What is Self-Leadership? – Part 1

In the previous blog posts we have looked at leading a company, it is time to look at how to lead yourself. Why? Because being able to lead yourself will massively impact how well you can lead a team. Here are the first 4 parts I want you to look at: be authentic, Self-Awareness, Nobody is perfect, Vision.

Be authentic

Some people say, you always need to be yourself to be truly happy. But not only this, you need to know yourself very well to make sure you know what to expect from yourself, what to look for in your team members and know when to seek help. Pretending to be someone else will be too exhausting and you will always suppress things. If you are not authentic, people will also feel that something is not right. It will be more difficult to build trust and real relationships. Try to always be real – your true authentic self.

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness – oh so important. This also comes back to knowing who you really are, being authentic and accepting yourself. But even more – this also means to know what you are not good at, what not to do and what you can improve. Having a good self-awareness as a leader will also help you to find the right team members, good additions to your skill set and knowing when to outsource. But how can you improve your self-awareness? Well, one thing is to listen – listen to what other people say to and about you.

Action for you to take:

Listen to customers/clients – what are you good at, what are you not so good at? And also listen to yourself. What are you saying to yourself, what kind of words are you using when you are thinking?

Nobody is perfect

We mentioned it above – no one knows everything. No one has all the answers and can do everything by themselves. What does perfect mean anyway? It means different things to different people. And even different things to the same person in different situations and different stages in life.

Action for you to take: What does perfect mean to you?

Vision

When having your own business your personal vision often overlaps with the vision of your company. However, we want you to really think about what it is that YOU really want for yourself – not the company.

Action for you to take: What is your vision for your life?

If you would like to explore all of these points further, you can take a look at the book ‘The 3 pillars of leadership’ here.