Self-leadership
01 / Location
Key question
Where are you right now?
Anyone who wants to lead themselves first needs an honest look at where they currently stand. Not as a judgement, but rather like a map: here I am, this is how things look, and that is where I could go.
Learning objective: You are able to describe your situation objectively, identify your core values, and recognise recurring patterns.
Look first, then change.
1.1 / Self-reflection
Looking without judging.
Self-reflection means observing your own thoughts, feelings, and actions as if you were listening to a good friend. Three perspectives can help with this:
01
What's the matter?
First, the facts: What does your week look like, where does your time go, and what's going on right now?
02
How am I doing?
Mood, energy, body: what feels light, what feels heavy?
03
What do I want?
Wishes and direction: What would you like more of, and what less of?
Tone is what matters. Research into self-compassion, such as that by Kristin Neff, shows that people who speak to themselves kindly look more honestly at their situation and are more likely to persevere than those who criticise themselves.
Looking kindly means looking more closely.
1.2 / Values
What matters to you is your compass.
Values are not just nice words, but guides for making decisions. Anyone who knows their three to five most important values makes decisions more quickly and calmly, because it is clear what to base them on.
A value shows itself in everyday life. If freedom is important to you: how is that reflected in your week? If you can't find an answer, that's nothing to be ashamed of, but rather a clue.
A value you cannot see is merely a wish.
1.3 / Strengths and Patterns
What keeps recurring?
Patterns are things that repeat: tasks that come easily to you, situations that stress you out, moments when time flies by. They reveal a lot about your strengths.
A simple question helps: what would people who know you well never question about you? Often, that's where a strength lies that you take for granted yourself.
Your strength is often what comes too easily to you.
Exercise
Your location on one page
Task: Describe your current location on an A4 page, entirely without judgement.
STEP 1
Jot down in bullet points what you spent your time on last week.
STEP 2
Select your five values in the tool and write an example from your everyday life for each.
STEP 3
Note down three patterns: what comes easily to you, what stresses you out, and when time flies.
STEP 4
Ask someone who knows you well about a strength you overlook.
Evaluation: Do you recognise yourself on this page, without it sugarcoating or belittling you?