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Mastering Self Leadership: Empowering Yourself for Personal Excellence
It starts with you--follow the best path to effectively leading others. "Mastering Self-Leadership" is a comprehensive self-help guide that's thoroughly grounded in sound principles and research. The powerful advice and tools found in this text emphasize that proper self-leadership is a precursor for the effective leadership of others." " This edition features new real-life examples and fresh coverage on corporate and entrepreneurial applications, social responsibility, emotional intelligence, and self-leadership.
- GenresLeadershipNonfiction
192 pages, Paperback
First published September 23, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 8, 2009
“Bloom where you are planted.” –J. Weisel
When I first saw the title and subtitle of “Mastering Self Leadership: Empowering Yourself for Personal Excellence”, I thought that this book was exactly what I needed. I’ve notoriously been a negative person. My family, friends, and boyfriend are all well-acquainted with my “I can’t, and I won’t” personality. Lately, I’ve been going through some tough times including my father’s recent kidney cancer diagnosis, and the brutal murder of a friend. Also, my boyfriend, whom I am very close to, had to transfer from West Virginia University to Blue Ridge Community College, back home (for him) in the eastern panhandle, and the distance has not been kind on our relationship. These hardships have taken a toll on my schoolwork, personal life, relationships with my boyfriend and family, even my weight and fitness level, and most importantly, my overall outlook. Having a negative outlook on life is not conducive to positive self-leadership.
Therefore, I decided to step openly and wholeheartedly into the contents of this book, which include ways to find your goals in life, positive thinking strategies, the connection between physical well-being and self leadership, and more. The first few chapters are a metaphorical “journey” to discovering your “destination”, cleverly disguising goal-setting activities. Some of the concepts most important to me throughout the book were natural rewards, emotion regulation, positive thinking, self talk, beliefs, imagined experience/mental practice, thought patterns, opportunity vs. obstacle thinking, team self-leadership, fitness & self-leadership, explanatory styles, and optimism vs. pessimism.
The natural rewards section explained a concept quite foreign to me. I have heard before of using physical, tangible rewards for difficult tasks, but never before have I heard of finding a reward within the task. I definitely drew a comparison of this to having to read this book and write the book review. It is in human nature to dislike any task they are “told” or “forced” to do, no matter what it is. However, I began to see natural rewards in this task regardless. Instead of seeing an arduous class assignment, where I’d have to drag through another boring textbook, I saw an opportunity to further my education, knowledge base, and even my reading skills. I also relished having to write something for a business class, a rare pleasure that I missed having, considering my affinity for writing. Focusing on these natural rewards, rather than looking at the task as a chore, made a school assignment pleasant- a rare reaction.
The concepts of emotion regulation, positive thinking, self talk, beliefs, imagined experience, thought patterns, and opportunity vs. obstacle thinking all fell into the same boat for me. Being a negative person, I need much improvement and practice with all of these concepts. I am constantly putting myself down, degrading everything I do, until it gets so bad that I don’t even inwardly reward myself for doing something good. I always think, “well at least I did something right”. After reading these sections, I will admit I still think negatively as an instinct. However, I have had what could only be described as self discussions, in which my tiny positive side chastises me for thinking negatively again. I hope to eventually develop these self talks into positive ones. I am also trying not to look at everything with obstacle thinking. I found out today that my iguana passed away. Instead of telling myself that it’s all my fault, that I should never own a pet again, I told myself that this was a learning experience, and that I would know what to do next time. I saw his death as an opportunity to make his predecessor’s life better.
Honestly, I almost skipped the Team Self-Leadership chapter. I was so sure I didn’t need it. When I realized that I thought this because I was thinking to myself, “I hate working with people”, I immediately went back and read it. It didn’t speak to me as loudly as the other chapters, and felt more like a rephrasing of the previous concepts but with the word “team” put in instead of “you”, but it was still refreshing to mentally apply individual concepts to a group of people.
