What is the National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS)?

The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) is a professional honor society that aims to help members build leadership skills and achieve their personal and professional goals while encouraging members to commit to positively impacting their communities. NSLS is among the largest leadership honor societies in the United States, with chapters in colleges and universities nationwide. It provides many benefits, including Motivational Monday interviews and speaker broadcasts by prominent and influential leaders (e.g., the Dalai Lama, Barack Obama, Bozoma Saint John, Bill Gates, and Lindsey Vonn), scholarship and networking opportunities, a job bank, letters of recommendation, success coaches, discounts, and leadership training.

I am a fully inducted member of NSLS in the Southern Cresent Technical College chapter. As a part of NSLS, I have completed two leadership training courses: Foundations of Leadership and Advanced Leadership Certification. I am currently working on the final course, EXEC 301 Executive Leadership Certification, which is a 13-week leadership project.

The EXEC 301 project must include elements from five leadership development categories: physical, intellectual, emotional care, ethics, and service to others. Physical development maintains bodily health and builds stamina, resilience, and energy. Intellectual pursuits increase knowledge and sharpen the mind and critical thinking. Emotional care leads to self-awareness and emotional intelligence. A foundation in ethics leads to moral conduct, demonstrates integrity and fairness, and establishes trust and credibility. Service to others impacts the community and leads to collaboration on shared goals and well-being. Together, these elements encourage well-rounded leadership. The following is the project overview of the activities I chose for each component:

PROJECT SCOPE

  1. Physical Development – Walk five days per week for four weeks for at least 2 miles or 30 minutes using Leslie Sansone programs on Amazon.
  2. Intellectual Pursuits – Read The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Sri Swami Satchidananda, take notes, and write a blog post.
  3. Emotional Care – Meditate for four weeks. Complete The “14-Day Meditation Journey” playlist by Boho Beautiful on YouTube and continue with the “Meditations by Boho Beautiful” playlist—log/journal.
  4. Ethics – Take the “Ethics & Generative AI (GenAI)” course by Steve Ballinger, MBA, on Udemy and take notes.
  5. Service to Others – Write one or two long-form blog posts (1,500-3,000 words each) to help teach branding, design, art, or health and wellness topics for free.
    1. Estimated Hours: Approximately 10-15 hours per long-form blog post

PROJECT GOALS

  1. SMART Goal: After spending so much time and effort on school, I seek to improve my life balance by implementing project components in five categories across an 18-week project.
    1. Sub-Goal: I seek continuing education in yoga and ethics by reading a yoga philosophy book and completing an online ethics course.
    2. Sub-Goal: I seek to share knowledge with individuals and small businesses that need free resources through informative long-form blog posts.

RESOURCES NEEDED

SUMMARY

I have spent several years working hard to complete a second degree while working full-time. In doing so, I have neglected and sacrificed other areas of my life. I want to focus on these different areas to improve my life balance. My new degree will be in healthcare management, and I would still like to focus on health and wellness across all five core categories, expand my skills, and share my knowledge.

  1. Physical Development – I have been sedentary during my studies and have gained weight, so I want to walk to kickstart an exercise habit for the physical development category. I will be healthier with exercise; healthier individuals are more valuable and dependable as employees and are better co-workers. Living a healthier and longer life will benefit my family and friends and give me the energy to do what is needed.
  2. Intellectual Pursuits – I love and value learning and enjoy completing online courses to learn new skills. I want to learn additional skills that are different from but complement those that are part of my degree. I am interested in learning and pursuing a yoga teaching certification, so I need to learn an introduction to yoga. For the intellectual pursuit category, I want to read The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Sri Swami Satchidananda. Reading this book will introduce me to yoga philosophy and also be one step I can use in the certification process. A yoga certification will help provide me with another healthy activity and additional skills and knowledge to offer my clients.
  3. Emotional Care – The demands and deadlines of both school and work are stressful. I want to try a meditation practice for the emotional care category. Meditation will help reduce stress and introduce me to another aspect of yoga. Reducing my stress will improve my overall health and make me a more valuable employee, co-worker, family member, and friend.
  4. Ethics – My business offers freelance branding and graphic design. Now that I am completing a degree in the healthcare field, I am rebranding it to cater to wellness and medical professionals. Generative AI is a current hot topic in the industry, raising ethical concerns. I want to take an online course about the ethics of AI for the ethics category. This course’s knowledge will help me assist my future clients more ethically.
  5. Service to Others – One way I can provide value through my agency is to provide free information and teach through my blog. For the service to others category, I would like to write informative, long-form blog posts to help others. Blogs are a valuable free resource that can help my target audience, small businesses, and other individuals looking for information they can afford.

TIMELINE

  • Investigation & Preparation: Weeks 1–2, July 17–30, 2024
    • Start the modules and apply the methods I learn.
    • Research and decide on the project title and the main goals.
    • Explore different project scope ideas.
    • Begin writing the proposal and answering the questionnaire.
  • Proposal: Week 3, July 31–August 6, 2024
    • Turn in the proposal on July 31, 2024.
    • Wait for approval.
  • Implementation: Weeks 4–14, August 7–October 22, 2024
    • Complete the ethics course by August 21, 2024.
    • Walking: August 7–September 3, 2024
    • Meditation: September 4–October 1, 2024
    • Read the yoga book by October 2, 2024.
    • Write the blog posts by October 22, 2024.
      • Estimated Hours: Approximately 10-15 hours per long-form blog post
    • Reflection: Weeks 15-16, October 23–November 5, 2024
      • Gather and submit project evidence.
      • Explore the SWOT Analysis, Johari Window, and Kolb Model.
    • Demonstration: Weeks 17–18, November 6–19, 2024
      • Write a blog post series (3-4 posts of 750-1,000 words each).
      • Complete the Project Summary.
      • Complete the post-course survey.

This post provides an overview, but in the following two entries, I will share milestones, insights, and the leadership lessons this journey has taught me. See my next post about implementing my project.

 

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