The first and best victory is to conquer self. – Plato
The most important quality of any leader is self leadership, since we must be able to lead ourselves before we can lead anyone else. Self leadership includes several important traits, like being self-aware, resilient, and purpose driven. Fundamentally, self-leadership means that leaders are in touch with their mindset, heartset, and soulset.
Mindset: Mindset translates our thoughts into action. It includes our self-image, our response to challenges (act, react, proact), and how we learn and grow. Mindset needs to be informed by soulset and heart set.
Heartset: Heartset is the inner compass of our values, purpose, and direction. Being in touch with our heartset is key to making sound decisions.
Soulset: Soulset is what motivates our thoughts, feelings, values and purpose. It provides the reason for everything we think and do.
Think of mindset, heartset, and soulset as the three legs of a tripod: We need all of them to be balanced. All three reflect the most basic questions, we tend to ask ourselves during the course of our lives: Why am I here (soulset)? What am I supposed to do (heartset?) How can I do it (mindset)? This article will discuss ways to develop self-leadership through the mind, heart, and soul.
To lead ourselves, we need to start with what is going on inside – what we can call the “inner game.” By practicing mindfulness, we can learn to hear the subconscious “conversation beneath the conversation” that informs our actions, thoughts, and emotions.
The conscious mind only makes about 20% of our decisions. The subconscious is responsible for the other 80%, so we need to dig down and find out what is happening in those deep layers. Mindfulness can unlock the subconscious.
The ancient Romans already knew that a healthy mind and a healthy body were tightly linked together. Today, many highly successful people make the commitment to develop physical fitness through exercise, sports, and other routines. But far fewer people make a commitment to work on their inner readiness, their mindfulness and mental fitness.
Just like physical exercise, working on the inner self takes a commitment to regular, dedicated practice. At its core, mindfulness requires us to become still, withdraw from the world, and be quiet with our thoughts for a period of time each day.
We may choose to sit quietly and reflect. We may develop a practice of journaling or playing music or any activity that requires focus and dedication. We may meditate, chant or pray. Whatever path we choose, mindfulness / inner work will help us connect with our inner knowing and feelings – and develop the “inner game.” A mindfulness practice is a part of self-leadership that will yield rewards many times over.
Interoception is the ability to sense and perceive what is happening inside the body, both its physical and emotional states. To develop interoception, we must learn to pay attention to the signals coming from the head, heart, and gut – which are related to following our mindset, heartset, and soulset.
Interoception senses and informs about your body’s internal state, such as your heart rate, breathing, hunger, and temperature. It can be a conscious or subconscious process.
The NIH describes interoception as “the process by which the nervous system senses and integrates information about the inner state of the body.” But it is much more than a way for the body to regulate itself. Interoception has important implications in all aspects of life. As one research study states:
“Interoception supports both body and mental functions and as such, interoceptive processes support health and wellness by establishing a felt sense of psychological and physiological safety that is foundational to meaningful participation in life.”
How do we begin to tap the potential of interoception? A good place to start is to “listen to your gut” – literally.
The enteric nervous system – or “enteric brain” – is a collection of 500 million neurons in the gastrointestinal tract. It communicates with the “cephalic” (head) brain and central nervous system but can operate independently. It has been called the “second brain” and plays a significant role in our mental and physical well-being.
We need to “listen to the heart,” too.
The heart contains yet another collection of neurons connected to a region in the brain stem. These neurons have been called the “cardiac brain.” The cardiac brain doesn’t just regulate heart function, it also helps with decision making and memory formation.
Each of these three “brains” have important roles to play in self-leadership, especially in times of change and disruption, according to Forbes. Interoception is the way to make sure the messages are getting through. Listening to the body’s signals will improve self-awareness and emotional regulation, which are essential for self-leadership.
Mindfulness and interoception are related concepts, like different sides of the same coin. To sense and perceive what’s happening inside your body, including your physical and emotional states, requires learning to listen to the connection between mind and body. You need to first become still and attentive to what’s going on inside of you – because the body never lies.
Here is a great investment in self leadership that yields a high return: commit to a daily habit of mental and physical practice of aligning mind, heart, and soul into harmony. In addition to getting up early in the morning to do physical exercise, meditate or pray to anchor your mind and soul. First do the “inner work” before leading people and organizations.
One of the proven ways is to use breathing techniques along with yoga body movement, to reduce stress and anxiety, calm body, mind, and spirit, and to tap into the greater power through knowing, not thinking.
If you strengthen your “inner game” through a dedicated consciousness / mindfulness practice, you will develop the ability to pay attention to all of the signals that come together to make up your mindset, heartset, and soulset.
If you would like to “TEP” into your self-leadership, please contact us.
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TEP.Global not only has a combined 100 years of experience and expertise in people management, talent acquisition, executive assessment, but also deep knowledge in building teams and workplace culture in organizations of all sizes. For more information and insights, please contact us.
Copyright ©️ 2024 by Dr. Vic Porak de Varna. All rights reserved.
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