Leading yourself well, every day. I am convinced it is one of the biggest challenges we face on our leadership journey.

Too often, we focus on the endgame, leading something epic, forgetting that how we lead ourselves will probably play a determining role in whether we actually attain such lofty aspirations.

You may not have the desire to be a great leader, but you should have the desire to be a better one. Otherwise, what are you doing? The moment we stop improving is the moment our leadership stagnates and we begin to lose our influence.

Leading well every day starts with you.

Leading well every day starts today.

I acknowledge, it is easier said than done. Life is a challenge. Maybe we could go as far as to say that life is one long test. Things go well, things don't go so well. We enjoy good days, and then we have those other days too.

In life, we will make mistakes. I have made some mistakes which have had little or no impact on me, while others have had the potential to cause major consequences. You just don't know sometimes.

This is why leading yourself well is inescapable.

And one of the reasons for this is how leading yourself well becomes about protection.

Protecting yourself.

Protecting your future.

Protecting who you want to become.

Protecting your God-given future.

When I read Proverbs 1 a few years ago, it was like a lightbulb went on over my head. A moment of realisation, if you like. This is why leading yourself is so important.

I'll unpack it more in the next post, but for now, here are the verses for now in both the ESV and Passion Translations.

My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they "Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our house with plunder; throw in your lot among us; we will have one purse" -- my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths [Proverbs 1:10-15 ESV]

When peer pressure compels you to go with the crowd and sinners invite you to join in, you must simply say, "No!" When the gang says – "we're going to steal and kill and get away with it. We'll take down the rich and rob them. We'll swallow them up alive and take what we want from whomever we want. Then we'll take their treasure and fill our homes with loot. So come on and join us. Take your chance with us. We'll divide up all we get: we'll each end up with big bags of cash!" – my son, refuse to go with them and stay far away from them [Proverbs 1:10-15 The Passion Translation]

You cannot go through life doing nothing or not taking any risks. Leadership involves both.

However, there are things that we can do which will help safeguard our leadership. These verses in Proverbs are a strange portion of scripture, but they have helped me in the creation of some non-negotiables for how I do life, how I can lead myself well, how I can make better decisions and walk well with God in the every day.

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