Self Leadership

SELF-LEADERSHIP

1. HAVE FUN.

DEVELOP POSITIVE HABITS THAT CAN BE BENEFICIAL TO YOU AND THOSE YOU LEAD.

You are the SUM of the habits you create both good and bad.

What you do with your time, talent, and treasure matters.

Healthy habits are the fuel that moves leaders from mediocrity to greatness.

Habits of the mind need to become second nature to us.

You can use your brain to make learning pleasurable.

How do we engage in this?

When was the last time I had fun?

When we are stressed our body releases unbalanced hormones that inhibit our ability to fight infection which can lead to things like illness.

Unbalanced hormones can also cause weight gain, stress, depression, sleeplessness.

Health benefits to having fun:

Triggers different chemicals in our body like:

memory boost

regulate sleeping patterns

coping skills

overall mood

Doing activities you enjoy, connect with others, and help you relax naturally increases the body’s serotonin levels

Serotonin - A chemical that carries messages between nerve cells in the brain and throughout your body. Serotonin plays a key role in such body functions as mood, sleep, digestion, nausea, wound healing, bone health, blood clotting and sexual desire.

What does serotonin do in my body?

Serotonin plays a role in many of your body’s functions:

Mood: Serotonin in your brain regulates your mood. It’s often called your body’s natural “feel good” chemical. When serotonin is at normal levels, you feel more focused, emotionally stable, happier and calmer. Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression. Many medications used to treat anxiety, depression and other mood disorders often target ways to increase the level of serotonin in your brain.

Digestion: Most of your body’s serotonin is in your GI tract where it helps control your bowel function and plays a role in protecting your gut. Your gut can increase serotonin release to speed digestion to rid your body of irritating foods or toxic products. Serotonin also plays a part in reducing your appetite while eating.

Nausea: Nausea is triggered when serotonin is released into your gut faster than it can be digested. The chemical message is received by your brain, which you perceive as nausea. Many drugs used to reduce feelings of nausea and vomiting target specific serotonin receptors in your brain.

Sleep: Serotonin, together with another neurotransmitter dopamine, plays a role in the quality of your sleep (how well and how long you sleep). Your brain also needs serotonin to make melatonin, a hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle.

Wound healing: Serotonin is released by platelets in your blood to help heal wounds. It also causes the tiniest blood vessels, arterioles, to narrow, which slows blood flow and helps clots to form. This is an important process in wound healing.

Bone health: Serotonin levels may play a role in the density of your bones. High levels of serotonin in your gut may play a role in making bones weak, which can lead to bone breaks (fractures) and osteoporosis.

Sexual health: Serotonin also plays a role — together with the neurotransmitter dopamine — in your desire for sex.

What is stopping you from having fun?

We need to have a connection between knowledge & behavior.

We must make having fun a priority.

“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for present.” - Jim Rohn

One of the key sources to happiness is gratitude.

“Step out of the 9 to 5 and move to the rhythm of life. Sometimes the rhythm is to reflect and consider how blessed you are. Sometimes that rhythm says to get up and dance.” - Marcus Goodloe

Jesus went to a wedding party in Cana.

“Our productivity focused tech - addicted culture has us obsessed with finding ways to hack our way through happiness without recognizing that real happiness lies in the everyday experience of having fun.”—Catherine Price

Technology can build harmful habits as we use it to pursue happiness.

Are your workers having fun?

Has your leadership agenda include a time for play.

Moving away from trying to solve a tough problem, a difficult one and finding a way to laugh and disconnect brings answers you would not have achieved by powering through.

Proverbs 17:22 NET 2nd ed.

A cheerful heart brings good healing, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

The source of your fun matters

Psalm 16:11 NET 2nd ed.

You lead me in the path of life; I experience absolute joy in your presence; you always give me sheer delight.

2. ASSUME THE BEST IN OTHERS

What if we share no preconceived notions about someone.

“It’s never too late to give up our prejudices.” - Henry David Thoreau

Judging on first sight is a negative habit we need to overcome.

Assuming the worst in others may say more about you than them.

People live up too or down to the expectations we put on them.

Past hurts can affect the way we view everything.

Choose curiosity and we will assume the best in others.

3. BE GOOD SOIL.

The habit of being good soil means having the capacity to understand and appreciate what you don’t know, and be willing to adjust accordingly.

Being good soil means as a leader you are constantly on the lookout for growth moments.

Why are people stuck in unhealthy lifestyles?

Because there soil is not getting proper treatment.

There soil needs fertilizer.

“Every time you want to learn something you must be able to take the new thing you have learned today and build upon what you have learned yesterday to keep growing. It’s the only way to gain traction and improve yourself.” -John Maxwell

Grow moments are best realized when leaders take in new information, process it, and go and apply it in a context and culture different from the environment where they learned it.

As leaders we sometimes want to rid the environment of the problem people.

With problem people we need to ask ourselves two questions:

Am I dealing with someone that is truly toxic to the group?

Are they stepping up and stepping on my pride?

(Maybe a person seems antagonistic because they simply have a different perspective from your own.)

Maybe these difficult people have a process or concept to teach you or your team that is helpful.

Matthew 13:1–33 (Parable of the Seeds)

Great leaders are not only learners, but life givers.