The Road of Leadership

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God has been steering me down the road of leadership over the past decade and as the eldest child in my family who was given much responsibility, I'm a natural born leader. But that doesn't mean I always like it. It's a heavy mantle to wear at times and not one that I wear lightly. 

Here are ten things I'm learning as I lead:

1. I'm learning a lot about myself - strengths and weaknesses. 

2. I'm learning that leadership doesn't come with an instruction manual.

3. I have learned that sometimes people can be disgruntled just because you are not the previous leader and that I have to be okay with that.

4. I have learned that some people are an absolute joy to work with and others will complain and find fault no matter what because that's their nature. I have to be okay with that too and not take it to heart.

5. I've learned that bearing the weight of responsibility is not possible if I don't stay connected to the vine. 

6. I am learning to have scheduled times to respond to texts, emails and phone calls and be okay with not responding immediately when I'm trying to focus on something else. Otherwise I'm at everyone's beck and call and someone else's emergency is often not an emergency at all. There are true emergencies, but giving someone an immediate answer to something that can wait is not!

7. Disconnecting is important for my mental health and yet, I struggle with it. We are on vacation this week and I realize how much I keep wanting to work even when I'm supposed to be relaxing.

8. My worth is not dependent upon what others thing or say about me. This is so hard for me, but I am leaning in to the truth of what God says about me and learning to be okay when others are unkind.

9. I am working on connecting to other leaders for encouragement and support or else this is a very lonely space. 

10. Each day, I walk with integrity, keeping my needs and values aligned with who God says I am.


I'm sure there are many more lessons and I'm still learning and growing and being stretched as I travel down the leadership road. I'm just taking it one step at a time and one day at a time.

Leadership is not for the faint of heart. I've been camped out in the book of Joshua and am learning many things from His leadership. I've written a few blog posts about that on my leadership blog on my website which you can access here: https://encouragingdeeproots.com/leadership-blog

On side note, I am one of many speakers at an upcoming online summit. I'll pass on more information in the coming days and hope you can join me!



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