choose from. I can improve by going with my first instinct, and not overthink the situation
@KBeauty12
i agree with what you said
@KBeauty12
Indecisiveness is something that I am familiar with, but I often cope with this by just making the same old boring decisions.
@KBeauty12
Great points! Being aware by listening to our instict often helps us to eventually come up with a wise decision.
Thanks for sharing it with us ❤
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
not being enthusiastic enough. i'll make sure i'm well rested and try to get my spirits up as necessary.
@Elise849
Enthusiasm is a good quality that can be hard to be consistant with. I think that I act enthusiastic a lot but often I am not. Fake it till you make it is my motto.
@Elise849
Sometimes it can be really hard to paste a smile on our face. I hope rest helps you to be more enthusiastic, but please remember it's okay to have days where you'd rather stay in bed!
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
Not being diplomatic enough with my words, thoughts, and actions. I'm using mindfulness exercises to work on that.
@GoldenNest2727
Practicing mindfulness is essential that helps us stay grounded and focused.
Thanks for sharing it with us, Nest ❤
@GoldenNest2727
Mindfulness can help with so many things, I am glad you found it! 💜
@GoldenNest2727
Oh Golden, that's a really lovely way to try and improve <3
You are lucky to be aware with your words, thoughts , and actions❤️. I believe being mindful will prevent you from hurting other people😊.
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I scored low on the quality of being proactive. I think that I should be able to get things done that are challenging. I am normally able to do everything in terms of work and study, but when things get tricky I postpone doing them over and over again.
2. Please reply to 3 of your peers in this thread!
Done
@Train1
Ahh the dreaded procrastination, I feel you Train! I often tell myself that I just need to do 10 minutes of something and it always ends up being more :)
@Train1
procrastination is a tough one Train!
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I scored low on the quality of being proactive. I think that I should be able to get things done that are challenging. I am normally able to do everything in terms of work and study, but when things get tricky I postpone doing them over and over again.
I will try my best to focus more on what is important and do this by prioritizing my time.
@Train1
Being proactive is an important skill.
Thanks for pointing that out, Train ❤
@Train1
Prioritizing time can really help a lot. It's amazing to see you work on it!
@Train1 great answer! Keep it up
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness
I think I scored low in assertiveness as I often step back or hold myself back to express how I really feel or get my point across due to being worried of upsetting others, or being upset myself. Being assertive is an important skill because it teaches you to stand up for your personal rights in the form expressing your thoughts, feelings and beliefs in direct, honest and appropriate way.
One thing you will do to improve?
I could improve on assertiveness by observing the way assertive people communicates. Taking note of their positive traits and self reflect to practice those traits myself. Researching on reading materials or taking up a course to train myself and learn to enhance assertive skills in me.
@Harsvin
That sounds like a really good plan, I wish you all the best for that! 💙
@Harsvin
You've got so many great ideas to improve your assertiveness. I'm sure you'll be feeling more comfortable doing so in no time!
@Harsvin
i use to have a issue with assertiveness, it developed alot better when i went to prison and i had to learn to adapt too it, if i wasn't going to allow other people to take advantage of my boundaries,