If you desire to lead others, then you first need to lead your greatest asset: YOU. God gave us many great gold nuggets tucked away in his Word. We find one of those in the book of Proverbs 28:2. It reads: Maintain order and become a person of knowledge.
The very first act of God in Scripture - in the very first verse of Genesis - God made order out of a chaotic, unfilled, and dark world. God is one of order and control. Doesn't it make sense that those who chase after him do the same?
In my first pre-conference session - though so much has happened already that I can hardly call it 'pre-' - I listened to Jim Wideman discuss the art of self-leadership. Truly, leadership is an art, and it needs to be considered as such. It's wonderful when it works, but when it doesn't, it can crush the soul and, at times, crush people out of ministry all together. I feel the weight of leadership everyday, but the burden doesn't reside with those whom I lead. The burden of my leadership actually stems from the burden of leading myself.
Jim Wideman offers 5 "H" Factor of the Leadership:
1. HEART: Guard it with ferocity! Keep it safe and pure, for the foundation of your entire leadership ability resides in the heart.
2. HOME: Get it organized. Keep it organized, and invest all of your weapons into making this the safest place in your life until you do. Your leadership lives here, and overflows from this remaining your top earthly priority.
3. HEALTH: Your body is a temple. The Holy Spirit - let me say that again… HOLY SPIRIT - resides in you. It lives in you. Stop and think what your witness looks like to others if God's temple looks like a Waffle House. Personally, I don't want to follow a god who lives in a waffle house.
4. HEAD: I am the first one to admit that I would be terrified if someone could see images and words of my personal thoughts. Wideman says that you need to wrangle in these thoughts, tie them down, submit them to the grace of God, and clear room for you to encompass the stories of others in your leadership.
5. HOURS: The previous 4 H's could be argued as ethereal and high level keys to leadership. It's quite easy to philosophize these keys, think upon them, and write blog posts about them, but the rubber meets the road in the hours that we invest into our self-leadership. As you integrate these other 4 H's into your game, evaluate the use of your hours through detailed calendars, to-do lists, and accountability.
If you are leading others and ministries, then you have probably spent a great deal of time investing much in others, reading leadership books, studying best practices, and living a selfless life. Each are necessary to your leadership game. AND so is leading yourself. In fact, I want to argue that leading yourself first is the most important person that you will lead in your ministry and team.
QUESTION: What other keys would you include, and how are you implementing self-leadership into your life?