In high school and throughout the rest of your life, you may find yourself in leadership positions. Some of these positions, titles, and rankings you will ask for and earn. Others you will be assigned to, whether you like it or not. Regardless of how you find yourself in these positions-whether you’re the oldest sibling, the class president, or the team captain-you will face certain hardships that come along with responsibility.

In leadership positions, you will find yourself under the watchful eye and scrutiny of many. It will be difficult to carry on with your tasks when it feels like everyone is watching your every move. Often it feels like they’re just waiting for you to make a mistake. Other times it’s just hard to focus when someone seems to be charting your every move. Unfortunately, if you are to lead, you are to deal with this. It’s just one of the things that comes with leadership. As you handle this, you should do so gracefully and recover from any public blunders in a way that doesn’t take a toll on the trust others place in you.

On top of having nearly every move monitored, there is also this cloud of expectations looming over you. Everyone expects you to do well, to be a role model, and to always have a positive attitude. Expectations placed on leaders are often unrealistic. People tend to forget that leaders are only human, and so assigning them an ungodly amount of tasks and thinking every single one will be done perfectly is ridiculous. Leaders forget, leaders make mistakes, and leaders have other normal human flaws. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t meet everyone’s expectations. Just do your best to be a good leader, and always strive to be a better one.

The pressure of leadership often gets too heavy when considering the lives and wellbeing of those you are leading. It’s perfectly normal to get nervous when people are following you, especially if you yourself are uncertain of the direction you’re headed. Whenever you doubt yourself and your plan, reevaluate the problem, remember that the people follow you trust you for a reason, and make the choice you feel good about.

If, however, you do happen to be a perfect leader, and you really enjoy being in leadership positions, be sure not to become cocky. Especially if the position is one that you’ve won or earned over someone else. Confidence is admirable, but no one wants to follow the leader whose arrogance clouds their message. Be humble, consider the ideas and opinions of everyone else around you, and make decisions that are best for everyone.

“I think you have to be willing to do the things you ask others to do in order to be great,” said junior class president Andrew Correll.

What Would Jaylin Do? In leadership positions she will use her strengths, build her weaknesses, and be sure to never lead anyone astray.