The Fitness & Self-Leadership chapter gave me a change of heart. Lately I’ve allowed my personal well-being to slip. Over the past year I’ve gained at least thirty pounds, and have completely given up on exercise and a healthy diet. Recently, while taking management, Dr. Houghton influenced me to set a goal- a rather insane goal for a person that wasn’t even into sports in high school…or ever. I called my boyfriend after class one day and told him we were going to prepare for a marathon. We were going to run a marathon (or half marathon) together. We made our goal specific and challenging, although we haven’t decided on a specific event, we know we want to do it within a year. I used to be a dedicated vegan, biking every morning to a beautiful park where I jogged next to a creek, slowly gaining distance and endurance. I’d never felt so successful and just generally happy in my life. My recent sloth-like lifestyle and outlook have prompted me to think back on my appearance and overall outlook I had then. This chapter forced me to look at physical well-being in the workplace, something I’d never considered before. It is much more important now to me, because one of my life goals is to be a CFO, a high-powered, stressful position that would almost require a healthy body to deal with.
Chapter 11: Finding the Path to Uniqueness seemed to me like a hodge podge mashup of topics thrown together in a chapter because there could be no other place for them. Despite this lapse of flow that the previous chapters had contained, every section was equally important as the rest of the book. I like the concept of a “protean” career, something I hope to achieve after graduating. This chapter focused on happiness and optimism as well, things that I’ve been lacking. Although it will not change my pessimism overnight, it has made a dent. I can definitely admit to having a negative explanatory style, one that tends to see difficult problems as personal, pervasive, and permanent. My way of looking at conflicts with these “Three P’s” now seems silly to me.
I enjoyed most the poem in the epilogue. It really summed up the nature of the book. Overall, the book was not as convincing as I had expected, but it definitely got me thinking. The exercises and examples seemed repetitive and predictable. The tales of Tom Bigsby and Jennifer Wilks had to be the most predictable, redundant fictional example in the whole book, and probably was unnecessary. However, the authors did make their point well, and I got the overall feeling that these concepts were ones I should keep on the backburner at all times.
“Because sometimes you have to jump off that cliff; And build your wings- on the way down.” –Christopher Neck
When I first saw the title and subtitle of “Mastering Self Leadership: Empowering Yourself for Personal Excellence”, I thought that this book was exactly what I needed. I’ve notoriously been a negative person. My family, friends, and boyfriend are all well-acquainted with my “I can’t, and I won’t” personality. Lately, I’ve been going through some tough times including my father’s recent kidney cancer diagnosis, and the brutal murder of a friend. Also, my boyfriend, whom I am very close to, had to transfer from West Virginia University to Blue Ridge Community College, back home (for him) in the eastern panhandle, and the distance has not been kind on our relationship. These hardships have taken a toll on my schoolwork, personal life, relationships with my boyfriend and family, even my weight and fitness level, and most importantly, my overall outlook. Having a negative outlook on life is not conducive to positive self-leadership.
Therefore, I decided to step openly and wholeheartedly into the contents of this book, which include ways to find your goals in life, positive thinking strategies, the connection between physical well-being and self leadership, and more. The first few chapters are a metaphorical “journey” to discovering your “destination”, cleverly disguising goal-setting activities. Some of the concepts most important to me throughout the book were natural rewards, emotion regulation, positive thinking, self talk, beliefs, imagined experience/mental practice, thought patterns, opportunity vs. obstacle thinking, team self-leadership, fitness & self-leadership, explanatory styles, and optimism vs. pessimism.
The natural rewards section explained a concept quite foreign to me. I have heard before of using physical, tangible rewards for difficult tasks, but never before have I heard of finding a reward within the task. I definitely drew a comparison of this to having to read this book and write the book review. It is in human nature to dislike any task they are “told” or “forced” to do, no matter what it is. However, I began to see natural rewards in this task regardless. Instead of seeing an arduous class assignment, where I’d have to drag through another boring textbook, I saw an opportunity to further my education, knowledge base, and even my reading skills. I also relished having to write something for a business class, a rare pleasure that I missed having, considering my affinity for writing. Focusing on these natural rewards, rather than looking at the task as a chore, made a school assignment pleasant- a rare reaction.
