5 Ways Successful Women Feel Empowered Every Day
Here are 5 ways successful women feel empowered daily:
1. They use mantras and affirmations
Positive self-talk is so important for a healthy mindset – you can’t feel empowered if you have negative conversations with yourself. Successful women believe in themselves, whether they vocalize this belief out loud or in their heads, and many use mantras and affirmations to remind themselves to stay fierce and focused. Victoria Beckham, influential fashion designer and mother of four, repeats the phrase “I know what I want” aloud to herself throughout the day.
2. They embrace their mistakes
One phrase that has stuck in my head from my time in the corporate world is “fail forward”. Employees are encouraged to try, try, and try again, and as long as they are moving forward with the project, working hard, and learning from the speed bumps, then the failure is seen as progress. Successful women know that if they never try, they’ll never succeed. As Winston Churchill said: “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
3. They trust their instincts
Call it what you will, but successful women have a strong intuition. We know when a situation feels off, when a conversation is going wrong, and when a person doesn’t feel genuine. And when we get caught off guard? It’s usually because we’ve been ignoring that gut feeling that’s been telling us to run. Empowered women lean heavily on their intuition to guide them daily, because they know when they are making great leaps into the unknown, it’s the fear talking and saying it can’t be done, but their intuition got them where they needed to be. So next time something feels right, trust it. And when your intuition is screaming for you to leave? Then go, and see how freeing it feels.
4. They learn to say “Yes, and…”
Both comedian Tina Fey and powerhouse exec Lisa Gersh understand the power of saying yes. It opens doors, it starts the ball rolling, it gives you more opportunities. Tina Fey takes it one step further with her analogy from her book Bossy Pants, where she says that the first rule of improv is saying “yes”, but the second is to expand upon your “yes” by adding “and”. So you’re not only opening up the conversation, you’re adding to it.
In the same way that you’ll get more flies with honey than with vinegar, if you learn to say “yes, and…” you, you’ll get further than turning people away. Lisa Gersh quotes: “Learn how to say yes to an idea and make it work. It does not mean that you will agree with every idea and implement them, but you will always work through the idea, and by saying yes, your team will come to you with their best thinking. The more ideas you kill with no, the fewer you will receive.”
5. They lean on others
We all need a support structure in our lives, whether that’s mentors, sponsors, cheerleaders, your squad, your family, or all of the above. You need to find people who inspire you, who aren’t toxic or time wasting, who have your back and believe in you. Melody McCloskey, CEO of online and mobile platform StyleSeat, suggests finding a mentor, “someone who is on a career path you admire” and once you’ve found them, “spend time with them on a regular basis.” Melody’s first mentors helped her stay on the career path she wanted, and yours should should equally inspire, motivate, and challenge you, whatever path you have picked out in life.
And when you begin to rise to the top as the empowered woman that you are, you should reach down and lift others up with you. Leaning on others is as much about getting support as it is about giving it. Chelsea Handler summarizes this perfectly in a speech at a women’s summit in Los Angeles: “Women don’t have to be jealous of other women,” Handler said. ”Women should lift each other up.” Preach.
Empowerment doesn’t stop here. Take a look at these must-see TED talks for women, or check out these 50 not-to-be-missed books. Did reading this inspire you? What do you do to feel empowered? Share your thoughts!
