LEAD YOURSELF Part 2: Passion, plan, & persist

World Domination Summit. It is a real conference with a pretty cool name. Founder and author, Chris Guillebeau, when preparing for the 2019 event extended a challenge to all of the speakers at the summit to 'inspire practically'. He goes on to describe that he doesn't want attendees to leave fired up but he wants them to leave knowing exactly what to do with their sense of fired up.

If you read the first of my 2-part post on leading yourself maybe you were fired up. Well, here's where I hope to fire you up practically. Here are three suggestions on how to lead yourself well.
Invest time and energy into what you are passionate about by first figuring out what you are passionate about. I believe we get one of the biggest returns on the investment of our energy when we intentionally spend time on things that we are professionally passionate about. How do you find out what you are professionally passionate about? Here are three suggestions: 
1) What is it that colleagues and superiors regularly compliment you on? 
2) What is about your profession that moves you to tears or gives you goosebumps? 
3) What is that reoccurring thought about your future in your profession that seems to always be rattling around your head? Any of those three lines of thinking will send you down the path to a high return on a lead yourself investment.

Make a simple, daily plan on how to invest into what you are passionate about. We live in an incredible time when we have access to information and content of every possible kind. Degrees are online. Certifications are online. How-to-videos are online. Podcasts are online. Where we miss out is when we don't dive into all of this information intentionally. Here are three quick suggestions for how to consume information about any chosen area intentionally. 
1 - reserve a time every day that you can be alone for 10-15 minutes only for engaging in content that applies to your chosen area. 
2 - take handwritten notes to formalize the learning of the content. There is important research about how writing (not typing) things out engages deeper learning experiences. 
3. Only write down things that make your eyebrows move. Eyebrows up in surprise? Write it down. Eyebrows down in disagreement? Write it down. Eyebrows pinched together in confusion? Write it down. Let your eyebrows lead you. 

Never miss your simple, daily plan. When it comes to the important habits in my life I have created a mantra of #nevermiss Why is #nevermiss so important? Because our lives are so busy and chaotic that it is so very easy to miss and it usually the important things that miss. Do you know how much you would learn and grow by making a 15-minute per day commitment and never missing that commitment? Over the course of 30 days, you would consume 7.5 hours of information on your chosen topic! I promise you would see the effects of this on the conversations you are having, on your responses to stressful situations, and how you are thinking through complex matters. And it is that effect of leading yourself well that would have an impact on leading others well.

'Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.' Lao Tzu

Keep on, keeping on, friends!!

Bite Down and Don’t Let Go’ is a collection of writings on relentlessly leading yourself and others well. Read about it more here. You can listen to the Bite Down and Don't Let Go podcast here!

Dr. Chris Hobbs is an educational leader with more than two decades of experience. He’s earned a few degrees and won some awards. He’s happily married to his high school sweetheart and they have three teen age children. Life is messy and complicated most of the time. You can follow him on Twitter for all sorts of inspirational thoughts and good laughs.

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