How can you refresh, renew, recharge, and reboot your energy?
18th February 2014How a gravitas strategy can help you have a great performance appraisal
4th March 2014Why Brene Brown is Amazing…tips for women who are trying to balance work and family without shame
Being a woman in business and striving to achieve, succeed, and still balance a full life is a never-ending challenge. If you’ve ever felt like you weren’t enough – good enough, smart enough, pretty enough – or a good enough mother, employee, leader – then Brene Brown’s work is ideal for you. It’s challenging but ultimately incredibly insightful – and my new favorite book for the important women in my life.
If you’ve gone through an ‘unraveling journey’ – or a time where, as Brown says “You fee a desperate pull to live the life you want to live, not the one you’re ‘supposed’ to live” then you know what I’m talking about.
If you’ve gone through an ‘unraveling journey’ – or a time where, as Brown says “You fee a desperate pull to live the life you want to live, not the one you’re ‘supposed’ to live” then you know what I’m talking about.
Life events that cause women to have balance-seeking moments:
- Midlife
- Marriage
- Divorce
- Becoming a parent
- Recovery
- Moving
- An empty nest
- Retiring
- Experiencing a loss or trauma
- Working in a soul-sucking job
For me, I had a marriage, divorce, move, empty next and soul-suckingness occur within an 18 month timeframe – plus some other major life events. So, I needed a re-boot for myself and Brown’s work was exactly what the doctor ordered
How you can make changes to achieve your career and life goals
I was acquainted with Brene by my thinking partner, MJ Ryan turned me on to Brene Brown when we were discussing achieving goals and pursuing a ‘wholehearted’ life.
Brown’s work is about shame, authenticity, and belonging. To learn about her approach to dealing with vulnerability and shame, watch these videos on TED:
- http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html
- http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame.html
After you watch, I urge you to buy The Gifts of Imperfection and/or Daring Greatly. Both pivotal, inspiring works that had me crying, exulting, thinking, and more energized than I’ve been in ages.
Are you looking to find balance in your career and life?
Brown also shares her ten guideposts on the power of Wholehearted living:
1. Cultivate authenticity and let go of what people think
2. Cultivate self-compassion and let go of perfectionism
3. Cultivate a resilient spirit and let go of numbing and powerlessness
4. Cultivate gratitude and joy and let go of scarcity and fear of the dark
5. Cultivate intuition and trusting faith and let go of the need for certainty
6. Cultivate creativity and let go of comparison
7. Cultivate play and rest and let go of exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self-worth
8. Cultivate calm and stillness and let go of anxiety as a lifestyle
9. Cultivate meaningful work and let go of self-doubt and ‘supposed to’
10. Cultivate laughter, song and dance and let go of being cool and ‘always in control’
How does this tie in with personal branding and executive presence – my two areas of interest?
Simply, you cannot have a truly powerful brand unless you are being your authentic self. Watch Brown’s TED talks, and you’ll see the power of being yourself is what resonates in leaders.
Three quick tips to integrate ‘wholeheartedness’ into your personal brand:
- Share stories with others – not just the ones where you ‘win’, but the ones where you ‘learn’ are equally and sometimes more powerful
- Embrace your flaws – physically and in all aspects, nobody is perfect. Own your scars, own your body, own your ‘weaknesses’ and your presence is strengthened
- Stop comparing yourself to others – if you’re familiar with my blog, then you know about the Five Facets – Visual, Verbal, Kinesthetic, Sociability, Positioning. The Five Facets are not about comparing yourself to anyone else, it’s about polishing to reflect your best self.
- Midlife
- Marriage
- Divorce
- Becoming a parent
- Recovery
- Moving
- An empty nest
- Retiring
- Experiencing a loss or trauma
- Working in a soul-sucking job
For me, I had a marriage, divorce, move, empty next and soul-suckingness occur within an 18 month timeframe – plus some other major life events. So, I needed a re-boot for myself and Brown’s work was exactly what the doctor ordered
How you can make changes to achieve your career and life goals
I was acquainted with Brene by my thinking partner, MJ Ryan turned me on to Brene Brown when we were discussing achieving goals and pursuing a ‘wholehearted’ life.
Brown’s work is about shame, authenticity, and belonging. To learn about her approach to dealing with vulnerability and shame, watch these videos on TED:
- http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html
- http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame.html
After you watch, I urge you to buy The Gifts of Imperfection and/or Daring Greatly. Both pivotal, inspiring works that had me crying, exulting, thinking, and more energized than I’ve been in ages.
Are you looking to find balance in your career and life?
Brown also shares her ten guideposts on the power of Wholehearted living:
1. Cultivate authenticity and let go of what people think
2. Cultivate self-compassion and let go of perfectionism
3. Cultivate a resilient spirit and let go of numbing and powerlessness
4. Cultivate gratitude and joy and let go of scarcity and fear of the dark
5. Cultivate intuition and trusting faith and let go of the need for certainty
6. Cultivate creativity and let go of comparison
7. Cultivate play and rest and let go of exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self-worth
8. Cultivate calm and stillness and let go of anxiety as a lifestyle
9. Cultivate meaningful work and let go of self-doubt and ‘supposed to’
10. Cultivate laughter, song and dance and let go of being cool and ‘always in control’
How does this tie in with personal branding and executive presence – my two areas of interest?
Simply, you cannot have a truly powerful brand unless you are being your authentic self. Watch Brown’s TED talks, and you’ll see the power of being yourself is what resonates in leaders.
Three quick tips to integrate ‘wholeheartedness’ into your personal brand:
- Share stories with others – not just the ones where you ‘win’, but the ones where you ‘learn’ are equally and sometimes more powerful
- Embrace your flaws – physically and in all aspects, nobody is perfect. Own your scars, own your body, own your ‘weaknesses’ and your presence is strengthened
- Stop comparing yourself to others – if you’re familiar with my blog, then you know about the Five Facets – Visual, Verbal, Kinesthetic, Sociability, Positioning. The Five Facets are not about comparing yourself to anyone else, it’s about polishing to reflect your best self.
