Self-Leadership: Step One of Being the Best Version of Me

Happy June🙂 I am so excited to have you here!

This week let’s talk about self-leadership😊 In today’s fast paced, ever-changing world it is important for us as leaders to empower ourselves to be the best version of us and lead others in our early childhood programs.

When I first stepped into an early childhood leadership role, one thing I realized was that I first had to lead myself. I had a team looking up to me for answers and guidance, but I needed to first find strength in myself to lead and inspire.

What is Self-Leadership?

It is having a sense of who you are, what you can do, and where you are going! You are taking responsibility and ownership of your actions, thoughts and emotions as you create goals, make decisions, and take initiative. The power of self-leadership is acting on something because you want to, not because someone told you to.

When I first started my self-leadership journey:

• I kept a journal📙 to reflect on thoughts and questions.

  • I asked myself: who am I as a leader, what are my values, what are my limits, what do I know to lead others, what do I need to learn to become a stronger leader that inspires others and where do I see our early childhood program going?

• I took time to understand my feelings before reacting🤔

• I looked from different perspectives to practice openness and curiosity

• I lead with my values✨

 Learning to lead myself required me to:

• Become more aware of my strengths💪💪 and weaknesses

• Stay calm in unfamiliar situations

• Have confidence in my decision making

• Take initiative and move our school forward⏩

•  Communicate clearly the vision for our program

• Have courage to try new things and embrace failure

• Collaborate with others for problem-solving and innovation💡

Learning to lead myself is a continuous process of evolving, pivoting, and learning every day. As you work on your self-leadership skills you will inspire others around you to be better and create a stronger team.

I am not perfect, however, through self-leadership; I stay motivated, learn from my mistakes, collaborate with others to navigate obstacles that are in the way to achieve goals, and move our early childhood program forward.

Let me end our time together this week with a quote:

Till Next Time,

Jen