{"id":221,"date":"2009-01-28T14:36:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-28T14:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chadstutzman.net\/?p=221"},"modified":"2009-01-28T14:36:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-28T14:36:00","slug":"my-biggest-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/?p=221","title":{"rendered":"My Biggest Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every week I have to fill out a report at work that summarizes what I did last week and what I am working on and focusing on.  We call it the 5\/15 report (5 minutes for my boss to read and 15 minutes for me to fill out).<\/p>\n<p>One of the questions on that report is &#8220;what is your biggest challenge right now&#8221;?  For me the biggest challenge has been and always will be me.<\/p>\n<p>Leading myself is what determines how well I lead and help others.  If you are really honest with yourself, this is true of all of us.  We tend to be the biggest roadblock to our own success. <\/p>\n<p>So, if this is the biggest challenge many of us face, how do you lead yourself?  Here is my top 20 ways to lead yourself:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Spend time with God on a regular basis (prayer, reading the Bible, meditation)<\/li>\n<li>Discover your strength and focus on developing those strengths &#8211; Understand your weaknesses and manage around them<\/li>\n<li>Character is a big deal &#8211; It&#8217;s what you do when no one is looking that matters<\/li>\n<li>Find systems that help you work and live smarter<\/li>\n<li>Read<\/li>\n<li>Ask Questions<\/li>\n<li>Find mentors and organizations that you can learn from<\/li>\n<li>Have someone holding you accountable &#8211; Give them permission to ask tough questions<\/li>\n<li>Continually work at listening better<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t be afraid to fail or take risks, but learn from your failures<\/li>\n<li>Surround yourself with good people that are strong in your areas of weakness<\/li>\n<li>Be Humble &#8211; Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking less about yourself<\/li>\n<li>Be willing to step out of your comfort zone &#8211; Do something that stretches and challenges you<\/li>\n<li>Pay attention &#8211; To people, to culture, to circumstances, to body language etc.<\/li>\n<li>The things you do today are preparing you for your defining moments of the future.  Little things matter<\/li>\n<li>Think about the big picture every day &#8211; Work on it not in it<\/li>\n<li>Get help &#8211; It is OK to go to a counselor, pastor or doctor<\/li>\n<li>Make sure you are healthy Emotionally &amp; Physically &#8211; This takes discipline <\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t forget to relax and have fun<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I could list many other things, but this is a good start.  The better you lead yourself, the better your relationships will be and the more valuable you become to the people around you.<\/p>\n<p>Lead On!<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every week I have to fill out a report at work that summarizes what I did last week and what I am working on and focusing on. We call it the 5\/15 report (5 minutes for my boss to read and 15 minutes for me to fill out). One of the questions on that report &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/?p=221\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;My Biggest Challenge&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-personal-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}