Most people confuse self-leadership with self-management.
Most people are also capable of self-management – at least in some contexts – but only a few are capable of self-leadership.
What Is the Difference Between Self-Leadership and Self-Management?
Self-management – in my definitions – means that a person knows how to manage their actions and behaviors in such a way that they are able to repeatedly achieve results that they have achieved before. So it is repeating something that has already been learned in a controlled and often effective way.
And there’s nothing wrong with that. On the contrary: it’s a good thing!
Self-leadership, on the other hand – still in my definitions – means that you are able to set new goals for yourself and lead your activities and behaviors so that you achieve new results.
How does this happen?
In order to be able to bring about actions and behaviors that produce the results you want, you need to be in the right emotional state.
In order to be able to get into the right emotional state and, through that, to behave and act in such a way that you achieve new results, you must think in a new way.
How, Then, to Lead Oneself?
Self-leadership starts with setting new goals.
When setting new kinds of goals, it is of the utmost importance that you know how to define your goals correctly. Poorly or insufficiently defined goals are usually the first factor where self-leadership falls.
After determining the goal, movement between action/behavior, specification of emotional states and thinking often begins. You can also ask yourself:
- what kind of activity and behavior is required to achieve the goal?
- what kind of emotional state do I need to be in to be able to act and behave in the necessary way?
- how should I think to get into the desired emotional state and accomplish the desired action and behavior?
- what is important to me in the goal?
If you’ve been wanting what you’re aiming for for some time, it’s also good for you to ask yourself, “what has stopped me from achieving what I want?” As you list your answers to this question, you will most likely find limiting beliefs, which in turn directly affect your thinking and emotional state, thus preventing the needed action and behavior.
The “formula” of self-leadership is simple in itself:
- By changing your thinking, you change your emotional state. Note that changing your thinking is usually significantly easier when you also change your physiology. In other words: you change your body posture (mainly a straight posture allows for more positive thoughts).
- When your emotional state changes, it produces a different behavior and action for you.
- A new kind of behavior and action will produce new kinds of results for you.
“For any outcome you want there’s a certain way of thinking and acting that will get it for you.” -Bill Harris
The essence of self-leadership is therefore in correctly defined goals and in being able to think in new ways. Once these two things are under control, the other sections are already much easier to accomplish.
What I have presented above is a highly condensed version of self-leadership. By clicking on the links in the text, you will get more detailed information about the areas of self-leadership.
