A few years ago, I gave a talk to a roomful of young women, aspiring collegiate female leaders. I asked them "How many of you have high self-esteem?" Every single woman confidently raised her hand high.
I then asked, "How many of you act on that high self-esteem?" They look at each other in confusion.
Self-esteem is a strong belief in and regard for yourself, a strong confidence in your ability to do and be anything and you believe your gifts are valuable. Many women believe at some level that they have at least an adequate level of self-esteem. They feel that they can do anything they put their minds to. The problem is: they often fail to take action. In other words, they are not walking in their power -- often because they are too busy giving it away. You see, self-esteem is not the same as self-empowerment.
Self-empowerment is taking charge of and responsibility for your life by acting to create the life you really desire, without apology or requiring approval from others. In other words, self-esteem is the belief that you can do and be anything you want to; self-empowerment is making it happen without asking for permission or acknowledgement. Self-empowerment is the belief that you, as a woman, are sovereign; queen of your own domain.
- Lead from their hearts
- EnVision what they want to accomplish
- Act courageously
- Trust their own consciences above all else and act on that
I work with a lot of female entrepreneurs. As women in business, you must be walking in your power 100% of the time. But very few women, entrepreneur or not, actually walk in their power at all. How can you tell if you're giving your power away?
- You're a people pleaser
- You don't feel in charge of your own life
- You're not bringing your all to the table because you fear what people will think of you
- You stay quiet instead of speaking your truth
Have you been consciously or unconsciously giving your power away? You can't walk in your power if you keep giving it away. Time to take a self-inventory:
- In what ways or areas in your life do you feel powerless?
- Who or what have you given your power to?
- In what ways have you not stepped into your power?
Are you ready to take back your power? It's time to make a list of power statements like those that follow. These statements should be of your own creation. Post them where you'll see them often as reminders to walk in your power and speak your truth:
I am the Queen of my own life.
I make my own decisions based on my intuition.
I live my life the way I see fit and don't feel the need to ask for permission from anyone.
I live my dream life.
I actively create my life.
For the next 30 days, I want you to do something that truly gets you walking in your power. Something that scares you a little -- or a lot -- but needs to be done for you to own your truth and live the life you were meant to live.
- What's my life's purpose? What am I here to do? - For example, my life's purpose is to heal myself and own my truth so that I can empower, inspire and support other women to do the same.
- What does my ideal day look like? How would I spend my time? What would I be doing? -- my ideal day would be spent getting my message out to as many women as possible and helping them on their path. This would be through a combination of blogging, speaking, writing books and ecourses, etc. At this point, I spend one to two days a week doing this. The rest of my time is still devoted to my 'real job' that pays the bills and allows me to move closer to my goal.
- What would it take for my ideal day to become a reality? -- Think of this as an A to Z process. Write down everything you need to do to make that happen. It doesn't matter how big or small these steps might be.
- Organize these steps into chronological order - and do yourself a favor, do this in a Word document or on your smart phone so you can reorganize the steps -- I promise you, you'll have to at some point and likely many times!
- Make a timeline -- how long will it realistically take for you to get from A to Z? Start putting dates by your steps. You may need to add substeps to the bigger goals to make them more do-able.
- Pick out your 30 days and assign one task to each day -- don't make these tasks too small or too big. They shouldn't be too easy or too challenging. The goal here is to stretch you a little bit, not scare you into giving up!
- Print this 30-day calendar out and put it where you will see it often.
- Start your 30 day challenge today! -- If you put it off until tomorrow, you'll likely keep putting it off. Take it from someone who knows!
Confession time: I'm a work in progress. I think we all are. I will be doing this challenge right along with you. I'd love it if you'd reach out to me and let me know your daily successes and struggles and I'll do the same. We can hold each other accountable and keep each other honest. And maybe, just maybe, truly embrace walking in our power along the way.