The Power of Self-Management

Your life is a business of 1.

An organization of You.

Last week I wrote about the power of self-leadership.

Just as businesses need leaders, YOU must lead yourself.

But organizations cannot thrive on leadership alone.

They also need managers.

Managers ensure goals are met on time, resources are allocated, systems are in place, and more.

Leaders without management skills are dreamers.

Managers without leadership skills are dictators.

Both skills are needed.

You cannot ONLY lead your life.

To thrive, you must also manage your life.

Be your own personal manager.

In this article I am going to teach you how the power of self-management and how to leverage efficient workplace skills for operations and apply them to your life.

Management vs. Self-Management

Managers in the workplace oversee tasks, schedules, responsibilities, performance, and other operations-related items.

Self-management is all about owning this in our own lives.

While leadership is about the what and the why, management is about the how and when.

I wrote about 4 steps of self-leadership:

1. Envision the ideal
2. Create fuel for action
3. Build a plan
4. Take massive action

There are corresponding steps we can take for self-management to work alongside our internal leader.

The first step is to figure out exactly what we want.

Step 1: Quantify the Outcome

Self-leaders envision the ideal. They dream of who they want to become and why they are striving for that ideal.

We can imagine the ideal version of ourselves, but how will we know when we have achieved our ideal state?

We need measurements.

Self-management ensures we have quantifiable goals.

Consider these measurable outcomes:

• Body weight
• Muscular strength
• Retirement account value
• Location of your dream home
• Proximity to friends and family
• Amount of time spent on vacation

There are more, and you can come up with measurable goals for your life.

Regardless, just a ship with no destination can chart no path, a person with no quantifiable goals cannot take efficient action.

Yes, you can take action, but you will never know if you have arrived.

Once you know what you want to achieve, then we must prepare.

Step 2: Prepare the tools

Leaders create fuel for action. They build motivation by leveraging emotions.

Cool.

But we need tools, systems, and resources to get things done.

If you have a goal of getting fit, and you know why, and you are all motivated, and you DON’T have any exercise equipment, then you are going to make little progress.

Self-managers assess their goals and then identify the tools and resources they have to take the next steps.

For health goals, this might mean buying running shoes, or picking up a TRX (I highly recommend you get one of these).

For financial goals, this might include setting up a new savings or investment account.

For your career, this may mean investing in a course or coaching program.

Consider your measurable outcomes and make a list of things you will need to have to make progress.

Step 3: Delegate time and responsibility

Leaders build the plan and chart the course.

Like the captain of a ship looking at his map… The self-leader looks at the course they must travel.

The self-manager knows a system needs to be in place to make this work.

To operate a ship, you need a captain, helm, bowman, mastman, and more. There is also a schedule and set of executables the crew must abide by.

To operate your life toward your goals, manage your day to day by creating your own schedule, executables, and crew.

First define your schedule. How much time are you willing to allot to the different areas in your life?

You are a worker, parent, spouse, dog owner, etc. Block time for your roles.

Then define your executables. Within these time-blocks, what must you do?

What systems must you put in place to be efficient?

Finally, who is on your team? Consider the tasks you have that can be delegated or hired out.

Do you need to clean your house or can someone else do that?

Do you need to write your own workouts, or can someone else do that?

Delegate responsibility to yourself and others.

Step 4: Track your progress

The self-leader takes massive action. But how would we know if we are making progress?

We must tack and measure our progress.

Each goal/outcome should have milestones.

With weight goals, maybe every 5 pounds you lose is a milestone. Maybe every 10lbs in strength gains is a milestone.

There can be financial milestones, behavioral milestones, and more.

Establish milestones.

Then track your daily actions.

Each day, check off a day on your calendar when you took action toward your goals. I like using this tracker, but you can use anything… just be sure to physically check off a box when you are done!

Managers track progress toward goals. You can do the same!

The Wrap Up

In an organization, leaders drive the vision and people, and managers drive the systems and operations.

We can mimic this in our own lives to help us crush our goals.

Remember the steps:

1. Quantify the outcome
2. Prepare the tools
3. Delegate time and responsibility
4. Track your progress

If you pair this with self-leadership, you are going to be unstoppable!

I hope you crush it today!

Clark