The 7 Competencies of Self-Leadership

A few months ago, I jotted down some notes on what I think it means to take leadership over your own development, and here I flesh out some of those ideas. In the knowledge society, change occurs quickly. This means that you must be constantly learning, adapting, changing, and improving to succeed and thrive. And you must lead ourselves through the ambiguous, unclear paths ahead. 

Self-Leadership
I believe the following are critical components and competencies of self-leadership:

1. Set goals - you must know how to set meaningful, intrinsically motivating goals to work toward. 
2. Motivate yourself - You must learn to motivate yourself to accomplish your goals. 
3. Work toward goals - you must have a sense for how to work toward your goals effectively and efficiently. 
4. Evaluate and adjust - you must assess how well you are doing at reaching your goals and change your approach as needed.
5. Learn constantly - you must continually develop yourself. Your knowledge should be both broad (across several areas) and deep (expert in one area). Learn knowledge and skills that will help you reach your goals. 
6. Have fun - you must do work that you love and love your work. Learn how to enjoy your daily work.
7. Practice ethically - you must work ethically - be honest, carry your weight, and do your best to contribute to bring about goals (yours and others). 

These are, in my opinion, some of the most fundamental competencies for leading yourself in today's volatile, shifting society. Without each of these in place, it will be difficult to succeed and move forward in today's complex society.

Rate Yourself
How are you doing in these areas? Take a minute to rate yourself on each of these competencies. What are your strengths? What should you work on to improve? How could you develop yourself to improve on your weaknesses and maximize our strengths?

In the final analysis, you are the most important resource in your life. You must improve yourself.