How well are you leading yourself?

Do you focus on leading others or yourself first?

Being a leader comes with a lot of responsibility.  Motivation, encouragement, and positive reinforcement are just a few of the things that go into being a good leader of others.  What about leading yourself?  How often do you stop and focus on what you are doing to lead yourself first?  With schools starting back up and summer coming to a close, I decided to dedicate the #CJJblog this week to the often-overlooked strategy of focusing on yourself first.  Here are 12 questions you should be asking yourself consistently.  Enjoy.

• Are you clear on your personal mission statement?  Put it in writing.
• Do you have a personal wellness plan?  Be intentional with it.  Effective leaders have energy and enthusiasm.
• Do you have a financial independence plan?  Don’t let your finances create stress that affects your ability to be a great leader.
• Are you delegating or eliminating duties that would free you up for the more important tasks?
• Are your daily habits helping or hindering you?  What is one habit you have that you could start to implement?  What is one you could eliminate?
• Are your goals written down?  You should also have a message reminder such as a journal.
• Do you have an intentional personal growth plan?  Effective leaders never stop growing.
• Do you lead by example?  Leaders are always on stage.
• Do you write down your 2-3 top priorities each day?
• Do you make appointments with yourself?  Having clarity and a schedule makes it more likely to come to fruition.
• Are you finding ways to make your daily disciplines more fun?  Try the 2-for-1 technique where you incorporate a growth element into a daily task.  For example, I love listening to podcasts as I do chores around the house.
• Are you intentionally taking the time to think and reflect on your daily activities?
• BONUS:  Are you measuring your daily results?  Ex: food or exercise log

Did You Know?  Coach Jim Johnson is starting a new blog series next week on coaching tactics.  Next week will be focused on How to run an effective practice.

Life Tip #29:  In decision making, always ask yourself: “If I make this decision… Then what?”