Gr8 Women Leaders Reflection — Establishing What Matters Most to ME

Today's blog comes from, Bailey Bounds, one of the SOS Gr8 Women Leaders. 

I joined the Gr8 Women Leaders program in August as a way to grow as a leader and develop who I am both professionally and personally.  In the mere three months I’ve been in the program, I’ve already gained a stronger understanding of what my personal behaviors and motivators are in various settings.

Each month, members of my session meet in a group setting to support and identify with each other as we cover Seeds of Success modules. We also meet one-on-one with our coach, Amber Fogarty, to dive further into our individual personalities, goals and leadership styles.

Meeting in a comfortable environment with my group, combined with my meetings with Amber, has been really inspiring. Together, we form a web of support and understanding for each other as we discover how we can grow as leaders who make a difference.

Of the lessons we’ve covered so far, I’ve gained the most out of “Developing a ‘What Matters Most’ Focus.” This part of the program showed me that I really struggle with establishing priorities. As we have learned, “Your priorities must reflect your personal goals.” That concept is particularly difficult for me because I often set my priorities around what I think others want for me.

When I was faced with the challenge of identifying the priorities in my life, whether they be family, faith, health, finances, or personal ministry, I couldn’t determine what mattered most to me and only me. I realized that before I can maximize my strengths and bring out the best in myself, I have to figure out my motivators.

A good way to begin learning what is most important to you is to begin scheduling your meetings, appointments, and personal commitments. Don’t just write them down and check things off; also note your goals and action steps. Complete your list in the order that best fits your goals.

Any items that you don’t finish by the end of the day roll over to the next day, and if those same items continue rolling over for more than a week, maybe they really aren’t important to what you want to achieve. Maybe they aren’t a priority.

I’ve been practicing maintaining a calendar like this for a few weeks now. As someone who perpetually over-commits, it has given me a much clearer picture of how much I can actually do while still staying focused on the things that are the most important to me.

I have also begun to see that while at first I thought my career was hands down the most important thing to me at this time, I really want to work on ensuring that my career is not my whole life.

I want to discover things outside of work that drive me and ignite passion. It’s really hard to put work tasks on hold and say “This can wait until tomorrow.”  However, I’m going to have to learn to do that because my relationships with family and friends are really important to me as well, and they sometimes end up too far down on my list.

I am really looking forward to using my better understanding of personal priorities to make and achieve goals of significance for myself this month! 

Check back every month as the SOS Gr8 Women Leaders continue their journey through the SOS Gr8 Women Leaders Program.

The SOS Gr8 Women Leaders Program is a year-long leadership development program designed to empower and equip leaders to make a difference. Click here to learn more! Also, check out this short video!