In the previous posts, I invited you, us, to cut out all the noise we deal with in our quest as leaders and focus on taking personal responsibility for everything in our lives. To get to know ourselves better so that we set our own standards and invite others to follow along if they’re so inclined. Leading by example means that we’re on a mission to truly become a leader worth following. On this quest, we recognize that our goals don’t need compromising. Our actions need to show people the direction we’re headed and to quietly invite them to join us on our mission. Not only for the organization, but also for our mission of self-leadership.
If you’ve read to this point, I know you, like me, have a genuine desire to create a positive impact for those you serve. You want to lead your organization, your customers, and the people you work for and with, and lead them well.
If you’re like me, when you first got into a leadership position you may have been told how to communicate more effectively to superiors, stakeholders, and subordinates. But were you ever trained how to communicate more effectively with yourself? I wasn’t. It was through hard, painful lessons that I had to learn how to do this. I read all the leadership books, watched all the masters, and did my best to emulate them. And therein lies the problem. It’s impossible to try to be something or someone other than yourself. It doesn’t negate the skills we need to develop, but we can’t undermine our own inner guide on our hero’s journey.
One question we often ask ourselves as leaders is how do you train people to think for themselves, solve problems, and give their best performance? The answer is… by showing them something to emulate.
In my experience, unless we’ve done the work to teach ourselves how to become leaders to our own selves, we are essentially training the people who follow us to remain in the ordinary world and rely on others. Or, more painfully, those who have discovered this wisdom already will choose not to follow someone who is in the ordinary world and hasn’t yet done the work.
Your business will only grow as much as you do. Your business can only be as good as you are. As a leader, your team will only ever rise to the level at which you lead yourself.
Imagine what’s possible if you work from your own set of core values and beliefs, allowing them, along with your deeper purpose, to drive your actions. What’s then possible for everyone around you?
By reading these posts and taking action, I hope that you’ve learned more about yourself and about the mindset you need to maintain in order to lead your organization, and yourself, to greatness — whatever that means to you.
If this is the one thing you focus on most for 90 solid days, you will experience the change you want to see in your organization and all around you by being the change yourself.
If you choose to commit to working this process of your hero’s journey, remember, it’s always about working the process, and it’s always available to you. Self-leadership, and the process of working it, is all it is ever about.
This is a lifelong journey. This means taking ownership of your life and leading yourself to the full potential you know you have. It’s remembering that there will be setbacks and that you may find yourself on the road back to the ordinary world from time to time but that the resurrection (picking yourself back up and reminding yourself you’re the hero) is always available to you. By using this practice and taking action consistently, you will stay on track as you continuously build strength as the hero of your story. This is about evolving yourself into a leader in every aspect of your life.
I’ve been on this journey of self-leadership for a quarter of my life. It’s just getting started. I discovered this process through trial and error and found what worked for me. I have faith in the process since it continues to keep me accountable to the life I want. As you commit to and work this process you may discover your own. That is part of the process too.
Remember, regardless of who you hire in your organization or who you partner with, you cannot delegate this. This is a mission you can’t escape. You must be the leader you want to see in your company and in your life. When self-leadership is strong, strategy, tactics, and managing personalities become less burdensome. The root of true leadership means becoming a leader worth following by first leading yourself.
It’s time to bring it all together. Now, you have all the components to write, visualize, and/or voice record your whole script. Use what you’ve taken down so far and commit to the thought process by taking action for 90 solid days. If you’ve come this far, tell yourself that you didn’t just come this far to get this far on your journey. Take action!
Take action: If you’re ready to take on your hero’s journey and put everything we’ve discussed so far into action, first commit to this process of writing, reading, speaking, revisiting, and editing your script for 90 days. As research suggests, it takes 21 days to build a habit and 90 to create a lifestyle. Self-leadership is a lifestyle. Then, bring everything together into a written or voice-recorded script and start visualizing your hero’s triumphant journey to reach the reward of lifelong self-leadership. Revisit what you’ve written out so far:
Where is your organization today and where would you like it to be?
Where is your organization five years from now? What did the hero do to get there? What is the hero like? What characteristics do they possess?
Are there any reasons your hero might not be successful? What are their fears? What are the worst-case scenarios?
How would your hero overcome those scenarios?
Who will your character meet along the way? What tests, allies, and enemies might they face? How will those other characters interact with the hero?
What are your hero’s innermost beliefs? What are their values? What is their purpose that guides their mission? What core beliefs drive their decision making?
Five years from now, what will be true for your hero? What will they have gained or accomplished? How does it make them feel?
What are the possible setbacks on the journey? Write in how the hero will resurrect themselves to ultimately return with the reward.
How does this hero talk to themself throughout the story? What process do they work on the quest to self-leadership as their new lifestyle?
Bring it all together. Write the script. Record the voice memo. Visualize your hero’s journey.