Developing the Leader Within You - Self-Discipline

We will continue our leadership journey, learning new skills and refreshing old ones, with John C. Maxwell's book Developing the Leader Within You.

The Price Tag of Leadership: Self-Discipline.

All great leaders have understood that their number one responsibility was for their own discipline and personal growth. If they could not lead themselves, they could not lead others.


Leaders can never take others farther than they have gone themselves, for no one can travel without until he or she has first traveled within. A great person will lead a great organization, but growth is only possible when the leader is willing to "pay the price" for it.

The Process for Developing Personal Discipline

• Start with yourself
• Maxwell observes that more potential leaders fail because of inner issues than outer issues.
• Most of us can relate to a sign Maxwell once saw: "if you could kick the person responsible for most of your troubles, you wouldn't be able to sit down for weeks."
• When we are foolish we want to conquer the world. When we are wise we want to conquer ourselves.
• Start early.
• Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the things you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned and, however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.
• Hard work is the accumulation of easy things you didn't do when you should have.
• Start small.
• What you are going to be tomorrow, you are becoming today.
• It is essential to begin developing self-discipline in a small way today in order to be disciplined in a big way tomorrow.
• Remember, having it all doesn't mean having it all at once. It takes time. Start small and concentrate on today.
• Start now.
• Great leaders never set themselves above their followers except in carrying out responsibilities.
• "The will to succeed is important, but i'll tell you what's more important: it's the will to prepare. It's the will to go out there every day training and building those muscles and sharpening those skills." Bobby Knight, Indiana University Basketball Coach
• "I will get ready and then perhaps my chance will come." Abraham Lincoln
• Organize your life.
• "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it's not all mixed up." Christopher Robin in Winnie the Pooh
• Top ten list for personal organization
1. Set your priorities
2. Place your priorities in your calendar.
3. Allow a little time for the unexpected.
4. Do projects one at a time.
5. Organize your work space.
6. Work according to your temperament.
7. Use your driving time for light work and growth.
8. Develop systems that work for you.
9. Always have a plan for those minutes between meetings.
10. Focus on results, not the activity.
• Welcome responsibility.
• Be responsible for who you are.
• Be responsible for what you do.
• Be responsible for what you have received.
• Be responsible to those you lead.
• Accept accountability.
• Human nature cannot handle unchecked power.
• "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." Abraham Lincoln
• Leaders can easily be separated from their people.
• Develop integrity.
• I will live what I teach.
• I will do what I say.
• I will be honest with others.
• I will put what is best for others ahead of what is best for me.
• I will be transparent and vulnerable.
• Pay now, play later.
• There are two paths that people can take. They can either play now and pay later or pay now and play later. Regardless of the choices, one thing is certain - life will demand a payment.
• "I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. I firmly believe that any man's finest hour - this greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious." Vince Lombardi, Green Bay Packers Football Coach
• Become character driven instead of emotion driven.
• It is not doing the things we like to do, but doing the things we have to do that causes growth and makes us successful.
• Success depends not merely on how well you do the things you enjoy, but how conscientiously you perform those duties you don't.
• Successful people are willing to do things unsuccessful people will not do.
• Good character is not given to us. We have to build it piece by piece - by thought, choice, courage, and determination. This will only be accomplished with a disciplined life-style.

Next time, we will look into the most important lesson of leadership: STAFF DEVELOPMENT.


Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc