STOP PLAYING SMALL – WHY EVERY WOMAN NEEDS TO DREAM BIG
I have an amazing friend and businesswoman whom I’ve admired for years. I’m fascinated by her brain and the way she looks at the world in a multi-dimensional, win-win way. She is the queen of what I call “plus-ing it up.” This concept refers to taking an ordinary idea and transforming it in order to maximize the results for everyone. It’s her superpower and it’s gotten her a seat at the table with the biggest leaders of one of the biggest companies in the world.
After 25 years she’s beginning to step into her power and own it, and it’s GLORIOUS!
Step Into Your Superpower
I know many women like her that have not yet stepped into their power. In many ways, the odds are stacked against women. According McKinsey and Company’s 2018 study, Women in the Workplace, only 1-in-5 C-Suite leaders is a woman, and only 1-in-25 is a woman of color. Legendary investor, Warren Buffett has remarked that, “America’s success has been gained by utilizing only half of the population’s talent.”
Whose fault is it? Companies? Communities? Politics? Men?
There is one thing I know for sure: If we want it, we can have it, we just need to give ourselves permission to do what it takes to get it.
Career Lessons
I’ve taken my career from a 7th grade school teacher to a 7-figure CEO over the past 25 years and when I boil it down, there were 3 secrets to getting there:
LESSON 01: USE YOUR PAIN AS FUEL
It wasn’t my ambition that led me to the next level in my earlier career as a teacher. It was misery. Being a middle school teacher was hard, and I was miserable.
I wanted to make more money, have more freedom, to leave my classroom, drive my car, and meet new people. Pain fueled me to pursue sales. Once I was resolved to get away from the pain, it took me 90 days to land three job offers. I was obsessed with eliminating the pain. It was my rocket fuel.
Pain is temporary. Use your pain to fuel the change you need and deserve. It is the most powerful motivator there is!
LESSON 02: CREATE A VISION
After starting my first company, I felt deeply inadequate as a CEO. So inadequate that I refused to put my title on my business card (something a man would never worry about). To get more comfortable with my role, I enrolled in a coaching class for business owners and spent the next 18 months stepping into the role of CEO.
One of the most powerful exercises I did was create a vivid vision of the company’s preferred future. My first draft included milestones like hitting $1 million in revenue, or signing a few key clients. It took me five drafts to realize that I was simply playing small. I was majoring in the minors and playing it safe in my goal setting.
Five drafts later, I started letting myself dream bigger and they grew into strong goals like…
- Being named an Inc 5000 company
- Being recognized as the business person of the year for the Atlanta Business Chronicle
- Hitting the $10m revenue mark
- Selling my business to a publicly traded company and exiting with millions of dollars
- Financial freedom before the age of 50
TAKE ACTION NOW: Grab a piece of paper and start writing 10 goals for your future. Come back to these goals and allow yourself to think bigger. Come back again and think even bigger. Write your biggest, hairy, scary goal – that one that you are afraid to utter to anyone but God and/or your partner.
Creating a vivid vision allows the universe to, as Rumi says, “conspire in your favor.” Once you are clear about your future, you will consciously and subconsciously pursue that vision.
LESSON 03: INVEST IN YOURSELF
The biggest realization of my career is that no one is going to care about my career like I do. No mentor, boss, partner or leader is going to think about it as much as I do. Even my closest friends and advocates, who will and have helped me a lot, just don’t think about my goals like me when they wake up in the morning.
Repeat after me… “My investment in ME is totally up to ME.”
Coaching: Over the years, I’ve always had a coach. In fact, I’ve had up to three depending on what I was trying to learn. Coaching has given me perspective when I’m too close to an issue and can’t think objectively. It’s helped me with practical advice, a kick in the butt when I need it and most of all, accountability that I will do what I say I’m going to do.
Education: I avidly read, listen to podcasts and watch YouTube videos every day. When I’m stuck, I seek out the answer first because I’m resourceful. I attend conferences, join community groups of like-minded people, and spend money on MYSELF. Yes…it takes money.
I read recently that there are only two ways to get to the next level: You have to LEARN it or EARN it.
So stop waiting for someone to tap you for greatness or recognize your potential. Stop worrying what your team or company will do without you. Stop waiting for permission to get training and personal development – pay for it yourself.
Conclusion
Stop playing small and dream BIG. I believe each of us has God-given talents to share with this world and by staying small, we neglect our responsibility to share those gifts and talents.
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