Women in the Workforce: 5 Things I’ve Learned
At 25 years old, I began a job that really started my career. I graduated from graduate school a few years earlier and had just a couple years of experience.
I was an entry level clinical therapist.
All of my superiors were men. I didn’t think much of it at the time. They were nice enough and it seemed like they cared about my growth within the company. I had been raised with impression that men and women were equal, in all ways. For me, the workplace was no different.
I was young and naïve about the workforce. I put absolutely everything into my job. I didn’t have work boundaries and worked as often as needed. (HINT: if you work as often as needed, you will be needed 24/7).
About 6 months into my job, I was rapidly promoted within the company. I was elated. I felt recognized for my work and was promised a raise.
With this promotion came supervising others. At the beginning of my management experience, I struggled with leading and managing others. I wasn’t sure of how to be motivating or to encourage hard work. I was uncertain of how to address shortcomings and policy violations.
Turns out, other women in management positions within the company were also struggling to find their voice while leading others. We would meet regularly and discuss things we had said. “Do you think I sounded mean?” “Do you think they hate me?” “I tried not to show that I was upset.”
Women and men have very different experiences at work. It’s factual. It’s been proven. I’ve experienced it. You’ve experienced it.
It took me a few years of extensive self-doubt, self-hatred, and self-forgiveness to discover how to be most effective at my job. It took me years of feeling unworthy and avoiding mistakes that only made me make more mistakes.
I persevered and eventually held titles such as CEO and Clinical Director. I was essentially running programs on my own with little direction. I learned how to embrace my unique characteristics that made me effective at my job, while also maintaining work/life balance.
What I learned:
Avoiding mistakes only makes you make more mistakes.
Trying too hard at something can sometimes make it worse.
Someone else’s impression of you is NOT who you are.
You will always think you could have done something differently.
Some people won’t like you. Don’t stress about trying to get them to change their mind.
While those are some of the down and dirty things I’ve taken away from my experiences with my own shortcomings, there are A LOT where that came from.
If you are currently navigating the working environment and balancing your self-esteem within the process, let me help you. I am currently working on an amazing program SPECIFICALLY FOR women in the workplace. It is designed to help with workplace fears, embracing your femininity, work/life balance, perfectionism, AND MORE.
While this program is being finalized, I am accepting limited spots in my private mentorship & coaching program NOW. If any of this resonates with you, email me at shelby@shelbychantilly.com or DM me on my instagram HERE. In my private mentorship program we design a program specifically FOR YOU and what your goals are. I am accessible in a pretty amazing way with 24/7 voice message support.
If 1-1 mentorship is not for you, continue following me for more free content, blogs, meditations, etc that (as always!) will continue to be released.
Have a great week!
-Shelby