How to Become the Leader in Your Life

Who are you and who are you becoming in your life?

Do you consider yourself a leader? Give some thought to that question for a minute. I bet that you can come up with at least one person who follows you, even if it is only yourself! Yes, most adults on the planet are leaders in some respect.

If you have a family, you are a leader. If you have younger siblings, you have most likely led them at some point in your life. If you are married, you are certainly a co-leader, and if you have children you are leading them.

Outside the home you are most likely a leader although you may not recognize it. Have you given anyone advice? If so, you are leading them, and they are following you, however briefly. When you are an example to anyone else in their life, they are following your lead.

At work it is very possible to lead while not having a leadership title or position. I led bosses a good part of my career. At times they were aware and at other times they were not aware, yet they followed my lead regularly.

Something I have noticed during my many years on this earth is how seldom people invest in their own personal leadership development. The investment in yourself can easily change the course of your life and multiply your results significantly.

Let’s look at one thing that is often missed in personal and corporate leadership development — taking charge as the leader in your life. This can be defined as:

“taking control of who you are and who you are becoming.”

The Role of Creating in Leadership

To lead is to create. To create more value in your life, for yourself, for others, you must continue to grow and change. How does one do this? Once you understand it is up to you and no one else to move your life forward, accept responsibility, and begin to work on yourself, you can begin. Otherwise, you will be stuck, or heaven forbid, go backward!

You can learn from the good things in your past, those things that nurture your future growth. If something in your past doesn’t serve your future, what do you do with it? Yes. What indeed? You don’t want it to drag you down or back do you?

Why would you choose to do something that takes you off course? If you develop a different perspective on your past, it can change who you are and who you are becoming.

Take the lead in your life and make the decision to let the past be past, take its lessons, and move forward into the future, with a renewed excitement! You can do it if you want. Or not. It’s completely in your control! You create the life you want, either intentionally or unintentionally. Better to be intentional don’t you think?

Become the Leader in Your Life

To lead yourself requires clarity in articulating what you wish to create. It must be seen. You must develop a vision of who you wish to become. The more clearly you see what you want to create in yourself, the more intentional you become and the more decisive your actions will be. You will then move toward creating something different, something new.

The best advice I have heard to improve your ability to lead is this:

“Become more than you are.” Jim Rohn

Make a conscious decision to take charge of creating your own future.

Work on yourself, expand and deepen your thinking, gain clarity, then take action. Read books. Read blogs. Listen to podcasts. Watch TED and YouTube videos. Search online about self-leadership. Never in the history of man has so much knowledge and so many free resources been available at your fingertips to help you grow and develop. What do you need to make this happen? Become curious, interested, excited, and develop a craving to learn more about becoming all you can be!

Set a few minutes aside each day to begin investing in yourself, in your personal development as a human being and a leader. Easy to say, but hard to do when we allow life to get in the way. And why do we do that? Is it one of the many mysteries of life? You know what it is for yourself don’t you? Remember the old saying:

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Benjamin Franklin

Take Practical Action

Start by putting an appointment on your calendar each day to invest in yourself. You are worth it, aren’t you? It only takes a few minutes. Make it the same time each day. Set a goal to learn at least one new thing daily for the remainder of the year. Then do it again next year, and the year after that and the years after that!

Imagine the effect of learning one new thing per day over a year! 365 things you didn’t know before. Or if it’s easier, try to learn one new actionable thing each week. That’s still 52 small things that can change the trajectory of your life. What do you think the average person learns each year? It’s doubtful they learn that much. Well, don’t become one of them! I guarantee the outcome will be better than what you would have had otherwise.

Leading is not just about obtaining a position, such as becoming president of a company. You can develop leadership skills and practice them in every area of life. Find every opportunity you can to lead in your family, with your peers, your bosses, the people that work for you, your board, in your church, your friends, online, and anywhere and everywhere.

The responsibility to become more than you are today rests squarely on your shoulders. It is your responsibility and no one else’s.

Are you ready to put your life on a new course to create a new outcome in your future? Are you ready to grow and become more than you are today? Start now! Take one small step into the future with the new leadership skills of learning one thing daily and of leading yourself!

Don’t sit back and expect good things to happen to you, rather, develop your intentions and make them happen over time. One small step each day can accumulate into huge progress in a year, or two, or five, or ten.

I challenge you to start now! Become the leader in your life!