Leaders Develop Daily, Not in a Day

I came across today’s reading, “Leaders Develop Daily, Not in a Day“, last week in John Maxwell’s GIANT Impact newsletter.  Maxwell is an internationally know writer — over 19 million books sold — and speaker on leadership.

His’s thesis in this piece is very straightforward:  “Unless we set aside time to grow into the person we desire to be, we will not reach our potential.”  Leaders need to commit themselves to the process of growth, if indeed they want to develop as leaders.

To encourage each of us to adopt a lifestyle of personal growth, he shares five principles in this piece:

1.  Growth is the great separator of those who succeed and those who don’t.  Maxwell’s personal practice is to spend an hour each day on his personal growth.

2.  Growth takes time, and only time can teach us some things.  His key observation:  Experience is not the best teacher;  evaluated experience is.  To gain insights from your experience, you have to reflect: to regularly engage in reflective thinking.  His guide is ten minutes at the end of each day.

3.  Growth inside fuels growth outside.  It’s all about what you become through your growth, not just what you learn.  That is, you learn, you use what you learn;  it becomes a practice.

4.  Take responsibility for your own growth.   At some point graduations with diplomas and program certificates cease.  To continue growing, you have to take over and assume this responsibility for yourself.

5.  Determine those areas in your life in which you need to grow.  Maxwell argues that you should spend your limited personal development time on that small number of things you do really well.  It’s you choice and where you begin.

So, there you have it.  Your on-going development is your responsibility;  take time to work on it every day.

Have a great week.  .  .  .  .     jim