3 Steps to Leading Yourself Well

Your potential to lead others is a direct result of how you lead yourself.

Great leaders don’t just lead others well; they’ve also learned to lead themselves. 

The people you lead aren’t just listening to you; they’re watching how you live your life. 

If you live with intentionality, discipline, integrity, and purpose, people will grow to trust and respect you. But the opposite is also true—trust and respect diminish if you don’t lead yourself well.

Here are three steps to leading yourself well:

1. Define your leadership identity.

It’s important to start with your leadership identity. If you always feel like you’re “junior,” “still developing,” or “sort of a leader,” you need to embrace your leadership identity.

Leadership is not just something you do. A leader is who you are. Leadership is not a title or position. Leadership is a mindset. You have influence, and your leadership matters today.

When you see yourself as a leader, three things change:

You stand taller. You feel deep, genuine responsibility. The buck stops with you, and you feel the weight and the blessing of owning outcomes.

You think higher. You’re thinking ahead, projecting into the future. You’re not just working in your business, you’re working on it.

You care deeper. Because you care more, you don’t see your role as a job. You see it as a calling and a passion.

Exercise: If you haven’t been able to internalize your leadership identity, try something concrete to help you believe it. You could …

• Record a voice memo and listen to it every day. 
• Write who you are as a leader on the bathroom mirror and spend time in the morning dwelling on it. 
• Order stationery with traits or definitions of how you want to see yourself as a leader. 

What can you do to solidify and meditate on your leadership identity?

2. Develop your leadership growth plan.

If you want to become great, you need to be specific about the ways you want to grow. You cannot strengthen a skill you don’t define.

Here are practical ways to develop your leadership growth areas: 

Ask yourself: What specific trait do you need to develop in your own leadership? What is the top area you want to improve? 

Write it down in one sentence. Communicate it to your core team. Then, ask for correction and affirmation along the way as you grow in that area.

Follow up monthly to measure your improvement.

3. Improve your leadership inputs.

As a leader, what you consume determines what you produce.

If you’re like many leaders, you’ve observed some frustrating outcomes in your organization—a list of things you would like to change, undo, redo, or rebuild.

Here’s the truth: We all experience undesirable outcomes because we have unhealthy inputs. 

So naturally, most leaders obsess about those outcomes. But the best leaders obsess about inputs.

What are inputs? Inputs are the ideas, priorities, and relationships you choose to put in your life. 

The best leaders consume quality ideas, focus on their top priorities, and surround themselves with great leaders. 

For a deeper dive into practical ways to improve your inputs, read this post.

When you have the right inputs, the right outputs come naturally. 

Sharpen Your Leadership in a Changing World (Three Free Trainings)

Leadership is influence—and you are a leader. That’s why it’s critical you keep sharpening your leadership.

When I look at all of the podcasts and principles I’ve worked on, three stand out. These trainings will help you build a strong leadership foundation—both personally and professionally.

Learn practical ways to influence people, manage your time wisely, and communicate better. 

You can get the three-part series here for free!