Are You an Effective Leader of Yourself?

It has taken me a minute to bring a new discussion to the table, as I wanted to fully analyze this question based on my own behaviors and habits.  I wanted to be able to discuss my own personal situation with you, as you pondered the following question:  Are you an effective leader?  Naturally, our initial response to this question is "What are you nuts?!  Of course I am an effective leader?!"  But if you really stop to think about the question, the answer that you come up with may surprise you!  The answer that I came up with for myself sure did surprise me!

Here are some things that I thought about when I lamented on this question for myself:

• Do you consistently manage your time effectively?  When I asked myself this question, I thought, "Sure I do!  I manage my time very well!"  I am a great manager of my time, but sometimes as we all do, I get side tracked with some things and it's so hard to get back to certain tasks once you put them off.  In fact, I once gave myself 19 goals to complete in a month. I wrote the goals down and put them in my purse.  I remembered them about half way through the month, and when I pulled them out, I had only gotten to 3 of them!  As a result, I now post my goals up on the wall in my office, and I check off each goal as I complete them.  By reading the goals each day, I am reminded that I still have unfinished work.  Since I am serious about completing the goals, I read them daily and then I analyze how I have been using my time and what I can do to get another goal completed.  I look at previous to do lists, and I track the things that I have been doing, so I can see where my time is going.
• Are you delegating menial tasks?  This is a big deal for some people!  You have those that will delegate everything, and then those that will not delegate one thing!  I am here to tell you, that the art of delegation was practiced in ancient history, thousands of years ago!  There is a method to delegating as well that if done correctly, will make the person who feels the worst about delegation appreciate it more!  The method is as follows:  The delegator works first, while the person being delegated to watches.  The delegator works again on the same task, while the person being delegated to helps.  Next, the person being delegated to works, while the delegator helps, and finally, the person being delegated to works while the delegator watches!  This is called on the job training, and even Jesus did it! By delegating those tasks that are menial, you free yourself up to take care of the big things that keep you up at night!  It's less stressful, when you shift the work that you really don't need to be doing onto someone else.  Once that low-end work is shifted elsewhere, you can then shift your focus to what's really important!  I was once a person who hated to delegate tasks, but when I realized how much time I had for other things I was amazed, and would never go back to trying to do everything myself!
• What do you do when things don't go as planned?  If your plan doesn't go right, it doesn't necessarily mean that you abandon the plan!  What you should do is access the plan and tweak what didn't go right!  If your plan is a good one, then you should not give up on it, but work to improve it.  Ask yourself, "Why didn't the plan work?  What could have been different?  Do I need to change the materials?  Change my target market?  Spend more time connecting with others, etc?"

These questions, are ones that I think would serve any individual well whether they are leading others or just leading themselves.  If you put these items into action, you will definitely become a great leader for others, but most importantly, you will become a great leader of yourself!