Leading Yourself Well

Cultivating spiritual listening and practical self-care

Leading yourself well is the foundational aspect of great leadership.

It begins with self-care.

It begins with self-care. As the adage goes, you cannot serve anyone else well if you are not caring for yourself. Self-care is multi-faceted, prioritizing your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Like a vehicle regularly serviced functions better, you can perform at your highest level when you care for yourself. Remember, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who abides in you to guide you into all truth (John 16:13). He grants you wisdom to handle the vicissitudes of leadership.

Physical Activity

By maintaining mental clarity and a healthy disposition, through regular exercise, a balanced diet, sufficient sleep, and stress management, you can achieve optimum health to follow his guidance.

In a Sept. 27, 2022, article, “How Exercise Protects Your Brain’s Health” (health.clevelandclinic.org), we learn that many medical professionals recommend you get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity a week to improve your physical fitness. As you follow this guidance “you’re enhancing your cognitive fitness.” Regular exercise helps your intellectual acumen. It helps even those with greater potential for developing conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia to function better.

This postures us to give our teams and God our best as we lead with excellence and innovation. We are better able to understand the times and know what to do, like the sons of Issachar (1 Chron. 12:32).

Catherine Moore in an April 2019 article, 10 Neurological Benefits of Exercise (positivepsychology.com) says exercise and physical fitness decrease stress, social anxiety, and brain fog, while increasing your energy, focus and attention. Exercise slows down the aging process, as it improves your mood and blood circulation. Working out regularly, leads to euphoria and generally makes you a happier person.

An upbeat leader is far easier to follow and relate to than a grumpy and unpleasant one.

Self-Awareness

Another key part of self-care is self-awareness. To effectively guide your actions and decisions, it is crucial to understand your strengths, weaknesses, values, and emotions. Taking self-assessments like the Myers Briggs Test, temperament tests, and using tools such as 360-Degree Assessments, help you to know yourself.

Understanding your strengths and weaknesses not only helps you identify the best environment in which you can function, but it also helps you understand how and why you interact with other coworkers as you do. Surrounding yourself with those who complement your strengths and weaknesses will help you to create the optimum team.

Continuous Learning

Continuous learning is another aspect of leading oneself well.

Continuous learning is another aspect of leading oneself well. Commit to personal and professional growth by seeking new knowledge, skills, and experiences. Studying and learning new insights will generate new brain cells, productivity and positivity.

Not only will it help you to maintain best practices, but it will also help you stay relevant and relatable. Your emotional well-being will be nurtured as you experience respect from peers and coworkers, especially as you become a part of senior leadership. Sometimes failing to stay abreast of new information and trends can leave us out of step with current movements.

Renewing Your Mind

Self-care also includes cultivating the resilience needed to navigate challenges and setbacks with a positive and proactive mindset. This means intentionally reinforcing healthy thoughts and mental acuity. Renewing your mind in Scripture and reminding yourself who God says you are will help you to resist the temptation to engage in negative thinking and self-talk. Engaging in activities, including worship, Bible study and ministry will help to build you up internally to withstand inevitable occasions when things don’t go as planned.

Reinforcing God’s vision of you being fearfully and wonderfully made, while being more than a conqueror able to do all things through Christ, will give you stamina to bounce back when times are difficult.

Reflect and Listen to God’s Wisdom

Build into your schedule breaks for self-reflection to maintain focus, clarity, and balance in decision-making. All too often, we cram our schedules so tightly we box out opportunities to listen to our hearts and hear the Lord speaking to us. Just as a piece of paper has margins, we need to room in our lives for relaxation and reflection.

God’s Word is the guiding force for self-care and effective leadership. Praying to cast your burdens on God and reading Scripture to renew your mind helps you maintain a peaceful mind.

Prioritize moments of reflection and solitude to attune yourself to divine insights that nurture your personal well-being. Cultivate a balance between spiritual listening and practical self-care practices.

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Rev. Lettie Moses Carr, Esq., CCNL, serves as an Associate Pastor of First Baptist Church of Glenarden, International, Maryland. She is the Director of the Women Connecting with Christ Ministries which hosts a weekly global virtual Bible Study and the Founder of Whosoever Believes Ministries, with a social media app on the Circle platform, the #316Prayerline broadcast on Facebook, YouTube and X at 3:16pm on weekdays. She currently provides pastoral leadership as Interim Associate Pastor at The Voice Church, Laurel, Maryland. She is the author of the book, The Word of the Day, a 365-day daily devotional.

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