THE PRICE TAG OF LEADERSHIP: SELF DISCIPLINE
All great leaders have understood that their number one responsibility was for their own discipline and personal growth. If they could not lead themselves, they could not lead others. Leaders can never take others farther than they have gone themselves, for no one can travel without until he or she has first travelled within. A great person will lead a great organization, but growth is only possible when the leader is willing to “pay the price” for it. Many potentially gifted leaders have stopped short of the payment line and found out that shortcuts don’t pay off in the long run.
THE PROCESS FOR DEVELOPING PERSONAL DISCIPLINE
- Start with yourself
- We cannot travel without until we first travel within
- When we are foolish we want to conquer the world. When we are wise we want to conquer ourselves.
2. Start Early
- Hard work is the accumulation of easy things you didn’t do when you should have.
3. Start Small
- What you are going to be tomorrow, you are becoming today. It is essential to begin developing self-discipline in a small way today in order to be disciplined in a big way tomorrow.
4. Start Now
- Great leaders never set themselves above their followers except in carrying out responsibilities.
- It’s the will to go out there everyday training and building those muscles and sharpening those skills!
- Abraham Lincoln said, “I will get ready and then perhaps my chance will come.”
- Success depends not merely on how will you do the things you enjoy, but how conscientiously you perform those duties you don’t.
- Organize your life: When you are organized, you have a special power. You walk with a sure sense of purpose. Your priorities are clear in your mind. You orchestrate complex events with a masterful touch. Things fall into place when you reveal your plans. You move smoothly from one project to the next with no wasted motion. Throughout the day you gain stamina and momentum as your success builds. People believe your promises because you always follow through. When you enter a meeting, you are prepared for whatever they throw at you. When at last you show your hand, you’re a winner.
- “Organizing is what you do before you do something so that when you do it, it’s not mixed up.”
- “One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries”
MY TOP TEN LIST FOR PERSONAL ORGANIZATION
- Set your priorities
- Place Priorities in your calendar
- Allow a little time for the unexpected
- Do projects one at a time
- Organize your workspace
- Work according to your temperament
- Use your driving time for light work and growth
- Develop a system that works for you
- Always have a plan for those minutes between meetings
- Focus on results, not the activity
Work where you are the strongest 80% of the time
Work where you are learning 15% of the time
Work where you are weak 5% of the time
Welcome Responsibility
STEPS TOWARD RESPONSIBILITY
- Be responsible for who you are.
- Be responsible for what you can do
- Be responsible for what you have received
- Be responsible to those you lead.
- Accept accountability
- HUMAN NATURE CAN NOT HANDLE UNCHECKED POWER
- LEADERS CAN EASILY BE SEPARATED FROM THEIR PEOPLE
- DEVELOP INTEGRITY
- I will live what I teach
- I will do what I say
- I will be honest with others
- I will put what is best for others ahead of what is best for me
- I will be transparent and vulnerable: Pay now, play later
Become character driven instead of emotion-driven
Character Driven People
Do right, then feel good
Are commitment driven
Make principle-based decision
Action controls attitude
Believe it, they see it
Create momentum
Ask: “What are my responsibilities?”
Continue when problems arise
Are steady
Are leaders
Emotion Driven People
Feel good, then do right
Are convenience-driven
Make popular based decisions
Attitude controls action
See it, they believe it
Wait for momentum
Ask: “What are my rights?”
Quit when problems arise
Are moody
Are followers
