My drive for leadership is a defining force in my life. Most people attribute it to my love of entrepreneurial business strategies, but the real reason I am passionate about leadership is that I believe the quality of a person’s life depends on their ability to lead themselves.

I remember my desire as a young adult to learn all I could about leadership. I wasn’t driven by the desire for position or power over others. No, my drive was birthed from a deep desire to lead myself and make a positive impact on the world. As I began to study and learn more about leadership, I discovered that it was more about me than the masses. I devoured any and every resource I could get my hands on to help guide my life.

During those young adult years, I didn’t have the income, networking, know-how, or in some cases, the time machine needed to meet people like Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, C.S. Lewis, Dr. John C. Maxwell, A.W. Tozer, Ken Blanchard, and a host of others. So, I used the one resource I did have available to me: books. I even took a side job at a bookstore because I wanted to be surrounded by great ideas. I studied these leaders’ resources and teachings, and they shaped my entire outlook on life.

I still remember listening to every Zig Ziglar tape (Yes, I said tape, as in cassette) as a young 20-year old working part-time as the janitor of a dialysis center in Maryville, Tennessee. I would clock in around midnight, pop in my Ziglar tape, and start cleaning. I listened to those tapes night after night until I had memorized every one of them. The dialysis center paid me to clean, but during those hours of cleaning, I was earning hundreds of credit hours towards a self-worth leadership degree. The principles I learned while cleaning that center directed the course of my career and inspired my devotion to personal development.

Since that time, I have been on my own journey of leading prominent teams, organizations, and individuals down their path to leadership development. I was even able to write my first leadership book, LEADOLOGY: 12 Ideas To Level Up Your Leadership, because of these experiences, and it all started with the desire to first lead myself. 

The most critical person anyone will ever lead is themselves. Forget leading others if you can’t get a handle on your own life. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is called to be a leader by first conducting themselves well. If you can learn to believe in three things: yourself, your purpose, and your skills, you will begin to lead your life more effectively.

Check out my leadership website www.JohnBarrettLeadership.com for leadership resources.