Get Help by Being Yourself

Feb 15
14:32

2011

Betty-Ann Heggie

Betty-Ann Heggie

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Having a network of friends and mentors provides much-needed support, encouragement, and advice. In fact, a McKinsy study shows that women who have developed a strong network and good mentors enjoy more promotions, higher pay and greater career satisfaction.

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Be yourself and others will be motivated to help you reach your goals.

The key is that your friends and mentors reinforce who you are inside. If it’s the other way around – that is,Get Help by Being Yourself Articles if you let others define you – you’ll lose touch with yourself and drain yourself of energy. You’ll become a poor facsimile of who you really are. That limits both your opportunities to do great things and your ability to shine.

Each of us needs to be authentic, as therein lay our true power. When we are being who we are meant to be, we will walk taller and stride with more confidence. We’ll be more attractive to others and they’ll be motivated to help.

Start by being self-aware. Discover your energy source. What makes you feel like a bigger, fuller human being? When you find it, accept what you’ve learned. Some will say, “I know that I am good at theatre but I want to be an investment banker.” That isn’t being true to your self. Play to your strengths. Successful companies know that this is the key to a higher valuation and you can learn from their experience.

Next, it’s important to surround yourself with positive ‘mirrors’ to reflect and reinforce that energy and internal knowledge. No matter who you are or how different you feel, there are people out there who will reflect back to you the wonderful person that you are, but you have to find the courage to reveal it to them first.

Discovering who we are inside takes feminine energy, but putting that into action in the outside world takes masculine energy. This flow from one to the other is another example of good “Gender Physics.”

I was reminded of this as I sat with a young woman who is preparing for her medical admission interviews. She is very self-aware and knows that she is an introvert. Unfortunately, she viewed that as an impediment. She was looking for a way to be more extroverted.

I asked her if she could tell me an advantage of being introverted and she quickly said that it makes her more observant and a better listener. She even told me how friends at school want to borrow her notes as she hears so much nuance that they miss. Suddenly, the light went on and she could see the advantage of this attribute in her future medical practice.
My young friend was in danger of letting the outside world define her and I am honored to have played a small part in helping her realize that being who she is provides endless possibilities.

Start today to discover your authentic self and then find people in your external world who will reinforce that inner energy. With the knowledge that who you are inside is valued in the outside world, you’ll be more motivated, experience more energy and feel more balanced.

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