Sneak Peak

Our Journey Begins Here

I admit, I am quite the consumer of self help or personal development “stuff”.  You name it, a book, a podcast, an article, I love it.  I am so passionate about learning and growing that I make it a part of my daily routine.  If you are reading this, or you are a manager leading your team through this, the odds are that you have some interest in the same topic, so I salute you.  Not everyone possesses the humility to seek out personal development and growth. 

Recently, I was planning a “leadership journey” for a team I was managing.  While thinking through the process and the best way to organize the journey, I had several thoughts on how to begin.  First, I thought about a lesson on time management.  Next a lesson on being organized.  Then a lesson on prioritizing.  You get the point, right?  I was picking different topics to present, just like I had read about or listened to. 

The fact is that these are all great topics to discuss and to learn more about when it comes to personal development and leadership.  They are a part of the journey.  The issue was that it did not feel right to begin with one of these topics because it seemed like these were just random lessons and there was no order or structure.  Yes, it drives my wife crazy too…  I like order and structure.  It just makes sense. Though it is not for everyone, I do feel that for this journey, we needed a system which built on itself and progressed.  I realize that leadership or self-development is infinite.  There is no finish line.  There may be cycles or phases, and I believe there must be a base, a center, or a reference point.

While serving in the Marine Corp we would participate in Land Navigation Exercises.  During these exercises, we would be provided a starting point and grid coordinates for a check point.  We would use a protractor, a map, a compass, and navigate through the terrain to that location.  Here we would find a box attached to a metal steak in the ground. In the box would be the coordinates for the next checkpoint.  If you failed to locate one of these boxes or somehow found one that was not the correct one, you would be lost and wondering around with no direction and no reference point.  Just like the Land Navigation Exercise, the starting point for this leadership journey was critical to its success. 

So how many of the self help or personal development tools you have consumed have a starting point?  If they do, that is great, but I have found a ton of information just randomly tossed out there.  What if there were coordinates, or steps that led you from check point to check point?

While considering this, I thought of a chapter in “The Daily Stoic” by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, where I learned that Epictetus, an ancient Greek Stoic Philosopher, was aware of this and he told his students that the place to “begin philosophy is this: a clear perception of one’s own ruling principles”, meaning they would become philosophers when they began to question and understand what guided their thinking.  I had listened to this on my way to the office one day and had written the words on my white board.  “Clear Perception of one’s Guiding Principles”.  Yes, I changed it from ruling to guiding, and after thinking it through and self-reflecting, I came up with three for myself.  These principles became my starting point, reference point, or base, I refer to them daily.  That was when I decided that the base for my team’s leadership journey would be establishing our “guiding principles”.

Now you are probably wondering, just like my team was, what are your guiding principles, Jay?  So here you go!

1.      Humility- Ask questions, learn from others, and be open to new ideas (nobody knows everything, and we do not know what we don’t know).

2.      Integrity- Do the right thing. Even when nobody is looking.

3.      Accountability- Own your mistakes.  Admit them, learn from them, and grow.

Now it is your turn.  Think about your life and what you would consider to be your guiding principles.  If you are reading this as part of a group, split into teams of 3-4 people and have an open discussion about this chapter and share your thoughts.  Next, write them down.  What are your guiding principles?  You can use the space below or maybe a white board, a journal, or even your screen saver.  Regardless, commit to these and reflect on them daily with each action and decision you make.  I believe this is a solid foundation or starting point, for anyone who aspires to become a successful leader.

1.      ______________________________________________________________________________

2.      ______________________________________________________________________________

3.      ______________________________________________________________________________