When you see the word “leadership” what comes to mind? Your answer, most likely, is not related to health. However all our thoughts and actions result from our own self-leadership. Let’s examine what this really means.
The concept of self-leadership simply put, means influencing one’s self. The primary focus of self-leadership is that our behaviors and thoughts affect our personal effectiveness in achieving success in all areas of life (physical, emotional, social, career, family, creativity, financial). We lead ourselves through action and behavior change in order to get the results we desire. Holding ourselves accountable is also important throughout the process.
The practice of self-leadership described above, is an integrative framework between the mind and the body. It encompasses our attitudes, values, and beliefs, the world we live in, our needs and desires, and the choices we make. Understanding how these factors influence the way we live our life and how they affect our health, is the first step in becoming an effective self-leader.
Putting self-leadership into practice requires several behavioral techniques such as self-observation, goal setting, self-management, mental imagery, self-talk, and self-esteem, to name a few. Using these strategies can make an immediate difference in our health, our career, our relationships, our world.
When people are engaged in managing their health they are practicing skills necessary to identify their health needs, working with their healthcare team, making critical decision, and adopting lifestyle changes for long-term success. Health Promotion Associates, LLC has identified four key concepts that promote active engagement in enhancing health, preventing a disease, or managing a chronic illness.
Here are the four key concepts;
- Developing self-management skills
- Problem-solving and making critical decisions
- Engaging in positive behavior changes
- Committing to continuously measuring degrees of success
Self-leadership doesn’t mean you have to go it totally alone. Self-leadership involves identifying support systems to develop these concepts and expand your self-leadership. What resources do you believe you will need to build stronger self- leadership and ultimately improve relationships with health professionals, family, workplace and
community?
