Empowered, We Excel

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Go for Gold

It's common to have people encourage others to "Go for Gold" i.e. aim to achieve the highest possible honour or position. While it is very good to have high ambitions, it is also good to remember that "not all that glitters is gold."

I've always known that "not all that glitters is not gold" and that was again reconfirmed after I read this rather thought-provoking article: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2012/07/why-women-still-can-8217-t-have-it-all/9020/

Part of the pressure of "having (& holding on to) it all" is the expectation of "who," more like "what," women need to become to get ahead in the Corporate world. The truth is no matter how high-paying or high-flying your job is, if you're not yourself, you can't be happy.

It then behooves on each person - man and woman - to determine what their "gold" and goal in life is. Each person needs to define their own "all" by themselves.

Recently, I started reading an interesting book - actually, the title was interesting which was why I bought it: "The Life Ready Woman - Thriving in a Do-it all world."* I smiled when I got to page 36 where the same timeless question: "Can you have it all?" was posed.

I connected with the multi-dimensional conclusion(s):

In some ways, we may be able to "have it all" over the course of our lifetime - but not all at the same time.**
We can't have it all - all at the same time.**
When we try to do everything, sometimes everything gets hurt.***

As you go for gold in life, we all need to remember that one (wo)man's trash is another (wo)man's treasure. Know and focus on what matters for you and go for it...

References:

* by Shaunti Feldhahn and Robert Lewis

** Page 36

*** Page 37

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Sustainable success...

Success is something that can be elusive...and for some, previous success is not a guarantee for future success. As I thought about it, I decided to look up (and share) a few success quotes...and I've added my comments in brown font.

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.

~ Bill Cosby

Success is focusing the full power of all you are on what you have a burning desire to achieve.

~ Wilfred Peterson

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. ~ Winston Churchill

Success comes in cans; failure in can'ts

~ Wilfred Peterson

I very fondly remember my son's teacher who always encouraged and challenged her students to convert their "I can't" statements to "I can try" assertions...

In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time. ~ Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book

Success has made failures of many men. ~ Cindy Adams
So we need to be careful not to let success get to our heads and disengage our hearts.

As you climb the ladder of success, be sure it's leaning against the right building. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

The other thing is to leave and even improve the ladder - "polish" it so others can also climb. Remember that as Nancy Barcus succinctly puts it:

The closer one gets to the top,

the more one finds there is no "top."

So as you aim for higher and greater things, make our unlimited God, not any man or system, your “limit” - only then will you have sustainable success.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Do you want to win?

"Win" is a short word that makes a long-term difference:

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Are you hard working or hardly working?

The question is easily answered by the fable shared on the 1st day of February* - the eagle was bent on working hard while the chicken was fine in the world of "hardly working."

An Empowered Woman is one who knows the 5 Ws and 1 H of working hard and well. She knows Why, When and Where she needs to do What she has to do. She’s so good that she also knows How to do what she needs to do and Who can help her accomplish that and even How to get those resources to work for her.

I know that there is this old saying: “Hard work never killed anyone.” While I agree that there is some truth in it, it is not entirely true from my perspective. You may have noticed people who work very, very hard – doing the wrong thing or the right thing the wrong way, wrong time, wrong place and with the wrong people.

Short & Sweet?

A lot of times in Corporate circles, you hear the phrase "Short & Sweet." A lot of people, including me, like meetings, conferences and speeches that are "short & sweet" - yes, swift and straight to the point. When this topic came to me, it also hit me that a lot of people would want to apply this "short & sweet" phrase to many areas of life so I started asking if there were any areas where we should NOT use the phrase.

You may already know where I'm headed, if not, I'll try to be short & sweet about it.

For me, this is a black-and-white issue.

Short & Sweet does not apply to dressing. Short - top, bottom or dress - no matter how sweet the colours may be, show too much & are inappropriate for the professional women that we are. Showing too much empowers others to look down on you and I'm sure you never want that to happen to you - or anyone you're mentoring for that matter. Be a mentor in words and "wear"...

A truly empowered woman helps others focus on her brain not her body...

that's one short & sweet way to excelling and being an example to others.