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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@Heather225
I'll say its my time management skills again
I'll set up specific schedules for my work and set reminders 15 minutes prior so that I don't forget or get late and also can set up an ending time limit to mainatin consistency and efficiency.
You are not alone... I'm pretty sure there are many people that struggle like you.
Setting up schedules and reminders sounds like a good idea to maintain consistency and efficiency.😊
@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 my ability to stay focused and be clear on the task at hand. Due to my ADHD I do get distracted easily but I am finding ways to help! I have very recently started time blocking my cups tasks on my calender, super helpful!
@gentleFox20
oooo ooo i didnt think about this one, and i think that it actually goes along with my communication issue too
@gentleFox20
I'm glad to hear that using your calendar has helped you! My calendar is a huge help for me as well. Do you have other skills that help you with your concentration challenges as well?
@gentleFox20
Many have problems. But good to know that you have identified them and on track of winning it over.
@Heather225
During my self-awareness check-in, one thing jumped out that I want to improve: as it is very normal for me to learn things on my own, autodidactically, I have a tendency to not delegate enough and that severely limits the potential scale of any projects I undertake. I have some projects where I will absolutely need other people (that forces me to find them), and so now I have to take the step to actually go out and ask the people if they are willing to work with me.
@Glue
Delegating is definitely an important skill that is hard for me to do as well. I wish you luck with finding amazing people to work with!
@Heather225
my communication skills and i can improve on this by listening more effectively to my peers in real life. i feel sometimes i interrupt the conversation too soon, and then things get misconstrued and i dont want the other person to feel like i wasnt listening. and then when we communicate it gets all messed up because of course i put those ideas in my head and wasnt communicating effectively and asking the questions i needed too
@magicalOcean594
Listening is definitely something that can improve your communications skills, and it can be learned well. 7 Cups is a great place for that, it's great, that you are here!
@magicalOcean594
That can sometimes be difficult. i'm sure you'll acquire some great listening skills on here <3
@Heather225
Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
Funnily enough, I think I need to improve in the area of self-awareness. Especially regarding my emotions, but also regarding my identity, qualities and flaws, I should work on becoming more self-aware.
@audienta
I missed the second part of the question, so here it is:
To improve my self-awareness, I'll try to focus on how things make me feel. I hope that this will not only help me with becoming more aware of my emotions, but also with finding my strengths and finally my identity.
@audienta
That sounds like a great idea, I hope you find it helps
@audienta
Great Reply as always. Keep going!
@Heather225
I believe that my confidence in myself is very low, and self doubt high. I will remember times that I have made decisions/said/done something, and remember the outcomes - that it's rarely awful, and so what if it is? It's a learning process.
@SparklingSeashells
I hope it'll get better for you in the future, it can be really difficult to overcome it. Goodluck 💙
@SparklingSeashells
I love your take on this! It is indeed a learning process
I dont understand and i dont feel comfortable sharing at this time
@Heather225
1. Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness check-in and one thing you will do to improve?
I always had a feeling that I know me best. However, today seeing the scores, I understand I have areas to change. That area is to "Forgive those who hurt you in Childhood age".
That one thing to improve is to call that person right away and talk to him. Breaking the ice for so long for so small a thing.
Forgiving someone who hurt you in childhood sounds really hard especially with the feeling of upset and wanting justice.
Anyway, calling that person to break the ice is a really brave thing to do😮. I'm glad you did that❤️.
I hope that went well <3 Thank you for sharing
@LoveTracker
i loved reading yur reply
- lena
@LoveTracker
Forgiving people can be a really hard thing to do, but its the best thing for yourself to forgive. I hope you can bring yourself to forgive them.
@LoveTracker That would take a lot of courage to call up someone and settle things. I really appreciate you for doing that. I hope it went well
@Heather225
Share one area where you scored low on your self-awareness
I score low in saying what I want to say. I always keep my mouth shut in order to "keep the peace", but often that only results in me feeling worse. I have to speak up for myself more.
One thing you will do to improve?
I have to improve on sharing my opinion. I usually just tend to go with things but thats not always the best thing to do.
Ahhhh I hear that. I hope you're able to share your opinion more often <3 you are worth listening to
@Ninziesss
i loved your reply
- lena
@Ninziesss
Speaking up for ourselves can be a really hard task to do. I wish you all the best to growing a better you !
@Ninziesss Speaking/communicating your heart out is a must. Since you end up feeling bad, I would encourage you to speak up and give us your opinion. It might also help improve the solution. Good to hear you are willing to improve on that area!
I sometimes lack self awareness in daily activities at home.
Sometimes I don't close the door or jar lid tightly and my mom used to complain about it. Sometimes I misheard what someone said. I would like to improve my focus but sometimes I don't know how.
@Aileen1114117
Some ideas to improve focus is by focusing on 1 task at a time and only taking on what you can handle and avoiding distractions. It is great that you want to work on self-awareness as sometimes we can overlook simple tasks ❤️ You are doing great