Lead yourself first. Before we can influence, before we can ever persuade or change anything externally, we have to first lead ourselves.

And that means delivering on the promises we make to ourselves.

It means showing up when we tell ourselves we're going to show up.

It means putting ourselves in an environment conducive to growth.

There's an old metaphor from Wayne Dyer about an orange, where he essentially says that it doesn't

matter what you do to an orange. It doesn't matter how hard you squeeze it or how many you have or how you manipulate it.

Grapefruit juice will never come out of an orange. Only orange juice can be emitted and similarly,

we can never give or contribute what we do not have inside ourselves. We can't expect our lives to look

like anything other than a culmination of the tiny action, steps, and decisions we make on a daily

basis. The external world is a product of the internal world.

And the internal world is not realized until we learn to rule over ourselves and our lives

with conviction.

You can break this down in many different ways.

Jocko Willingsink says discipline equals freedom.

John Maxwell talks about a leadership lid

where success levels can never exceed leadership capability,

and sure it applies to teams, but it also applies to self-leadership.

Are you searching for and committing to the little hinges in your

life that as W. Clement Stone says, swing big doors that make the difference? Are you taking

responsibility for your shortcomings like leaders do? Are you learning to trust yourself? Are you

seeing past the trap of perfection and committing to progress? Are you learning to trust yourself? Are you seeing past the trap of perfection and committing to progress?

Are you taking the little things seriously?

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