How Leaders Condition Themselves for Success

Very often, the unpredictable nature of crises means that leaders have no time to prepare.

During a crisis, everybody looks to a leader for the next step or for reassurance. If a leader projects fear and unease, that unease transmits to everyone else, much like a contagious disease. Whom then can the leader look up to for support?

Sadly, our business world portrays leaders as strong and perfect, ones who can withstand all pain and challenges. True that when you take up a leadership role, you sign up for challenges and blame. But leaders face exhaustion and burnout just like anyone else.

How leaders react during the crisis and burnout is what decides their leadership quality.

In my executive coaching and during corporate training I’ve taught people the importance of leadership affirmations. People must have affirmation and praise in order to maintain a high level of performance.

Practicing affirmations can activate the reward system in your brain, which can have an impact on the way you experience both emotional and physical pain. Knowing you have the ability to manage stress and other life difficulties can help boost confidence and self-empowerment, further promoting faith in yourself.

These simple statements help shift your focus away from perceived failures or inadequacies and direct your focus toward your strengths.

Here the big deal - they’re not a magic bullet for instant success. Regular repetition of leadership affirming statements can encourage your brain to take these positive affirmations as fact. When you truly believe you can do something, your actions often follow.

Repeating an affirmation can help boost a leader's motivation and confidence, and help take some concrete action.

Affirmations are just one self-help leadership tool. Like other strategies, they can offer some measure of relief, but their benefits usually depend on how you use them.