Leading Thoughts for December 18, 2025

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with:

L David Marquet and Michael Gillespie on focusing on our future self:

“By changing our time-based point of reference, we inoculate ourselves from the present moment-biased effect of temporal discounting that we are otherwise subject to. The temporal distance reduces the importance and even the visibility of practical constraints. We do not feel them. When those practical constraints fade away, what we are left with is our ideal self. It is almost always a better human and allows us to focus on what we care most about, distinct from the urgent hassles, compromises, concessions, and justifications of today.”

Source: Distancing: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions

Margaret Andrews on managing yourself:

“Self-understanding gives us insight, but self-management helps us get there. Altering the way we behave changes the way people perceive and respond to us, and can change the way we think and feel about ourselves. With time and practice, the new behavior becomes a more natural component of our leadership style and way of being. This, in turn, has transformative effect on our own leadership abilities as well as the product of the work we do with and through others.”

Source: Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why Great Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding

Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index.

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