President Harry S. Truman said,
“In reading the lives of great
men, I have found that the
first victory they won was over
themselves. . . . Self-discipline
with all of them came first.”
That is true not just of great
achievers, but also of effective
leaders. Good leaders practice
self-control before they try to
engage others. Self-discipline
comes before leadership
success. It is the price tag of
leadership.
When I was in college, I studied
Greek and Hebrew. One of the
words for self-control in Greek is
egkráteia. I think this word gives
great insight into what someone
needs to lead effectively. The
word means to get a grip on
oneself. It describes people who
are willing to get a grip on their
lives and take control of areas
that will bring them success or
failure. That’s critical because
I need to get a grip on me first
before I try to get a handle on
leading others.
As leaders, our greatest
challenge in leadership is
leading ourselves first. We can’t
expect to take others farther
than we have gone ourselves.
We must travel within before we
can travel without. Many highly
gifted leaders have stopped far
short of their potential because
they were not willing to pay this
price. They tried to take the fast
track to leadership only to find
that shortcuts never pay off in
the long run.
SELF-DISCIPLINE MAKES
LEADERSHIP’S UPHILL CLIMB
POSSIBLE
There is a truth you need to
recognize, not just for leader-
ship, but for everything in life.
For the last year or so I have
been teaching it extensively to
people wherever I go. Ready?
Here it is. Everything worthwhile
is uphill.
Think about this. Everything
worthwhile is uphill. The word
everything is inclusive. It’s all-
encompassing. Pair that with
worthwhile— the things that are
desirable, appropriate, good
for you, attractive, beneficial.
Anything and everything
you desire in life, everything
you would like to strive for, is
uphill, meaning the pursuit
of it is challenging, grueling,
exhausting, and strenuous.
The implications are simple:
there are no such things as
accidental achievements. No
person who has climbed the
mountain of success ever said,
“I have no idea how I got to the
top of this mountain. I just woke
up one day, and here I was.”
Solutions 27