The hardest person to lead is yourself. Because, you can’t deceive yourself. You have to practice what you preach. You have to do what you say consistently. And that is not easy.

And yet, you have to do this if you want to become a leader. After all, if you won’t follow yourself, why should anyone else? Take a moment to reflect on the leaders you admire. Are you just listening to what they say or are you watching how they live and lead? Are they leading with honesty, integrity and character? Do you trust them? Do they have a vision? Does their vision appeal to your mind or touch your heart? See what you are looking for in people that lead you? It’s the same for your followers. They need to see all this in you. And that starts with leading yourself i.e. Self Leadership.

How do you lead yourself? What should you focus on? At least these four key aspects:

• Develop Self Awareness: This is the ability to know oneself deeply at the physiological and psychological levels. It involves understanding one’s strengths, weaknesses, values and emotions. This is not merely on a superficial level but delving into the depths of one’s consciousness to comprehend the true nature of oneself. This is where you establish your identity. You are able to answer the question “Who am I?”, honestly, to yourself. This is very important because leadership is about identity. It is not about what you do — that follows later — it’s first about who you are. So, understand yourself
• Develop Character: People look for integrity, honesty and authenticity in their leaders, just as you do. What are your values? Define them. That will serve as your moral compass, guiding your daily actions. Are your behaviors aligned with your values? Are your thoughts, words and deed in harmony? Be true to yourself and others and avoid compromising your integrity. Authenticity fosters trust and credibility, essential qualities of leadership
• Develop Self Discipline: Discipline is doing what needs to be done, even if you don’t feel like doing it. Especially, if you don’t feel like doing it. Leaders do that consistently, more often than the others. And when you do that over long periods of time, the results are compounded. As you know, “Overnight Success” can often take a long period of time. You will need discipline to achieve anything meaningful — even to develop self awareness and character. So, start building meaningful habits and stick with them
• Develop your Purpose: First, identify it. What do you stand for? Why do you do what you do? Is your purpose just about money, or yourself? Is it bigger than you? Is it selfless? Define your purpose and then work on clarifying. When it is crystal clear to yourself, you will also be able to articulate it to others. Purpose will lead to Vision. Purpose provides the “Why” and the vision provides the “What”. Without a vision your are not a leader. Develop your purpose and then you will have a vision

Leading others, starts with leading yourself. “Self”-leadership is the key to “Other”-leadership. In fact, there is only Self leadership. You lead yourself and the others magically follow you, whether you want them to follow you or not.