To achieve success through life leadership there are 4 main factors on which to focus and sharpen:

1. 1. Who do you want to be?
   2. What do you want to do?
   3. Why do you want to do it?
   4. How do you want to do it?

As a general rule, unfortunately, most people lack the clarity of who they want to be and what they really want to achieve.

The problem is that they are so caught up in the constant overwhelm and stresses of life that they have become distracted and have lost focus on who they are and want to be.

They have become so caught up in the busyness of their lives that they have forgotten the most important thing they need to do—to work on their life.

So they fall back into the same old habits of doing more, running faster, working longer, but all they are doing is trying to chop down a tree with a blunt blade.

Those who are effective self-leaders—those that I call Life Leaders—understand this.

Life Leaders understand that their success is directly related to how they focus and think.

They therefore work hard to sharpen their mindset. To grind away any mental barriers and psychological limitations, especially any thoughts, emotions, words, or actions that limit who they are and want to be.

Good self-leadership, therefore, is essential if you want to become the person you are capable of being and want to live the life you always dreamed.

The Life Leadership Compass

I’d like to now introduce the Life Leadership Compass.

This compass is a visual representation of the self-leadership habits you’ll need to develop to become more effective—your Who, What, Why, How.

You can use the Life Leadership Compass to identify the areas on which you need to work and improve, as well as strengthening the areas you are already good at.

Think of the Life Leadership Compass not as a set series of rules to follow, rather as a guide with which you can tailor to your own needs.

The Life Leadership Compass

Clarity of ‘I Am’

At the centre of the Life Leadership Compass is you.

Everything in your life begins and ends with you, including who you want to be and doing what you want to do.

You are the central axis upon which pivots everything you want to become and everything you want to achieve.

If you are not the centre of your own life, then who is?

Clarity of who you are—your ‘I am’—is therefore your direction finder; without it, you are likely to wander around and around in circles trying to find yourself, lost and not knowing which way to go.

Clarity of who you are is the essential factor in being effective because it defines who you want to be, what you want to do, and why you want to do it—your inner purpose.

It also defines how you do what you want to do, and where and when you want to do it—the execution of your purpose.

Your True North

Your ‘Niche’ is your true north.

It’s that one place in this world where you can express your true potential and become the person you are capable of becoming.

Your ‘Niche’ is where you find your passion and your calling.

It is where your inner ‘being’ and outer ‘doing’ are perfectly aligned.

It’s where your effectiveness is maximised, even limitless, that place or state where you are truly fulfilled.

Helping to orientate you to your true north, or ‘Niche’, is your vision of who you are, the values and principles by which you live, and your life purpose.

It also includes the intentional expression of your natural state of being, which is the essence of who you really are—joy, security, acceptance, peace, and freedom—and the lifelong development of strong character traits.

Right Brain & Left Brain

Identifying your vision, values, and purpose engages that part of your right brain responsible for creativity and imagination—essential for developing good self-management habits.

Other techniques and activities like time-management, goal-setting, and priority planning engage that part of your left brain responsible for reasoning and logic, which assist the successful execution of your goals (your how, where, when).

Self-belief is your south or ‘S’ compass point. Self-belief is your driving force, from which springs your enthusiasm, confidence, and motivation to take action.

Self-belief is one half of the equation for what I call ‘Power Consciousness’. Without self-belief, you are like a vehicle without fuel: everything has stalled and you can’t move forward.

Helping you to develop a stronger sense of self-belief are right-brain self-empowerment activities and techniques that are designed to boost positive self-talk and a positive self-image, even boost your energy stocks.

Other left-brain activities and techniques, such as goal-setting, can boost yourself-belief through planning specific and realistic pathways to get to where you want to go.

These Life Leadership Compass strategies and habits are what you need to increase your effectiveness through better self-management.

For now, though, review The Life Leadership Compass, and reflect on these questions:

Q: What areas of the Life Leadership Compass are you already doing well in your personal life and professional work?
Q: What areas of the Life Leadership Compass do you feel you need to strengthen or focus on?