Written by: Sarah Needham, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
1. Continue to struggle – if you don’t make a change nothing will change. Accept it.
2. Re-design your work environment & relationships to allow you to thrive in your current role.
3. Get out & give yourself a chance to find an environment which better suits you & where you can use your strengths.
From all my research there are two main causes of your struggles:
The working environment does not fit; what is important to you is not being honored in the environment you are in;
The fact you do not feel safe enough to talk openly about your needs to enable you to thrive!
Both these causes are a matter of perception. Your perception is based on what you consider important in your life (your values) & your experience (your life story). Your perceptions drive your internal thinking.
So when those stories in your head start taking over & your brain starts to whirr & when you are waking up at night worrying that is all thinking. It drains your energy.
Be aware; only you can take responsibility to do this work & figure out what changes you can make to thrive!
Your primary responsibility is to create the life you crave for. Only you can see inside your head, no one else can do it for you!
The quandary here is we are least likely to ask for support when we feel vulnerable, or when we feel under-appreciated, or when we feel anxious!
Why? Because we are so damn hard on ourselves! Those internal stories we carry over from childhood we believe to be true:
We should be grateful for what we have;
It’s not that bad really;
It will get better soon!
NEWSFLASH, it will get better if you choose YOU! If you stop with the excuses as to why you cannot do it. If you start getting clear on what is important to you!
SHOW UP FOR YOURSELF! Allow yourself to thrive!
My recent research shows that the top 3 pains for Female Leaders in Tech are:
Feeling drained internal politics, making you feel unsafe & preventing you from achieving what you know is possible?
Feeling anxious about not being good enough even though you are working harder than ever & it’s seeping into your home life?
Feeling under-appreciated & unable to share what you're thinking confidently which is affecting your self-worth?
My research also shows that Female Leaders in Tech crave:
Contributing to creating value for others, you want to be successful.
Working in an open, honest, accepting environment that values individuals for who they are & what they contribute.
Learning & personal growth for themselves & others.
So if you give yourself the chance to choose… do you want to accept these pains until you retire? OR Do you want to make changes to allow yourself to thrive?
The women I have spoken to who have allowed themselves to thrive, have four things in common:
They know their strengths & their values & talk about them often;
They are not scared of getting it wrong because they value learning over inaction;
They have designed their environment to be able to ask for what they need & in doing so allow others to do the same;
They set clear boundaries & know they cannot always please everyone!
Do you want to learn how to thrive?
There is never a ‘good’ time to start making change. All it takes is one small change to start things moving.
If you are contemplating making a change but don’t know where to start just click the 'connect' button & send me a message telling me what's keeping you awake at night. Just do your best (this is not an exam ;-).
If you are not yet ready, that is fine, go easy on yourself. I challenge you to look at the excuses you have for not giving yourself the chance to thrive! Once you have them written them all out; yes, all of them then shoot them across to me in a message!
Sarah Needham, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Sarah Needham is a coach with an extraordinary vision: “To create a world where everyone feels they can stand up and engage in discussion about what matters most.” She wants us all to take off our invisibility cloaks and share courageously what we think and feel.
Sarah believes that we are all unique for a reason, and we should challenge ourselves to step proudly into our uniqueness, our own SUPERPOWER!
As a coach, she challenges herself to inspire people by holding regular sessions on this topic. Sarah’s work brings together her three core values: technology, sustainability, and challenging others to embrace their uniqueness. She helps tech founders and leaders unleash their impact in creating a more sustainable life on earth whilst prioritizing their own self-care, and in doing so, creating a more sustainable business.
Sarah is an engineer with many years as a leader at one of the world's leading global engineering corporations. She is British, living in Potsdam, Germany, with her husband, two adopted daughters, and two cats.
