I have been talking to several young men lately that are interested in getting into church leadership and I see a common theme with many of them: they don’t really lead themselves.
There is no one harder to lead on this Earth than yourself. It’s easy to talk about what you should do or tell others what they should do, but doing it yourself is an entirely different endeavor.
This presents a problem because people will never follow your talk. But they will follow your example. If it is hard for you to be an example, chances are you won’t be leading many people.
I lead with this core conviction (among many others): People don’t want to follow someone yelling from the sidelines.
Want to lead? You have to lead yourself first!
Here are some good ways to know if you are leading yourself:
1. You have a daily lineup card
Jim Rohn said “Never begin the day until it is finished on paper.”
I did not want to use the word schedule here, because I realize, not everyone operates on a strict calendar. But, at the same time, if you are leading yourself, you will at least know what you are doing on any given day when you wake up.
I have noticed that many young leaders don’t know what is in store for the day…even by lunch time. Don’t tell me you are leadership material if you don’t even know what you are doing today. That’s just simple discipline.
2. You have some goals and are actively working to achieve them.
Zig Ziglar said “If you aim for nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”
Don’t tell me you are leadership material if you don’t have any goals that you are working on knocking out. They could be simple goals like “pay off my debt” or they could be complex like “become the CEO of Starbucks.”
Show me some initiative and that you are serious about the trajectory of your life and impact your life will have on this world. Read more on goals here, here and here.
3. You read regularly
Jim Rohn said “The book you don’t read, won’t help… Most homes valued at over $250,000 have a library. That should tell us something…”
Leaders are learners. They learn. They improve. They are actively moving forward in their thinking, knowledge and challenging themselves with the ideas of others’.
I think the library quote above is awesome, though with Kindles and iPads it might be more metaphorical. If you spend more time watching television and playing video games than you do learning, then maybe you aren’t leading yourself.
4. You don’t whine and complain
Anthony J. D’Angelo said “If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it.”
I am tired of whiny “leaders.” Please, for the sake of everyone you want to lead, stop whining and make it happen. Learn to accept the minor aggravations that life will bring and move forward. Don’t cover everyone with your dust of complaints.
Just a few things I have learned about leading yourself first!
