You can’t support others if you can’t support yourself. Support is cheering your team on and providing yourself to be a vault.
This semester I had the opportunity to take the class “Leadership Seminar”. I took it because I wanted to improve my leadership skills and improve our volleyball team specifically. This class wasn’t what I expected. I learned that leadership starts with yourself. To be an effective leader, it’s important to be and keep being the best you can be. That’s important because the people you’re trying to lead won’t follow if you don’t support yourself. You can’t support others if you can’t support yourself. Support is cheering your team on and providing yourself to be a vault. Being a vault means that if they tell you things, to keep it to yourself. This makes you trustworthy.
Another thing I learned is that you have to trust people right away to earn the respect you want. It also helps earn trust back and trust is a major factor that is necessary for successful teams.
Self improvement is key to being a successful leader. To improve yourself, you have to take baby steps to achieve success. If you have these huge goals that seem so out of reach and are exhausting, you will not achieve those goals. Focus on one thing at a time and don’t be afraid to ask for help on the way. Knowing when you need help is important to being a successful leader.
I decided to focus on improving my creativity. I set a goal for myself that I was going to play the piano for 5 minutes every day. While doing this, I found myself playing longer everyday. Over time, I started doing other things like playing my ukulele, reading, and putting my phone down. This was important to me because it put me in a state of flow. We learned that a state of flow is when you shut everything else out besides the activity you’re doing right there and then. A way you can tell if you’re in the state of flow, is when you lose track of time because you’re enjoying what you’re doing. . This ties into leadership because I’m becoming a better version of myself. and leaders help others do that.
Another improvement is I’m more aware of my actions and others actions. It doesn’t seem like a drastic change, but I see things in a different way than a lot of my peers. I have a better understanding of right and wrong actions and how my actions affect the people around me. For example, during sports I can give advice to my friends on what they should do when they are having issues on their teams. I also know how to act effectively when my teammates or peers are having a rough day. Sometimes just being there and listening to them is all they need to know that you care. Checking up on your teammates or friends builds trust and helps them know that you’re reliable.
If you take this leadership class, you’ll build your knowledge in many ways, and learn lifelong skills. To be successful in this class, it’s important to have an open mind and be open to learning. Put in the work to change yourself so that you can help change others. This class will help you start living a different way and seeing life through a different lens. It helped me find out what was important in my life, which helped me contribute to my team. If you want to become a better person and leader, this class is a great place to start.