Personal leadership doesn’t always come naturally to us. But once you understand the power that emanates from taking positive control of your life through personal leadership, watch out! You can transform your life, unlock your purpose, achieve your goals, inspire others around you, and meet, if not exceed, your potential.
Our personal leadership philosophy
Building personal and purposeful leadership skills are key to what Youth Opportunities and Newday stand for. Both organisations believe in empowering, educating and leading people on a journey of self-discovery to live their best lives. So, how do they do this, and what can you learn from their approach?
The Youth Opportunities story
14,000 young Australians. That’s the number of lives positively impacted by Youth Opportunities’ personal leadership programs over the past 24 years.
Working with schools and delivery partners right across South Australia, Youth Opportunities offer personal leadership programs that inspire, connect and build lifelong skills, habits and confidence in young people to not just cope, but thrive. They do this by nurturing and building their wellbeing, resilience and enterprise skills to help young people thrive in school, work and life. But most importantly, the life skills imparted help young people who are experiencing adversity, to make positive life choices that break the cycle of long-term unemployment and disadvantage.
In essence, Youth Opportunities is changing the trajectory of young lives – and even saving them in some cases.
But don’t take our word for it – their evidence-based, proven methodology has the stats to back this up.
In 2020, their Personal Leadership Program resulted in a 48% reduction in the number of students at high risk of developing a mental health disorder, with participants citing the following:
- 95% higher confidence
- 90% improved self-esteem
- 87% are more motivated towards school
- 93% feel they have the skills to achieve their goals
- 91% have a clearer understanding of their future
- 92% know what to do to achieve their goals.
To learn more about Youth Opportunities and their personal leadership programs, click here.
The Newday way
Newday also specialises in harnessing personal leadership. Their purpose-led leadership approach and ‘leadership for the greater good’ philosophy also requires a solid personal leadership skillset.
Like two sides of the coin, Youth Opportunities build personal leadership skills in the leaders of tomorrow, whilst Newday builds purposeful leadership skills in the leaders of today.
So, let’s start with the basics. How can we start to strengthen our personal leadership capability? Read on.
2 powerful strategies to build personal leadership from the Newday team
Personal leadership is a bit like being your own ‘life coach.’ These top 2 strategies are fundamental in your personal leadership journey. Master these, and you’ll be on your way to reaching your potential. So, let’s get into it!
Get values-ready
Values sit at the core of who we are. They guide our decision-making, motivate us, and act as the measuring sticks by which we determine what is successful and meaningful in life. But discovering our values can be tricky. Here are a few ways to solve your core value conundrum:
- Examine how you spend your time and money. This will give you an excellent understanding of what you value right now.
- Check out this values list and select 5 that resonate with you the most. Think about why you feel an affinity to these, and how these values have played out in your life.
- Complete an online values/strengths assessment.
- Watch this video about values. Although goals are important, but being values-driven is key to living a rich, full and meaningful life.
- Write down answers to the following questions: What lights your fire or makes you get out of bed in the morning? What do you continually prioritise on a regular basis? What matters most in your life? Think of 3 times when you felt really happy. What were you doing? Why were these times so memorable?
Once you intentionally identify your values, you can live by them, and make decisions in accordance with them as you go through life. However, it’s important to be aware that our values can, and do change overtime as we grow, learn and age.
Set life goals for success
Setting life goals is essential. People who set goals are more successful in life, and having goals helps us to feel motivated, connected and more content.
Ready to embark on your goal-setting journey? These tips and tricks will help you along the way:
- Sit down with a pen and paper and brainstorm your goals for the next 10 years. Some may be achievable, and others may be aspirational. That’s okay – nothing is off the table. From there, select the goals that really resonate with you – the ones that make your heart sing. You’ll know which ones they are.
- Goals should be definitive, clear and detailed (the SMART methodology can help). It’s important when setting goals that you are ‘working toward’ something, not ‘avoiding’ something.
- Goals should elicit positive emotions. They should make us feel excited, determined and motivated. If your goals feel negative, or fear based, it’s highly likely you won’t have the motivation to achieve them.
- When setting your goals, ask yourself the following questions: Why is this goal important to me? Does this goal align with my values? What would I say to others to convince them this goal was worthwhile?
- Frame your goal positively, not negatively, for example, ‘I will go on an annual holiday’, instead of ‘I won’t stay at home all the time’.
- Write down your goals using the word ‘will’ (instead of ‘would like to’).
- Make your goals easily seen and have visible reminders. For example, display them on post-it-notes around your house or at your desk, or consider setting regular phone reminders to keep you motivated. Often the act of writing something down has power, and makes it more tangible and achievable.
- Break your goal into bite-sized chunks. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your goal won’t be either. The chances are it will take some time. Aim to create a number of sub-goals under each primary goal, and then commit to one action per week to help you get closer to your sub-goal. Over time, you will meet your sub-goals, and finally your primary goals.
- Tell someone close to you your goals and ask them to keep you accountable. Sometimes, we just need to that external push to get motivated.
- Visualise yourself meeting your goal. This is a powerful technique and if done daily, can be motivating and transforming.
As part of your personal or purposeful leadership journey, you may also be interested in supporting the personal leadership journey of young people right here in SA. If so, check out Youth Opportunities, and help a young person take positive control of their life.
