Cultivating Self Leadership

Rory Vaden says, “There is no such thing as time management, there is only self-management.” Foundational in leadership is cultivating self-leadership; the hard work of leading yourself is essential to be a fruitful and faithful leader—leaders who operate without self-leadership run the risk of losing leadership credibility and effectiveness. Patterns, habits, and tendencies can become destructive and disastrous for you spiritually, emotionally, and physically when a leader has not cultivated essential self-leadership skills. 

Five foundational Truths for Cultivating Self Leadership:

1. Realize you cannot lead others if you cannot lead yourself.

Self-leadership is the hard work behind the scenes that prepares you for great leadership. Understanding who you are, cultivating your character, committing to lifelong learning, and developing discipline provide the framework for fostering the leadership of self. – Jenni Catron

“You cannot impart what you do not have.”

2. Recognize your habits are the fruit of what you love.

• We all choose the things that we love the most, and the more we love them, the more we choose them!

• We all choose the things that we love the most, and the more we choose them, the more we love them!

“Habits are inescapable; the question is, do they serve you well, or do they serve you poorly?”

3. Embrace difficulty, or you will never experience self-leadership.

The Pain Paradox of decision-making states that the short-term easy leads to the long-term difficult, while the short-term difficult leads to the long-term easy. You will pay a price today or pay the price with interest tomorrow.– Rory Vaden

4. Realize laziness is the enemy of self- leadership.

“How long will you stay in bed, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest, and your poverty will come like a robber, your need, like a bandit.” (Proverbs 6:9–11, CSB)

“Laziness is wicked” – David Prince

5. Implement the discipline of planning and goal setting.

“When it comes to life, most people are spectators. They watch events unfold a day at a time. They may plan their careers, the building of a new home, or even a vacation, but it never occurs to them to plan their life. As a result, they drift along, often to destinations they would have never consciously chosen: failing health, a broken marriage, or a stalled career. But it doesn’t have to be this way.” – Michael Hyatt