8 Ways to Start Leading Yourself Today
One year ago today, I started Birch Consulting, my project management coaching and consulting business.
To honor this special work anniversary I stopped to reflect on the major changes made, the person I am today versus one year ago and what I have learned along the way. Ultimately, I've discovered what it means to lead myself.
Leading Yourself Means:
Acknowledging and Believing in Your Gifts and Talents – Consider what it is that you are good at, and lose track of time doing. This will lead you to your purpose. Be humble. I own that my skills are being a strong project manager and coach. I get energy from getting stuff done and empowering others. Although that may not sound very exciting to everyone, when I decided to own it, I discovered my professional purpose and more joy in my work.
Know Your Worth – Don't undervalue your gifts and talents. What you do matters. Go add value. Share what you know. Be confident and do what you’re good at.
Push Yourself Outside of Your Comfort Zone – Truly impactful changes happen outside of your comfort zone. Trust me, I have spent a year, going beyond mine and have grown in ways I never even imagined. Pushing myself professionally has also led to personal growth physically, emotionally and even financially. Try it while also remembering #4.
Have Boundaries – Set and honor your boundaries to keep moving forward toward your intention. You decide what risks you are willing to take, how far you are willing to push yourself. What actions are aligned to your values and your goals. Don't compromise on that.
Set an Intention – To achieve big things you have to know what big things you want. The most powerful intention I set has been to be better today than I was yesterday. I have a vision for what "better" looks like in all aspects of my life and there a million little things available to me each day to work towards them. I don't always hit that intention and that's OKAY….which leads me to # 6.
Be Resilient and Forgiving – Give yourself grace when you aren't better today than you were yesterday. Move on and try again. Don't get stuck in wishing or regretting things you did, said or thought. Instead just get up and try again now, in this moment.
Listen to Your Body - Follow You Instinct – When you get that gut punch, pay attention. When you feel the tingling at the back of your neck, stop and assess. What is your body telling you? That is your instinct kicking in, listen to it and take action from there.
Hear Your fear - But Don't Let it Lead You – I often invite my fears to the back of the bus. It's there, I can't ignore it but I also don't need to let it drive. It will absolutely NOT take me where I want to go. Bringing awareness to my fears has allowed me to stop running into them head first. Instead I walk carefully up to them, hear what they have to say, decide if it’s true or not (99.9% of the time its not) and confidently move forward.
Bottom line is when you intentionally lead yourself, every single day towards your goal – everything is possible.
Be brave.
Be intentional.
You ARE worth it.
Now go do it!
How will you lead yourself this hour, today, this week, this month?
Start with small intentional acts towards your big goals, Every. Single. Day. Before you know it, you will look back and not even recognize the person you were one year ago.
Start leading yourself today – a year from now you will be so glad you did!