You cannot expect other people to follow you if you don’t have a solid foundation to lead from. Being an effective leader starts with being able to lead yourself well. When you lead yourself well, you have a solid foundation to build on when it comes time to lead other people.

What does a solid foundation look like? It starts with being organized and following through on the commitments you make to other people. It also includes following through on the commitments you make to yourself. Leading yourself well also includes setting goals and following through on those goals.

Being Organized

If you are disorganized, you will have a hard time leading other people. You will lose important information that you need to act on. You will forget commitments you make to other people. You will also forget commitments you make to yourself. You will also find that you forget important meetings and other events in your life, and ultimately it will make you ineffective as a leader.

To lead yourself well, be an organized person. To get started, pick a note taking tool and keep track of all of your commitments and all of the information you need to act on.

One system that works well is to file notes electronically using a cloud-based note taking app like Microsoft OneNote. Evernote is another good choice. I also find that taking notes on paper during a meeting is a good first step, and then I add those notes to my electronic notes app after the meeting is over.

To be organized with my notes, I create different notebooks in OneNote, each with different sections based on the type of information I am recording. For example, I belong to three Toastmasters clubs, and I have a separate notebook for each club I belong to. I store information about each of my three clubs in these notebooks and it’s easy to find info about a specific club simply by going to the notebook I maintain for that club.

The most important advantage of taking notes, and organizing them in a note taking system, is that it is a supplement to your memory that helps you to remember commitments you make and important information you need to recall at a later date.

Following Through on Your Commitments

In addition to taking notes to remember your commitments, you need to follow through on those commitments. If you don’t follow through on the commitments you make to other people, they won’t take you seriously as a leader. And if you don’t follow through on the commitments you make to yourself, you won’t accomplish the goals you set for yourself and you will fail to fulfill your responsibilities as a leader.

To follow through on your commitments, you need to remember what those commitments are. The best way to do this is by using a calendar. A paper calendar can work, but an electronic calendar works even better, especially if you use a calendar app that you check regularly. A calendar app can even give you an audible alarm on your phone or computer, which helps to ensure you remember your meetings and other commitments.

When meeting with other people, be sure to have a notepad with you. When you agree to do something, write it down. Even if there is a secretary recoding the minutes for your meeting, you should still write down your own action items so you can be sure to follow up on them. You will be reminded of your action items when the secretary sends out the minutes, but if you take your own notes, you can act on them right away without waiting for the secretary to send the minutes. Then, when the minutes are sent, you can double check that you have not missed any commitments you have made, and you can add anything you missed to your calendar.

After a meeting is over, add your commitments and action items to your calendar. This must be a tool you use and check regularly. If you don’t check your calendar regularly, you will most likely forget the commitments you made to others.

You can also use a reminders or tasks app on your phone or computer to help you remember to act on your goals and responsibilities. Just add a new task to your reminders app with notes on what you need to do. Then review that task list regularly so you don’t forget to act on that goal, responsibility, or task.

The most important advantage of using a calendar and reminders app is that you will have an extension to your memory that reminds you when you have an upcoming commitment or when an important task is due. These tools will make you more organized and will help you to honor the commitments you make to other people and the commitments you make to yourself.

Goal Setting

Another important aspect of leading yourself is setting goals. A goal provides you with direction in life and gives you something to do.

Setting a goal is a good first step. Following through on that goal is even better.

To be effective in goal setting, review all of your responsibilities and identify what you want to achieve in each area of your life. Then write down goals that will help you accomplish what you want to achieve and that will help you fulfill your responsibilities.

For example, if you have the responsibility to send a district newsletter every month, you could set yourself a goal to write and publish the newsletter on the first Thursday of every month. Add this goal to the reminders app on your phone or computer, and turn on an audible alarm for this goal in the software. This will help you to remember to send this newsletter, and it will help you honor the commitment you made to your fellow district members.

Something else that you can do to lead yourself is to create weekly and monthly objectives. These are goals that you will work to achieve over the course of the next week or month. It can also give you a focus for the week and for the month, which is especially helpful if you have many more goals and responsibilities than you can easily fit into one week or one month.

By picking a subset of your goals to focus on for the week and for the month, you can direct your attention to those goals and make progress on them. Then you can set new objectives next week and next month to make further progress on the same goals or on new goals.

Conclusion

You cannot expect other people to follow you if you don’t have a solid foundation to lead from. Being an effective leader starts with being able to lead yourself well. When you lead yourself well, you have a solid foundation to build on when it comes time to lead other people.

To build a solid foundation, start by becoming an organized person. Take notes and use a calendar and a reminders app to ensure you remember all of the commitments you to make to others and all of the commitments you make to yourself.

Leading yourself well also includes setting goals for yourself and following through on those goals. Setting goals give you direction in life and can help you to fulfill your commitments and responsibilities. But don’t just set goals and create reminders for yourself. Also set weekly and monthly objectives to give yourself focus for each week and each month.

Remember, before you try to lead other people, lead yourself first. It will give you a solid foundation to lead from, and you will be an example for other people to follow.