Leadership and Self-Deception is a book that came out a few years back and I have had the privilege to read it just recently. I would recommend it to any leader. It is a story about how we deceive ourselves by not listening to our first intentions that see people as people. Instead, we begin to see people as objects and when that happens we turn to take care of ourselves first. When this happens, we don't have the impact that we could with people; actually, we may end up having a very negative impact.
I believe self-awareness is a key to knowing…really knowing…if we are making as much impact as we can in the people that come into our lives. Self-awareness takes an understanding of the importance of reflecting on how we did each day to intentionally impact people to the fullest; what I would call maximum impact. Reflection takes time. I always felt that I had to be physically doing something to be growing. Not just sitting and thinking. Do you believe that reflection is worth the time? Benjamin Franklin did. He was a jack-of-all-trades and was famous for his scheme to achieve "moral perfection," a goal that often eluded him due to his busy schedule. But every evening, before retiring at midnight, he would reflect on his day and ask himself: "What good have I done today?"
““Tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I was (by trying) a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been.””
I also believe, like Ben Franklin, that reflection is very important as leaders, but it took me 40 years to figure that out. If you find yourself believing in it then you will take the time to continue to become more self-aware and by doing that I believe you will begin to maximize your impact on people. What more could you want to do every day of your life? Are you up for the challenge for making maximum impact? I hope so.
Listen to the video below where Brenden Burchard talks about four areas that can steal away your self-awareness. Hope you enjoy it and use it to continue to improve yourself for maximum impact.