The concepts of emotion regulation, positive thinking, self talk, beliefs, imagined experience, thought patterns, and opportunity vs. obstacle thinking all fell into the same boat for me. Being a negative person, I need much improvement and practice with all of these concepts. I am constantly putting myself down, degrading everything I do, until it gets so bad that I don’t even inwardly reward myself for doing something good. I always think, “well at least I did something right”. After reading these sections, I will admit I still think negatively as an instinct. However, I have had what could only be described as self discussions, in which my tiny positive side chastises me for thinking negatively again. I hope to eventually develop these self talks into positive ones. I am also trying not to look at everything with obstacle thinking. I found out today that my iguana passed away. Instead of telling myself that it’s all my fault, that I should never own a pet again, I told myself that this was a learning experience, and that I would know what to do next time. I saw his death as an opportunity to make his predecessor’s life better.
Honestly, I almost skipped the Team Self-Leadership chapter. I was so sure I didn’t need it. When I realized that I thought this because I was thinking to myself, “I hate working with people”, I immediately went back and read it. It didn’t speak to me as loudly as the other chapters, and felt more like a rephrasing of the previous concepts but with the word “team” put in instead of “you”, but it was still refreshing to mentally apply individual concepts to a group of people.
The Fitness & Self-Leadership chapter gave me a change of heart. Lately I’ve allowed my personal well-being to slip. Over the past year I’ve gained at least thirty pounds, and have completely given up on exercise and a healthy diet. Recently, while taking management, Dr. Houghton influenced me to set a goal- a rather insane goal for a person that wasn’t even into sports in high school…or ever. I called my boyfriend after class one day and told him we were going to prepare for a marathon. We were going to run a marathon (or half marathon) together. We made our goal specific and challenging, although we haven’t decided on a specific event, we know we want to do it within a year. I used to be a dedicated vegan, biking every morning to a beautiful park where I jogged next to a creek, slowly gaining distance and endurance. I’d never felt so successful and just generally happy in my life. My recent sloth-like lifestyle and outlook have prompted me to think back on my appearance and overall outlook I had then. This chapter forced me to look at physical well-being in the workplace, something I’d never considered before. It is much more important now to me, because one of my life goals is to be a CFO, a high-powered, stressful position that would almost require a healthy body to deal with.
Chapter 11: Finding the Path to Uniqueness seemed to me like a hodge podge mashup of topics thrown together in a chapter because there could be no other place for them. Despite this lapse of flow that the previous chapters had contained, every section was equally important as the rest of the book. I like the concept of a “protean” career, something I hope to achieve after graduating. This chapter focused on happiness and optimism as well, things that I’ve been lacking. Although it will not change my pessimism overnight, it has made a dent. I can definitely admit to having a negative explanatory style, one that tends to see difficult problems as personal, pervasive, and permanent. My way of looking at conflicts with these “Three P’s” now seems silly to me.
I enjoyed most the poem in the epilogue. It really summed up the nature of the book. Overall, the book was not as convincing as I had expected, but it definitely got me thinking. The exercises and examples seemed repetitive and predictable. The tales of Tom Bigsby and Jennifer Wilks had to be the most predictable, redundant fictional example in the whole book, and probably was unnecessary. However, the authors did make their point well, and I got the overall feeling that these concepts were ones I should keep on the backburner at all times.
“Because sometimes you have to jump off that cliff; And build your wings- on the way down.” –Christopher Neck
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2024
Technically one of my textbooks, but when reading it I actually enjoyed it. Honestly one of my favorites!
November 3, 2011
Great book for taking control of your life, living positively, and setting a good example for the people in your lives. I would recommend this to a CEO, manager, mom, dad, student, or young adult.
September 8, 2016
Technically one of my textbooks, but whatever. I read it.
April 9, 2015
Great book and an amazing teacher!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews