How Do You Define & Design Your Personal Leadership?
I solemnly swear personal leadership is the one place where I shall not, “fake it ‘till I make it.”
You can fake an accent, an aptitude for PowerPoint and even the appearance of having it all together. Be it fashion sense or figured outness, you can get away — in both personal and professional settings — with putting on a front that says, I got this. However, one thing you cannot make believe (and thereby making others believe in) are personal leadership values and traits you do not invest in.
Personal leadership is exactly that — it’s personal. You can’t simply grasp at the exemplary models of leaders around you to determine how you are going to lead from the inside out. Personal leadership is so much more than trying on the buzz word of the month to fit into the popular mould for what a leader is supposed to be like. What it requires is an intensive look at what influences you, excites you and forces you to get out of bed in the morning when you look at your alarm clock and think, “Not today, Satan.”
So, how do you define & design your personal leadership
There’s a lot of talk about main character energy going on today. Without being cliché, that’s actually a big component of personal leadership. What I mean by this is on your journey towards leading from within, you need to recognize you are in control of yourself and your life. You have the power to manage your thoughts and actions, which means you have a lot of say in your outcomes.
Of course, sometimes even the best laid plans can hit the fan (cough, cough a pandemic). However, when you are constantly governed by consistent values, you will find your path is more straightforward — and more fruitful — than if you allow yourself to float willy nilly from one fleeting feeling to the next. A strong core is fundamental when addressing conflict, deciding on next steps and creating a life and career you are passionate about.
The moment you decide to take charge of your life and cultivate a personal leadership style you can be proud of, you can begin to evolve the concept from an internal philosophy into an action-oriented approach to leading others. For example, if patience, compassion and innovation resonate and make you feel valued as a contributor, these are likely a few of the principles you will want to incorporate into the way you treat the people around you. By taking stock of these priority values, via a mental or literal checklist, and then applying them to your day-to-day, you will be actively curating your approach to personal leadership.
Beyond your core values, what other elements come together to create the foundation of personal leadership?
Time & Practice
Let’s do away with the concept of natural born leaders. Perhaps there are some inherited traits that predispose certain personalities towards leadership. But (and that’s a big but) if you do not carve out time in your daily routine to think about your values, choices and actions, you will end up leading from a place of reaction instead of intention. Very likely, especially when faced with adversity, your unpracticed and unpondered beliefs and guiding principles will be sacrificed to the throne of necessity.
Don’t let that happen. Prioritize your personal development and invest both the time and tangible work it takes to grow as a human being and boss-person. This may look like brushing up on your active listening skills, taking part in unconscious bias training or drawing in a creativity-first colouring book. Whatever floats your leadership boat is positive as long as you are taking the necessary pauses to reflect on the challenges and opportunities that will nurture your potential. This time of focus, practice and honest self-reflection will create the space for progress and encourage your transition in a more cohesive and consistent personal leader.
Energy Management & Mental Health
Life is hard. Work is hard. Managing both, especially in the midst of a pandemic, is extremely hard. It’s easy to become deflated — to lose our umph, pizzazz and energy — amidst all the hard work it takes to do what we love and be the types of people we like. Make sure you manage your energy. Be deliberate about where you direct it and ensure you are not allowing yourself to become overrun. If the latter happens, not only will your mental health suffer but you will also not be setting the right example for the people you want to lead.
Look back on your day and decide if your energy was well invested. If something is sucking the life out of you, figure out why and why you are doing it. While not everything in life can be sunshine and personal growth, be careful to tax your energy time and time again with tasks that don’t bear any meaningful fruit. Just like you’d change lanes on monetary investments that weren’t producing any ROI, you can say “nay” to people, places and projects that are distracting or detracting from your goals.
Choosing to put an end to the self-sabotaging social scroll and put yourself first is not selfish. When you need to rest, check in with your emotions and goals or bask in a too-hot-bath until your fingertips wrinkle, give yourself permission to do so. By doing this, you will give others permission to tend to and heal themselves as well.
Personal leadership may sound loaded, but this crown does not need to make your head heavy.
Personal leadership is all about little moments, small choices and daily check-ins that transform your motivational values into liveable characteristics. The term personal leadership may have just come into fashion in the last couple years, but the importance of operating from core values and encouraging others to uncover and live their own has also been in style. Whether you are a solopreneur or the CEO of a large company, holding yourself accountable to acting with integrity and constancy will ripple throughout your daily routine. Think of doing this work on yourself as a personal revolution. Viva la motivational leadership!
If after reading this article, you still aren’t certain about which next steps to take to uncover, calibrate and communicate your personal leadership model, let’s chat. I am excited to show you how powerful the personal can be.
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