Dear Leader,
I trust this meets you in pursuit of wisdom.
Life is a journey. Leadership is a journey.
And in this journey, we must travel on the inside before we can travel on the outside. Because the journey of growth and success is first internal. You don’t see the growth process but you can’t deny growth.
The first person you lead is YOU and you cannot lead effectively without the self discipline that comes with growth.
Self discipline is crucial to leadership. Most times, it is the missing link between where you started from on the journey and your destination or vision.
For many leaders, what could have taken 1 year is taking 14 years because of lack of preparation – SELF DISCIPLINE
How is your self-discipline?
Your first victory is to conquer self.
4 lessons I want to share on leadership and self discipline:
- Develop and follow priorities. My pastor once said, Find what God has called you to do and stay away from anything that doesn’t look like it.
We all have 24 hours daily. As leaders, we are pressed for time, but the successful leaders have a plan. Successful leaders have priorities. If you can determine what is really a priority and release yourself from everything else it will be much easier to follow through on what is important. That is the essence of self discipline.
The first hack of self discipline is determining and documenting your priorities. You can’t do everything. Determine what you need to focus on and stay away from every other thing.
- Make a disciplined lifestyle your goal. Self discipline is not a one time event. Until it becomes your lifestyle, you cannot be a successful leader.
Some of us go to the gym once, take a mirror selfie and haven’t visited the gym again after then. It cannot be a one time event if you want to be successful.
Build a life around self disciplined pursuit of your priorities. One of the best ways to nurture such a lifestyle is to develop systems and routines, especially in the areas that are crucial to your long term growth and impact. Once you have them set, do it every day for the rest of your life.
- Challenge your excuses. Look for anything that will make you give excuses for not staying disciplined and eliminate it. If you can name several reasons why you can’t be self disciplined, you will realise that they are just barriers to your success. You must eliminate them if you want to go to the next level.
- Stay focused on the results. If you focus on the difficulty of the task, you will likely be discouraged. Instead, focus on the expected results or reward. The next time you are facing a must-do task and you are contemplating doing what is convenient instead of paying the price, redirect your focus from the difficulty to the results. Think of the benefits of doing the right thing and then dive in.
Sooner or later, your discipline is formed.
All successful leaders have this critical element in their journey and this journey is more internal than external.
Most times, no one sees your growth process, they only see the results.
Be committed to growth. Be self disciplined.
Safe travel, on the journey to leadership.
I am rooting for you,
Great