Posts Tagged ‘chronotyping’
Are you a self aware #leader? Two #MartialArtsPrinciples to help.
At your peak or draining away?
Are you self aware?
Self awareness is, in my view, one of the four most common challenges facing leaders.
There’s the famous quote from Robbie Burns.
Here are two #MartialArtsPrinciples relating to self awareness
1. #PlayToYourStrengths – be aware of your energy levels
Leaders need to be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses.
And to take action accordingly.
Many are not.
Here’s one example, relating to energy levels.
Are you aware of your energy levels?
And how they vary over time?
It matters a lot.
It’s an important element of time management and personal effectiveness.
For some people, their peak energy is in the morning – I call them larks.
For others, it is later in the day – I call them owls.
There’s now a lot of research on this, called Chronotyping.
I spoke with an experienced Chair recently on this subject.
He knew that he was a morning person.
So he aimed to do his thinking and writing work early in the day.
And to do his people and meetings work afterwards.
He described this as “a.m. for IQ work and p.m. for EQ work.”
Watch out for ego
There is also a close link between self awareness and ego.
Humility helps with hubris.
2. #PracticeProperly
In the spirit of self awareness also, remember to practice and to test things out.
Even the greatest speaker should do at least one real rehearsal.
I have also received a comment from a leader in the armed forces.
Apparently, self awareness is now a major part of leadership training in the Military in the UK and psychometric testing is used to support this activity in a number of programmes.
Picture by Fits Ahlefeldt-Lauvig
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Mike Barnato 