Practicing effective self-leadership — intentionally influencing your own thinking, feelings, and actions toward your objectives — can help you be a more effective team and/or organizational leader.
Successful self-leadership involves:
- A strong self-awareness and knowledge of who you are and how you function, think, act, and make decisions.
- The ability to identify desired experiences. What would the ideal as well as the most likely scenarios or experiences look like? How do these align with your values and contribute to your growth and personal/professional objectives.
- Constructive thought and decision-making. It is essential to rationally stay on top of your decision-making process and thinking before you act.
- Planning and goal -setting skills. Have a strong sense of where you want to go and what you want to accomplish.
It also is important to optimize your motivation, harnessing your environment and the tools and resources available to you, embrace failures, and cultivate grit.
The result? Self-leadership has many benefits including making you more efficient and productive, keeping you motivated and accountable, enabling you to build stronger relationships, and inspiring others around you to follow your lead.