We talked to several women about their secrets to success, and here's what they had to say...
A successful woman can change the world and inspire others to do the same. It is important to learn from others in order to recognize what areas we can improve upon and help us reach similar goals that we may have set for ourselves. We conducted research from 10 different successful women and these were their responses.
Inspiration Can Come From Anything
Often, you may feel like you have hit a roadblock as you are on your path to success. Your motivational faucet was a steady stream in the beginning, and now it sputters and pauses seemingly for no reason. You pause and ask yourself "why has my motivation stopped flowing?" When you start to feel a lack of inspiration, you will want to switch your mindset. In reality, there is an endless amount of inspirational outlets, and it's important that you ask yourself where these exist. In essence, inspiration really can come from anything. First, allow yourself to relax. You can't feel inspired while you're stressed. Go for a walk, take a hot shower, or do something that you enjoy to hit the reset button. You will find that almost anything can be inspirational if you simply let it.
Write Down Your Goals
What are your goals? Everyone will have a different set of goals outlined for their life. It's important to have a blueprint and to reference from time to time. Whatever your goals may be, chances are that you have not written them down. Although it sounds cliché, writing down your goals actually has scientific evidence backing it on the action being able to help with productivity. You will be able to see your goals clearly laid out in front of you. It helps to focus on goals for both your short term and long term success. Outlandish goals can sometimes be a good motivator, but it can be more effective to set more achievable goals. Your goals should be concrete, so you should solidify them in the world.
Procrastination is Your Worst Enemy
When it comes to who your worst enemy is, you will often have to fight battles against yourself. We are our harshest critics, held to impossible standards, and are the last to stop and congratulate ourselves for a job well done. We're not only our worst enemies, but we're sometimes downright mean when we should be kind and supportive. This is often when procrastination starts to take over, and enter in self-doubt, sprinkle in a bit of imposter syndrome, and we can become paralyzed.
There is hope. While procrastination will happen from time to time, but, it is important to not let it overpower your work ethic. This can be challenging to overcome, but it is important to recognize that procrastination can increasingly hurt your career productivity and over time, your dream of having it all could dissipate due to procrastination alone. If you notice procrastination sneaking in, simply push yourself forward. How? Think of the most supportive person you have in your life, and step into their shoes for a minute. How would they help, and what kind words would they offer? Now take their actions, and say those things to yourself. Once you gain a little momentum, it becomes easier to tackle tasks without delay, so start with the small stuff.
It helps to offer yourself an incentive for completing something that you planned on completing. This could be a small reward like a special treat or even a large reward, such as a trip. These rewards could correlate with the project or item you are completing.
Give Yourself a Break and Avoid Burnout
Many women believe that their schedule should be constantly full in order to break through the glass ceiling and attain success. Let's break up this falacy by saying that while there is an illusion that a woman who has it all is constantly working, women on top actually know that giving themselves a break from time to time is one of the most effective things they can do to help benefit their career.
If you work constantly or are always on the go, you will find that you will eventually suffer from burnout. Burnout can come in many forms and could even lead to serious issues, such as depressive episodes. However, many people experience that they will have trouble meeting deadlines, finishing projects, and will procrastinate more because of their burnout. Instead, give yourself a break from time to time. This could even be a daily break, away from work, or other distractions to do something that you enjoy. Many companies offer no-meeting days in an effort to collectively preserve teams' energy. If you are an entrepreneur or experiencing Zoom fatigue, make sure you schedule at least one day a week where you don't take calls or meetings. If you can make a weekly date with yourself to get out for lunch or schedule a self-care errand like a light shopping trip mid-day to break up a routine gone stale.
Find Your Own Balance
Every successful woman and self-proclaimed girlboss knows they need to balance work and their personal life. Finding this balance can be challenging and even overwhelming. It is important to know that finding this balance, which will be unique to you, may take time and even some trial and error. However, this balance is crucial to your overall happiness, so you should continue to find it and recognize that it might even change over time if your priorities change. You should base this balance on your values and your priorities in life. It helps to look over your list of goals and write down what you will need to do in order to reach those goals, as well as what you wish to do in life. This will help you identify what you need to do to make everything happen. Any successful person will tell you that this is the hardest part of their journey, but truth be told it's the most critical for long term happiness. Work to live, don't live to work is a great motto to carry in your back pocket when you start feeling a bit off-kilter.
Do Not Put a Limit on Yourself
You should resist putting a limit to yourself on what you can accomplish. Every bossbabe knows that if you already tell yourself that you can’t, then you aren’t likely to do it. Repeatedly telling yourself that you can’t do something may lead to you getting stuck in the current position that you are in. Fake it 'til you make it.
Women on top encourage themselves to test their limits and embrace a challenge that comes with venturing outside of their comfort zone. Limiting your intelligence or your abilities can only hurt you, rather than help you. Instead, keep an open mind about different possibilities and embrace those possibilities as you see fit. Picture yourself nailing all your proverbial goals to the wall, and reframe your mindset to look at how far you've come, not how much longer you have to go.
Keep Trying New Things
Every entrepreneur will tell you that it is easy to get stuck in a rut and become stagnant. This is especially true if you cease goal creation for yourself. In order to help yourself stay motivated and keep breaking through the glass ceiling, it is important to keep trying new things. Your abilities will change and progress over time. This may cause you to leave things behind or to resist trying certain things. However, being a woman who wants to have it all means that you are open to trying new things and new ideas. You never know when you might need a talent, learned ability, or additional knowledge. Whether it be for your everyday life or your professional life, you should always keep trying new things.
Continue to Keep a Positive Attitude
Being the ultimate bossbabe that you are, means that you need to strive to keep a positive attitude. However, this does not mean that you are not able to be sad or upset sometimes, as these feelings are only natural. It is important to feel these feelings and then let them go. Keeping a positive attitude will help you to make positive changes in your life and to progress in your career. Although it may be challenging, it helps to look on the brighter side of things. This can be accomplished by utilizing a few tricks that are recommended by women on top. These tips include making a pros and cons list about what is troubling you, as well as getting another person to help you discuss what is bothering you.
Recognize Your Faults
There are certain things that you will be really good at and there are certain things that you will be really bad at. It’s important to know that recognizing your faults is an important step towards success. Knowing what we need improvement on can help us stabilize our careers and keep us working towards our goals. Women who lead are able to do so because they know what areas of their life they need to work on and then they work on it to become a better version of themselves. It is important to not see your faults as something as intimidating, as this will cause avoidance. Instead, try embracing your faults, improving upon them, and realizing that everyone has faults.
Give Back to Those Around You
One of the most important aspects of women who lead is that they are willing to give back to those around them. This does not always have to be monetary, but can be in the form of knowledge or just support. Giving back to those around you allows you to not only better yourself and your character, but also helps the community as a whole. One way that you can give back includes offering support to a friend who is close to you. This could be going over to visit with your friends and family more often. However, this could also mean donating to a charitable cause or participating in community events. Having it all means sharing with others as well.
Creating a successful life can take an immense amount of time and may be full of challenging roadblocks. However, these experiences that we go through are what helps us to grow and can give us our own clear path towards having it all. It is important to embrace the changes we experience in our life with open arms and make edits to our plan as needed. You have to learn to enjoy the process, because the milestones can easily be burried if you aren't training your mindset to adapt to struggles as they arise. Allow positivity and new growth guide you towards your way. No matter the path, it's important to remember that you are in the footwork business, not the results business. Keep moving forward, onwards and upwards to the best version of you you'll ever meet.