This phrase actually came from Tiger Woods. At his news conference before the 2010 Masters. He actually said that his father told him he must, “Learn to help himself, before he helped others.” But I decided I liked “lead” instead of “help” so thanks Tiger for the quote.
I have experienced many types of leaders through my life. Many of them never really lead as much as they told those that worked for them what to do. They then went about taking credit for the good, and giving blame for the bad. I worked with a man once that complained about Dr. John C. Maxwell’s writing on leadership, but never read any of it. I would suggest he never learned to lead himself.
Discipline is hard, but discipline is a must for anyone who wants to be successful at whatever they do. If you are always late, it is because you are not disciplined enough to be on time. Not because your family is a late family and you always have been. When I was in the Navy I learned this lesson first hand. I was relieved from my watch every day by a man who was consistently late. I reported the man several times and he was moved to other watch sections but his tardiness never ceased. He was finally taken to Captains Mast and reduced in rank before being released from the Navy. His inability to be on time cost him his job, and he never knew why.
Control your tongue. Swearing is one of the best signs of an undisciplined mouth. In the bible we are told that the tongue is like the rudder of a ship. A rudder is small in comparison to the ship, but turns the thing. Your tongue can lead you down roads you do not want to travel. Swearing is not the only sign of an undisciplined tongue. Arguing, sarcasm, complaining, and gossip are other signs. No one wants to be around someone who complains all the time. It’s just not fun. Learn to control what you say and do by Forming Better Habits which can take some time, but pay huge dividends in the long run.
Discipline is more than being on time and controlling how you talk. But being on time is a good start and controlling what you say is a good start. Make a list of things you need to do and stick to the list this way you can be encouraged by you progress, and prodded when you slack. Always remember, you can only accomplish something if you do it. The minute you put it off, you will stop and lose your momentum.
From Mary Jo Asmus Stuck? Admit It and Ask For Help
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Great post about leading ourselves before leading others. Because if you cannot follow your own lead, how could you expect others to follow your lead? ? If you cannot meet your own standards, then expecting others to meet the standards you set for them is hypocritical. Of course in reality, not everything is as crystal clear. You may not be living up to your higher self all the time despite the intent to do so, and you may still be leading others on a project or your team or your organization. The idea is to ask if you are leading yourself as much as you would like to, before or when you are leading other people (be it your team, a project team, or teams of people). This should hopefully prompt others to think about exercising good self-leadership when or before you want to exercise good people leadership.
Lynne
Good Points Lynne. If we are always trying to live to a higher standard, we will grow ourselves. When we are growing, the people around us will grow, and our leadership will increase.