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3 Steps That Equal Powerful Self-Leadership
Sometimes it can feel overwhelming – the terms, constructs, frameworks that help to guide us on our self-leadership journey. There is so much to consider – where do you even start?
Basically, you can boil it down to an easy, 3-step formula for self-leadership success. Follow these three steps to create powerful self-leadership in your life, and reap the rewards.
1: Harness Self-Knowledge
We all want to live a life in line with our values and vision – doing so makes us happier. But have you ever sat down to really work out what your values are, or what you want not only in the present, but the future too? Establishing a firm foundation of self-knowledge through exploring these hard questions like:
What are my core values?
What is my purpose?
What am I dreaming of?
What is important to me and why?
What are my skills, talents, and passions?
What is my Ikigai?
What are my strengths? And just as important, what are my weaknesses?
What does success look like to me?
These are not easy questions, nor do they provide straightforward answers. Our responses may take time to formulate, and equally can evolve over time as we change and grow as a person. But knowing yourself on this deeper level helps to clarify what you want, ignites your motivation and ultimately help to guide the way towards your ideal future.
+ 2: Add Self-Goalsetting
You have a dream or a vision you want to see come to life – great! But this will remain just a dream unless you take actionable steps towards it – cue goalsetting and implementation.
Goalsetting can sound bland, but actually knowing the exact next step can be a bit of a puzzle – and one that can often lead to things falling apart or us giving up on our dreams if we don’t get it right.
As Bill Gates says: Most people can overestimate what they can do in one year, and underestimate what they can do in ten years.
Consider:
How can you live your core values?
What is your overarching goal?
What is the exact next step? (even if you have to work backwards)
Is your goal SMART? (more on that here)
What resources can you harness to help you achieve your goals?
How can you use your own, unique strengths to pursue them?
How will you know when you have achieved it?
Who is going to support you? Who will hold you accountable?
Action is essential, and using your goals and the clarity around these will maximise the output and progress for the energy you put in. Continually re-evaluating your goals, crossing off your achieved sub-goals and maintaining focus on your end point will help you to maintain momentum and acknowledge and celebrate your successes along the way.
+ 3: Master Self-Regulation
You have good self-knowledge; you are taking concrete steps towards your goals and then…things fade or a setback happens or your motivation vanishes. We’ve all been there. The key to moving through this is optimal self-regulation.
Self-regulation refers to our ability to recognise, understand and manage our thoughts, emotions, and behaviour in response to our internal state, as well as that of the world around us. This requires insight and self-awareness, as well as self-monitoring (cue mindfulness) in order to appropriately manage our responses for ideal outcomes.
Our self-regulation can be enhanced through knowing ourselves well – What triggers us? What brings us joy? What is most effective at helping us to calm down or to focus effectively?
Higher levels of self-regulation enable us to monitor ourselves, see where we are being successful or challenged, and adapt our internal (self-talk, motivation) as well as external (habits, routines, systems) factors to successfully coach ourselves for progress – not for perfection.
Self- Knowledge + Goal Setting + Self-Regulation = Powerful Self-Leadership
Most of us have some or many of these skills already, in some capacity. The key is knowing which parts need focused attention, and which parts are already supporting our optimum self-leadership. How will you know? Go back to step one and build your self-knowledge and reflection!
If you are interested in implementing your own formula for success on your self-leadership journey and want a cheer squad along the way (who doesn’t!?), join our beautiful community on our socials – we’d love to have you.
Maike x
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