How to Lead Yourself in Challenging Times

Leadership Coach and Leaders’ Consultant, Tanja Bogataj, M.Sc. offers three keys - habits that can help guide and equip us to be able to lead ourselves during challenging times and to search for solutions, not problems.

Any challenging situation can be a great opportunity to learn, to find a better way and solution, and to make a better decision when needed. Challenging times offer us the opportunity to choose either to react or intentionally respond, to complain or take responsibility, to feel powerless and limited, or to feel powerful and free to be and do what needs to be done, and what we desire to create. It might sound easier than done.

John C. Maxwell has four pieces of advice when facing challenges - to not underestimate the problem, to not overestimate the problem, to not wait for the problem to resolve itself, and if possible, to not aggravate the problem with your activities.

When we are faced with challenging situations, we might hear ourselves say ‘I don’t know…’, ‘I can’t …’, ‘If only,…’. We might feel uncertain, uncomfortable, or even afraid at that moment. We might get stuck in thinking and believing that we are limited, or we can choose to tap into our endless resourceful and creative potential to find or create the solution we need.

When you know better, do better

Based on my experiences, working with leaders, professionals, and teams, I suggest following three principles when we are facing challenges, and searching/creating solutions:

1. Curiosity: If we want to change anything, something needs to change, and it starts with us. If we are curious about what is still available and possible, how something could be solved, created, and achieved, how we can collaborate for success, etc., we open the opportunity to learn and create something new, to find or create a better way, to find a way to succeed.

2. Clarity: What we are aware of, we can change. The more accurate we are with where we are, where we are going, and the gap in between, the better we can address our challenge and find a better solution.

3. Simplicity: Changes are challenging, and we need to help ourselves to make a change, especially if we want to make a change in an empowering and fulfilling way. One way to help ourselves is to make it simple, to choose simple steps of action so we can easily apply, practice, and improve them.

Self-awareness is one of the key self-leadership skills

A leader is 1) someone people like and trust to follow, 2) someone who helps people to do what they have to do in the most effective and appropriate way, 3) someone who gives them direction, aim, and a sense of success (definition by John C. Maxwell).

I believe that leadership starts with selfleadership. It’s about being present and active in our life. It’s about how we use our power and freedom by living, creating, and impacting. In this article I invite you to practice your leadership skills on yourself, so you can be and become the leader you’d follow.

“We need to remind ourselves that owning our power is our unique and endless source for life, a source for positive creation and prosperity, and that it is our right but also responsibility to use it wisely and assertively. It is not about overpowering others and misusing it for some partial interests and goals, and for some quick ego wins. It is about leading your life from a state of being fully present, and using your power for co-creating a better world.” (Excerpt from my article Be.Here.Now.Lead.Powerfully.; https:// www.bepowerfulandfree.com/be-here-nowlead-powerfully/; 2017)

Questions for exploring and expanding self-awareness:

- Using above mentioned Maxwell’s definition of a leader, how would you currently rate yourself as a leader of your life (from 1-10)?

- Do you trust yourself? Are you leading yourself in the most effective and appropriate way? Are you giving yourself a clear direction, aim, and sense of success?

- Do you have any potential that you can further use and develop? If yes, which one, and how?

- If you’d choose to improve one self-leadership skill in the following months, which one is it, and how would your life change because of it?

If we want to change anything, something needs to change

Today do as best as you know how to, and when you know better, do better

Every time we go through challenging times, we, individually and collectively, have the opportunity to shift and empower ourselves, and those around us, to be as powerful and free as we need to be, to learn, grow, create, and make a difference we are here to be and do.

As a coach, I like using Maya Angelou’s quote ‘Today do as best as you know how to, and when you’ll know better, do better.’. I’m sure we can all agree with it, and yet, we often miss this opportunity – the opportunity to do as best as we know how to, and the opportunity to do it better, when we know better.

Here are three keys - habits that can help you grasp this opportunity and equip you to lead yourself successfully during challenging times:

The first key: Daily good practice:

Establish a daily morning and/or evening routine and give yourself an intention for the day. Take a moment to acknowledge your start of a day, and your completion of a day. Explore and test different tools, so you can find a good fit for yourself. Establish and nurture a support system (personal and professional) that includes all the elements of your life which are important to you (family, partnership, friends, health, work, leisure, exercise, learning, etc.). Make room in your schedule for a time when you are ‘not working’, time to ‘relax and recharge your energy’, and time to do some ‘good thinking’ about your life, challenges, and solutions. Develop a habit to search for solutions, not problems.

Second key: Make 1-5% progress daily and track your progress:

The basis for this principle is in the ‘power of one’ - 1 action at the time, 1 skill at the time, 1 day at the time etc.. Plan and make 1-5 percent

progress per day. Determine your daily progress. Define criteria for monitoring. Track progress and improvement, not perfection.

Third key: Openness to learn and improve - Feedback and Feedforward:

Observe and create learning opportunities by identifying past experiences and activities. Develop a habit to reflect on what worked, why it worked, what you’ve learned, what didn’t work, or it was not optimal, and how could you do it differently, better, more successfully in the future. Involve others in feedback to find new and better solutions. Engage those who can support you on your journey of personal and professional development (mentors, coaches, teachers, accountability partners, others).

I wish you to be courageous and compassionate enough to make empowering and inspiring choices and decisions on your personal and professional development journey. In a world where you can be anything, I invite you to daily choose to #bepowerfulandfree while making a difference and inspire others to do the same.

Sources and references:

• Brené Brown, Dare to lead, Penguin Random House UK, 2018;

• John C. Maxwell, Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn, Center Street New York, 2013;

• John C. Maxwell, Become a Leader, Amalietti, 1999;

• Be.Here.Now.Lead.Powerfully.; www.bepowerfulandfree.com/be-here-nowlead-powerfully/; 2017;

Tanja Bogataj

Tanja Bogataj, M.Sc. is a (Self)Leadership Coach and Leaders’ Consultant, Founder of the #bepowerfulandfree® approach, Host of www. bepowerfulandfree.com Platform, Founder and CEO of the Power for Change Institute, G100 Mentoring Chair for Slovenia. Tanja’s motto “In the world where you can be anything, choose to #bepowerfulandfree while making a difference”. www.tanjabogataj.com | tanjabogatajcoaching@gmail.com