Leadership is a virtue that everyone needs some time or the other in one’s life. An opportunity may come in one’s life when one needs to lead a specific group to achieve the desired goal. However, certain traits are required for effective leadership, the most significant among them being ‘self-leadership.’ It awakens positivity and faith in the self and enables the person to lead the team towards its goal. The following are some golden rules for developing self-leadership.
1. Self-Awareness – One should be aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses. This kind of awareness makes a person realize his present position and develop a program for self-refinement. This program may include identifying the shortcomings and rectifying them and augmenting one’s strengths.
2. Clarity of Life’s Goal– Based on one’s strengths, one should choose an appropriate goal. This will ensure success in one’s endeavors, which, in turn, will augment self-confidence. The clarity of life’s purpose ascertains the holistic progress of the concerned person. This forms a powerful base for effective leadership.
3. Positivity– Negative thoughts flood the mind with similar feelings and challenge the quality of leadership; whereas, positive thoughts fill the mind with confidence even with small successes. Incessant efforts in this direction make a person powerhouse of positive energy.
4. Empathy and Faith in the Divine– These are the central elements of self-leadership. With these qualities, a person walks on the path of truth, and boldly faces the challenges that come on his way. The light of faith shows the right path to self-development as well as social welfare.
5. Keen Learner and Liberal Thinker– A person who is always enthusiastic about learning from every circumstance augments his knowledge continuously. At the same time, liberal thinking endows one a personality that is acceptable to all. With these qualities, the challenges of life become opportunities for self-growth.
7. Honesty and Responsibility– These virtues make a person self-disciplined and confident. He is perceived as faithful and authentic. Pujya Gurudev has rightly said –‘An honest person is like a sparkling diamond among the thousand beads.’ Where honesty gives inner peace and soul power, responsibility provides the satisfaction of performing one’s duty righteously.
8. Courage and Humility– It requires tremendous courage and patience to proceed towards the desired goal despite failure, opposition, and social/familial pressures. These virtues form a strong base for self-leadership. Humility, on the other hand, makes a person realize the ground realities and act accordingly. An impatient person gets puzzled even by small obstacles, and hence he cannot stay confident in odd circumstances.
9. Grasp on the Subject– In today’s professional world, in order to lead the team, the team leader must be well-versant in his subject and technical skills. In-depth knowledge of the subject makes a person independent and gives a boost to his confidence.
10. Best Utilization of the Present – One must understand that whatever he is today is due to his thoughts and actions of the past. That is, the key to one’s future is in his own hands. All our thoughts, resolutions, and activities are the stepping stones of our future opportunities and successes. Therefore, the best utilization of the present is a significant cause in the development of self-leadership. In conclusion, imbibing the abovementioned virtues and refining the self will help us in developing the quality of self-leadership, which, in turn, will help us in leading the group(s) in achieving specific social as well as global objectives.
Source: Akhand Jyoti Magazine -March-April