David Godfrey is a mentor at Peak Performance and co-founder of Chase Life Consulting

Effective leadership is something many entrepreneurs seek help with as their team grows alongside their business. They invest in developing these skills, but a vital piece of the puzzle is still missing - personal leadership. It is common for entrepreneurs to have an excellent business idea and plenty of drive, yet they struggle to build solid foundations and soon feel overwhelmed.

This can be interpreted as a lack of knowledge or experience. In truth, it is a lack of resourcefulness. They find themselves hesitating, procrastinating, overthinking, or even self-sabotaging because they are afraid. Afraid of making a mistake, failing, being rejected, and managing risk.

It all comes down to personal leadership. If you cannot lead yourself out of fear, worry, overwhelm, and self-doubt, then you are not in a position to navigate the daily adversity and opportunities of entrepreneurship. And you certainly will not be able to lead a team effectively. You become a poor leader because your worry, stress, and volatility affect the team. The more your stress increases, cognitive functions are impaired and you become less resilient and more fragile. Business-wise opportunities are lost, mistakes made, and effort wasted on the wrong things. 

The more responsibility you have, the more you need to work on your personal leadership, i.e. your mindset, emotional intelligence, and emotional fitness. Your state leads their state, so if your staff needs to stay calm or take swift action, you must set an example.

Signs you should not ignore

Remember, this is a common problem. Rather than ignore the issue, the key is to be self-aware and make a change. If you are unsure whether you need to do some personal leadership work, ask yourself the following, and answer honestly.

• Are you exhausted from the pressure, demands, and responsibilities but afraid that if you start setting boundaries or striving for more balance, your business will suffer and you will lose what you have worked so hard to build?

• Despite all your success and expertise, do you still judge yourself harshly, suffer from imposter syndrome, or feelings of inadequacy? 

• Do you struggle to switch off from work in the evenings and weekends and often find yourself detached, distracted, or irritable?

• Are you so stressed you can feel the mental and physical side effects getting worse?

• Are you feeling increasingly unfulfilled; more like you are surviving instead of thriving?

Strategies for improvement

If the above sounds familiar, there are several steps you can implement to get back on track.

1. Schedule time just for yourself. And yes, that means even during the busiest, most chaotic periods, when it is even more important. The start of the day is best. A “power hour” or even half hour works well. This can include one “emotional state” practice, such as meditation or breathwork, and one “personal development” practice, like reading, journaling, or studying. 

2. Set yourself non-negotiable standards for honouring your commitments and spending time in key areas. Base your standards on the “minimal effective dose,” which you refuse to drop below under any circumstances.

• Career/business/service/contribution

• Personal time and self-care

• Financial freedom and independence

• Family

• Social life

• Physical health, fitness and wellbeing 

• Spiritual and personal growth

First, design your ideal week with optimum time dedicated to the different areas. Then design your busiest, most stressful week, while still maintaining your minimal effective dose for each. 

3. Set an alarm to go off every hour. Every time the alarm goes off, ask yourself:

1. Is this the most important thing I could be doing with my time right now?

2. Am I in the most beneficial state for this moment? E.g. fully present, focused, calm.

3. What would my future self do, focus on, and feel in this moment?

4. Anytime you find yourself struggling emotionally, identify if any of the following triggers are present:

1. Your relationship with yourself. This includes not feeling good enough and fearing being judged, criticised, rejected, humiliated, disrespected, or taking things personally.

2. Your relationship with uncertainty. For instance, worry, overthinking, over-planning and wanting to control the uncontrollable.

3. Your relationship with unwanted events. This includes being stuck in frustration, anger or disappointment, because life events didn’t play out how you wanted or thought they should. 

The self-awareness you develop from these exercises will highlight your greatest opportunities for personal growth and personal leadership.

5. Work with a coach or mentor. So many people waste years chasing the wrong rabbit down the wrong hole and not fulfilling their potential. We all have blind spots. You do not know what you do not know, and a great coach can work with you to gain perspective. The investment usually pays itself back exponentially - not just financially, but in every other sense too.

As you implement each of these five steps, you will be able to think with certainty, clarity and confidence, set boundaries without guilt, reclaim control over your workload, and fully switch off. All of these benefits will have a significant impact on the success of your business and allow you to reach the next level.