New Year, New You: What Self-Leadership Goals Will You Set This Year?

The start of a new year always heralds a surge of optimism - rightly so! I’ve always viewed it as an excellent chance to reflect, review and redefine where I was this time last year and where I want to be next year.

While there seems to be some merit in the recognising that ‘new year, new me’ mindsets can set us up for failure, I think it’s all in how we think about our goals as long-term direction and progress.

Where most people stumble is that they set a goal expecting a quick turnaround in results, and when that doesn’t happen, they harshly judge themselves for their lack of progress. It is hard work to set a goal, stick to it, and work consistently for the desired results. It often requires more change than we anticipate - and it’s often easier to step back into old habits and patterns when we realise this.

It’s all in how we set our expectations and prepare for the work ahead, and one area where I believe this is vital within self-leadership.

What is Self-Leadership?

Self-leadership is an emerging concept that encourages us to apply leadership principles, values, and practices to how we relate to and guide ourselves.

Charles Manz first used the term in his 1983 book Self Leadership, and the term has been steadily growing in popularity since. Manz defined self-leadership as “a comprehensive self-influence perspective that concerns leading oneself".

Taking personal responsibility for our energy, performance, well-being, and openness to learning ensures we function optimally and positively impact others. Self-Leadership depends on developing self-awareness which supports deepening our skills in self-direction and self-management.

For me, self-leadership is the essential starting point we must begin from to be at our best and then relate to and lead others effectively.

Why Create Self-Leadership Goals?

To answer this question, it’s worth thinking about why we create goals at all.

If you’re reading this, you’re likely interested and invested in becoming the best version of who you can be - for yourself and others. As we already touched on, this will usually require some form of change - and, as we already touched on - change can be challenging!

Setting goals is an effective way to increase motivation and help you to create the changes you want.

Creating goals focused around self-leadership can be highly beneficial for several reasons:

• It aligns your actions with your values.

• It helps you define and work towards your professional and personal goals.

• It brings your attention to what you have the most control of, which is yourself.

• It helps you stay energised with higher levels of wellbeing.

• It’s essential for leadership development.

• It increases ownership and confidence in your actions.

• It can help you to stay relevant for the future of work.

3 Self-Leadership Goal Examples to Get You Started

So, what might a self-leadership goal look like?

The type of goals you’ll want to focus on will be unique to you, but to help give you some idea of what a goal connected to self-leadership might look like, I’ve included a few examples below:

1.Become (more) adaptable to change.

Given everything we’ve been through in the last few years, I’m willing to bet you might already be quite adaptable to change - but it’s a good one to think about for self-leadership.

We’ve got a little way to go before we’re entirely out of the pandemic woods, so think about the lessons you’ve learned so far, how you’ve changed in terms of how you adapt to change since the start of the pandemic, and how you might be able to impact these ideas and lessons to other is a great goal to set.

2. Focus on listening.

Listening is a fundamental leadership trait - yet I know many people struggle with it.

Some research has indicated that during a typical business day, we spend almost half our time listening to others but only with a 25% comprehension rate. We’re doing a lot of hearing but not a lot of listening.

Reflect on your week and how much time you have spent listening to yourself. What are you thinking and what are you feeling? What is the deeper part of your trying to communicate?

3. Learn how to give - and receive - constructive feedback to yourself.

Giving constructive feedback is a vital part of being a leader and operating within a successful team - the same goes for receiving feedback.

Many of us are never taught how to give and receive constructive feedback. Without this knowledge, it’s too easy for us to become victims of poor feedback - so we learn to fear it.

A study by LinkedIn reports 92% of people to believe constructive criticism is effective at improving performance. Whether you’re a leader or not, dedicating a goal to enhancing this essential workplace skill will never be wasted.

So how do you give feedback to yourself? Is it a continual monologue of self-criticism or do you take the time to recognise your strengths, your skills as well as your opportunities for growth and development?

What Self-leadership Goals Will You Set?

We all look for exceptional leadership externally but forget to be the best leaders for ourselves. Most of us have never been given a clear approach to leading ourselves well or had role models demonstrating inspiring self-leadership.

In today’s complex workplace experiencing continual change and challenge, leaders and employees benefit from developing superior self-leadership and self-management skills to maximise their potential and to contribute productively to their team. Although familiar with leading others, leading oneself can be a game-changer.

If you’re ready to focus on self-leadership but uncertain how to begin, my Self-Leadership Development Programs are an excellent place to start.