Leadership
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The most successful leaders have something in common. They understand that they must inspire themselves if they hope to inspire others.

But knowing something and achieving it are different things. Too often, leaders are so focused on motivating and supporting the well-being of their top teams, their employees, their customers, and their partners that they neglect their own needs.

It's a natural inclination and can even be seen as selfless, a positive attribute. It comes with its downsides, though. When you prioritize everyone else over yourself, you not only sell yourself short, but ultimately you don't provide others the kind of leadership they really need. After all, success is measured by more than bottom-line results or external recognition. True success in inspired leadership begins with a deep sense of self-love, purpose, unstoppable confidence, and well-being — traits that ultimately can rub off on those around you.

Judging Ourselves and Others Unfairly

To arrive at a place where you inspire yourself so you can inspire others, there are a number of things you need to master, but let's consider just three of them: how to master ego, how to master passion, and how to master innovation.

When people think of ego, they often connect it to narcissism, imagining someone who spends too much time admiring themselves in the mirror. But, oddly enough, our egos produce an inordinate amount of negative thoughts, causing us to judge ourselves, judge others, and judge our circumstances through an unfavorable lens.

We dwell on our inadequacies and our doubts. We beat ourselves up over our mistakes, bad decisions, poor performance, and our very worth. It would be bad enough if it stopped right there. But these negative thoughts spill over into how we interact with others, in many instances causing us to judge and label them unfairly.

When you're in such a frame of mind, it's time to take a deep breath and take a step back. Avoid making decisions, solving problems, or communicating with others until you can put yourself into a more positive emotional state. Otherwise, you are likely to say or do something that will lead to regrets.

Use the 24-hour rule if at all possible, postponing any actions for a day as you mull things over. That extra time can improve the odds that you will approach yourself and others with curiosity and compassion rather than condemnation. You will be better able to recognize that everyone is on their own journey, doing the best they can with the knowledge and resources they have at the moment, an acknowledgement that will reduce any condemnation you feel.

Three Questions That Keep Passion Alive

Another practice that will help you become a better self-leader is to master your passion. This is about getting a good handle on your purpose, on what energizes you and gets you excited about starting the day.

When you know your purpose and feel passionate about it, you will be more intentional about how you spend your time, not just with the business aspects of life but with your family and your personal life.

In the frenetic pace of life, though, it's easy to lose focus of that passion as you try to keep track of all your responsibilities and any new challenges that emerge. How do you overcome that and not let the daily grind throw you completely off the path you carved out for yourself?

A great tool is to ask yourself three questions every day. 1. What does success look like? 2. What do you really want? 3. What is your purpose?

Those questions can help you start the day thinking about what inspires you rather than contemplating the problems you expect to encounter that could throw you off stride.

Setting Aside Innovation Time

A little "me time" also can help with innovation, allowing you to find new ideas to apply to your business and take it to greater heights.

Many people mistakenly believe that innovation only happens when you're brainstorming with others. That's not the case. While bouncing ideas off others can work great, ideas often bloom best when you establish a dedicated space for your creative brain to operate. Google, as one of the more prominent examples, allows employees to use 20% of their time to work on their passion projects.

When that inspired brain kicks in, you can generate new ideas, make better decisions, and solve problems more effectively.

Innovation time can take place when and where you like, whether it's during a morning walk, while on a stationary exercise bike, or in some other activity or place that inspires you. It's also a good habit to write down any ideas you generate so you can review them on a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. Don't let those ideas just sit there unused on the page. It's important to put them into action, although keep in mind that not everything works the way you might have hoped. If you find you're not making progress on a new idea, let it go and move on.

Like so many other things, to inspire innovation in your organization, you must first cultivate it within yourself. Beyond setting aside that personal time for exploring ideas, you should consistently seek new knowledge, whether through formal courses, reading, or active participation in peer groups.

CEOs who become exemplars of self-leadership, inspiring themselves to be the best versions of themselves every day, will be able to inspire their top teams to also learn self-leadership tools. They, in turn, can inspire all employees to do the same, and before you know it, you will have created a culture of self-leadership throughout the organization.

About Nancy MacKay

Nancy MacKay, author of "It's Lonely at the Top: CEO Strategies for Inspiring Yourself and Your Team," is the founder and CEO of MacKay CEO Forums, Canada's premier peer learning organization for CEOs, executives, and business owners. Since 2005, she has worked with more than 5,000 leaders to help them accelerate growth, save time, and build inspiring organizations. She also is the bestselling co-author of "I Don't Have Time," and is a sought-after keynote speaker on inspired leadership and high-performance cultures.