Leadership Thursday: Is Self-Leadership Your Brand?

It's Day 6, and I'm still on the quest!

I started a quest to write and publish articles on LinkedIn to push myself out of my consistent desire and drive for perfect conditions before executing actions that I know would make me better in the long run.

In my first article, I committed to avoiding the trap of pre-planning, hitting the 'Write article' button, pouring my thoughts into typed words, and hitting the Publish button.

I've done that consistently for the last five days, and I'm doing it again one more time, with 24 more times in the next 24 days.

I'm not surprised, partly because

• I've done this before with Ship30for30 (a digital writing challenge that gets you writing online consistently for 30 days) powered by Nicolas Cole ???? and Dickie Bush ?? (thanks guys!),
• I enjoy writing - it's become a form of therapy for me over the last three years, and
• I have a system with defined motivations (my why, my what and my how for this quest).

However, consistently writing online on LinkedIn differs from writing online on a social blog and sharing my articles on Twitter. The professional bent of LinkedIn increased my inertia to start because I was concerned that some of the thoughts I would share would not be entirely professional and outside the scope of my profession as a product manager.

That inertia blocked me from writing for years and over one month after I committed to starting in May this year.

The opportunity to start a new quarter afforded me the chance to recommit to my quest, and I did. I'm glad I'm still on the quest, and I hope to continue hitting the 'Write article' and' Publish' buttons for the next 24 days.

This is one piece of my commitment to continuous self-leadership and personal growth.

On personal growth (a commitment self-leaders make intentionally and consistently), I learn something new daily, and my daughter is one of the critical factors driving these learnings.

This morning, I suggested taking it slow with her bike ride to school since we were leaving the house at 7:17 am (a rare occurrence where we're not living at our planned departure time or a little later to meet up with breakfast club at 8:00 am).

Her response,

Fast is my brand!

In essence, no to taking it slow, I didn't argue because the use of the brand to describe an attribute with which she wanted to be known intrigued me. She's 7; I'm sure I didn't have a brand for myself at the same age other than PLAY. Play was my brand - I guess. Not as cool as FAST!

So, I thought I would use her line for my article today. Since, according to Jeff Bezos,

Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room.

Would people think of you as a great self-leader when your name comes up in a room where you aren't present?

In today's rapidly evolving world, you must embrace a more personal and proactive approach to leadership to thrive as a leader.

But what exactly is self-leadership, and how can it benefit you as you navigate your professional journey?

Self-leadership refers to the practice of intentionally influencing one's thoughts, behaviours, and actions to achieve one's personal and professional goals. It involves self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-motivation.

What would it look like in your day-to-day?

1. Setting clear goals: The goals provide a sense of direction and purpose, especially when backed by sound systems that support executing towards achieving the goals.
2. Self-awareness: You are in tune with your strengths, weaknesses, values, and motivations, leveraging your strengths and effectively managing your weaknesses.
3. Right mindset: Maintaining a positive attitude even in the face of adversity, with a perspective to make difficult situations a platform for personal growth.
4. Continuous learning: In a fast-changing world, a commitment to ongoing learning and self-improvement is the hallmark of self-leadership.
5. Self-management: Effective management of time, resources, and emotions is a quality great self-leaders must have.
6. Proactive problem-solving: Every problem provides an opportunity to think critically and creatively to find solutions that add value to or improve the world around you.
7. Resilience and adaptability: Since volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity are constant features in today's world, you are resilient in the face of setbacks and adaptable to change.

Your commitment to self-leadership opens you up to consistent improvement, which makes your life more exciting and eliminates any sense of feeling stuck in any season because there is always something new happening with you or around you.

Take charge of your development, set clear goals, and maintain a right (positive, proactive, and growth) mindset, and you will achieve remarkable growth and fulfilment.