The Womens Forum

Last week I attended a Women’s Professional Development Forum.  It was a great day dedicated to thinking differently about our role in the workplace.

There were a number of themes that seemed to flow across the myriad of speakers throughout the day, and these themes seemed to fcus on the things that we tell ourselves.

1. You feel a fraud (but so does everyone else) and there’s only one way you can prove yourself wrong, by trying things that you are not sure you can succeed at and giving them your best effort.
2. Instead of seeing what you are not and thinking about what you can’t do, think about what you are and what you can do.
3. It’s ok to say no; in fact very often it is the things that you say no to that will define you and your career progression.

There were many more wonderful thoughts during the day: the thinking that being different is wonderful, the thinking that it is easier to trust than judge, the thinking that rocking the boat is A-OK.

But my take home from the day is that rather than what others tell us, it is the things that we tell ourselves that so often hold us back. So while we are waiting for the world to change around us, we can start by having a positive internal dialogue about our abilities and our potential.