Here we are in Week 2 of my 4 part series celebrating International Women’s Month and the Powerhouse Women who show great resilience, courage, and confidence. Last week we talked about recognizing where you have in fact been resilient as a leader or as a team member. This week we are going to talk about courage.
So with that in mind, I ask you:
Where have you been courageous in your life? Personally or professionally.
We need to recognize these things. I believe that everything is repeatable. Would you agree that you have the tendency to judge yourself a lot? We want to take a look at where you have been courageous so you can see that you really have been in spite of what you might think.
Maybe you’ve:
- Had a courageous conversation
- Found your voice which you didn’t have before
- Really looked at yourself and seen that there are certain patterns that are not serving you well
Let me give you an example. I had a situation with a family member and it looked like we were going to start into our usual routine of going around and around. Rather than focusing on them, I decided to take a step back, because as I like to say “sanity is in the pause”, and I started to wonder where my thinking might be part of the problem.
When I took the time and found the courage, to look and see what part I was playing in the exchange. I was looking for the pattern to see what was making us go round and round the proverbial mulberry bush. I quickly saw that while I am not great with texting, my family member prefers it as a method of communication. The pattern was such that there were miscommunications, resentments, hurt feelings, frustration, and sometimes even anger.
I decided that I was going to step out of that and say that moving forward, I really need to have a phone call when they were ready to make it. I realized that was going to work better than me taking a step back and accepting that we would continue to text.
Stopping to look for patterns and then having that conversation took courage on my part because it meant that I had to accept 100% responsibility for my thoughts, my feelings, and my actions.
Your homework for this week is to stop and think about where you have been courageous. I am willing to bet you will be surprised by just how often you have been.
Have a beautiful day.
Cate
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