Recalling the various leadership types, you many not necessary think of leaders who spend time in reflection, deeply considering their own capacity to lead. But “the ability to lead oneself” (one of the three key hallmarks of disciplined leaders) is foundational to everything leaders do. In fact, the better you know yourself as a leader and create discipline around your own growth and goals, the more effective you’ll be at leading your teams and the organization at large.​

This is such a vital topic that in MAP’s best-selling book, “The Disciplined Leader: Keeping the Focus on What Really Matters,” one-third of this quick read gives specific activities around the vital responsibility to lead yourself.

And to this point, in his TedxTalk, “It Takes a Village,” Michael Caito, MAP’s CEO and prior owner/founder of Restaurants on the Run, talks about how he once wrestled with leading himself, almost to the detriment of his personal and professional life. Only when he got help with an accountability coach and started better leading himself could he truly lead his people and build an accountable company culture.

Leading yourself starts with knowing yourself better. True, we change and evolve everyday—but most of who we are remains fairly constant in the short term. Really getting a grasp of that helps us manage our worries, understand our potential, and get out of own way.

Leading yourself means you’ve also got a great grasp of your values. When someone asks you what those are, you can easily rattle them off because not only have you defined them but come to live and work through them. They’ve shaped who you are and give daily guidance to where you’re going.

Finally, leading yourself is believing in YOU. It’s committing to growth. And it’s building disciplined habits and mindsets that turn ideas and idealizations into action and accomplishments. When you believe in yourself, you push past that comfort zone and courageously test the waters of new directions, always steering yourself with goals and growth in mind. Perhaps with an accountability coach, you learn to manage time and challenges with tact, using proven systems and tools that make it easier with each passing day. You build professional development plans, confirming that the vision you own has legs; it’s now documented and, like a blueprint, can be trusted and followed to create something incredible.

But when it comes to leading yourself, where do you start? At MAP, we suggest you with evaluating yourself, asking good questions, such as…

• What are your barriers and weaknesses to leading yourself?
• Which habits and mindsets could have the greatest impact on your leadership style today?
• What steps can you take to better lead yourself and become a disciplined leader?

Answer those questions and if you need more direction and accountability, we can help.

Read “The Disciplined Leader: Keeping the Focus on What Really Matters” today—or Contact Us for breakthrough results.