April 28, 2025
The concept of self-leadership has taken on a life of its own. A quick Google search reveals long lists of tips, books, seminars, courses, coaching opportunities, and more on the subject. Self-leadership is exactly what it sounds like — leading yourself.
A recent Forbes magazine article says this about self-leadership: “Leading oneself is critical to personal and professional success, especially in today’s fast-paced world. Self-leadership influences and directs one’s thoughts, behaviors, and actions to achieve desired goals. Great leadership is built upon this foundation.”
Rico Tice, in his book Faithful Leaders and the Things That Matter Most, says about the importance of self-leadership that, “Put another way: find a failure of pastoral leadership and, if you look underneath, you’ll see a failure of self-leadership.”
How can pastors, elders and ministry leaders lead themselves well? Here are seven suggestions.
1. Go to bed: Any leader who hopes to function at his or her best needs sleep and the right amount of it. I need seven hours and 20 minutes of sleep each night. Early morning is the most productive part of my day. If I want to get up at my set time each day, then I must go to bed at the right time each evening. Be strict on yourself and turn off a movie, ballgame, or your phone and go to bed.
2. Get out of bed: “When the alarm begins to roar, the feet hit the floor.” I am not certain where or when I first heard those words, but for decades they have helped me get up in the morning. Proverbs 6:10-11 serves as a helpful reminder for all of us sleepy-heads, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” No Christian leader wants to invite poverty into his or her life — whether it be spiritual poverty, leadership poverty, financial poverty, or poverty of wisdom. We must get out of bed and get into the day.
3. Meet with the Lord: The top priority for every Christian leader each day must be to connect with our Lord and King. Jesus is the one who has placed us in the ministry (1 Timothy 1:12), and as we meet with Him, we will hear encouragement, correction, direction, and courage to lead as He is leading us. Richard Blackaby defined Christian leadership as moving God’s people onto God’s agenda. The only way to discover God’s agenda is to spend time with Him.
4. Organize your priorities: What has God called you to do? What is the mission of the church or organization you are called to lead? Answering these questions will help each pastor, elder, or ministry leader think through the work they must attend to each day. Church pastors are called to feed the flock, lead the flock, and care for the flock. Each Christian leader is called to advance the mission of the organization they lead, care for the people they lead, and solve the problems being faced in their leadership context. We must lead ourselves by focusing on these priorities each day.
5. Do hard things: One of the most effective ways to lead yourself is to make certain to do hard things each day. Things that are hard for you may not be the same for others. Is it hard to have a needed but challenging conversation? Then do that. Is it hard for you to lead the church or ministry to address its finances, or reach out evangelistically or to address a declining ministry or program? Then do that. Doing hard things will stretch you to depend on God and will make you a better leader.
6. Witness to lost people: One area where most pastors and ministry leaders face a great challenge is in helping believers intentionally engage lost people with the gospel. Personal evangelism involves spiritual warfare, and many believers, even leaders, do not regularly share the gospel. Lead yourself to be consistent in personal evangelism, and you will find that you are not only leading yourself, but your example will spur other believers onto greater faithfulness.
7. Do it again tomorrow: One key to self-leadership is consistency. Determine the right things to do and then keep doing those things over and over in the power that God supplies.
The well-known adage says you cannot lead others where you have not been yourself. Self-leadership will help you lead others more effectively
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Todd Gray is executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. This commentary first appeared in Kentucky Today.
