– Tired.
– Stressed.
– Tired.
– Not valued.
– Dissatisfied.
– Tired.
– Not valued.
That’s what all women replied when I asked them “How are you feeling?”
Every single woman attending my visibility and career advancement webinar last week was feeling tired and not valued.
Every single one admitted to making the mistakes listed in the image above.
Any of these 5 mistakes alone drastically reduce your chances of recognition, raise and reward at your job, my friend.
But out of all the career-costing behaviours, this one is by far the most damaging:
You work hard, really hard, and leave it to your hard work to speak for itself.
It is the belief we, women, received early on in our lives.
We were told “Work hard, and you’ll be rewarded.”
What a big, fat lie.
Yes, you would be rewarded for just working hard, if you were still in school.
Workplace is not school.
Different rules apply to the corporate landscape.
Working hard alone leads to exhaustion, stress, dissatisfaction, frustration, and even burnout. It makes your boss and peers push on more work on you, and keep you in the current role, instead of helping you get promoted.
And — to state the obvious, your work has no voice. It is up to you to advocate for yourself.
Working hard in and of itself is not going to get you anywhere, but working smart – and relatively hard – combined with the right strategies, smart tactics, and a step-by-step plan for navigating the corporate landscape will get you everything you dream of having at your job today.
To sum up…
If you tend to push yourself yourself pretty hard, grinding it out to prove yourself to others (and to yourself — hello, the imposter syndrome!), I bet that all you are getting right now is feeling overworked, ineffective, dissatisfied and crippled with self-doubt at the end of the way, and stuck.
What you want to feel, instead, is like … a sought-after professional who is resilient, calm, and confident… who receives weekly calls from headhunters… regular invitations from senior leaders to work on the projects that truly light her up… offers to speak at conferences.. and all that without stress, overwhelm and having to sacrifice her personal life.
Am I right?
If so, the first step is to ditch the disempowering, autopilot habits and behaviors that are costing you your visibility, career advancement, salary raises and new, exciting opportunities.
What you need to do instead is:
- Be intentional about your career: design a powerful vision, with clear non-negotiables and milestones.
- Get clear on what sets you apart from other specialists in your field, and build a strong personal brand.
- Learn to work in smarter, more strategic ways.
- Raise your self-confidence levels and change your mindset.
- Build relationships and leverage your network in authentic ways.
- Learn to sell yourself and advocate for your work.
- Learn to negotiate and put your best foot forward.
- Find your leadership voice and show up as an expert in meetings and on LinkedIn.
All these skills and strategies are taught inside Elevate, my affordable leadership development programme for ambitious women who are ready for more out of their careers and lives.
Elevate has already helped transform lives of many women, moving them from feeling overworked and not valued in dissatisfying jobs to more fulfilling (and higher paid) positions and careers through powerful visioning and branding work, and changing their communication and work habits.
The enrollment is by interview only, and there’s space for 2 more women in the new cohort that starts in early November.
Schedule a quick chat with me if you want to find out how Elevate can help your career goals and challenges, and so we see if you are a good fit.
You only have one life, my friend, so dream big, believe in yourself, use your voice in powerful ways, and take bold action.