Learning how to Lead with Intention: The 2022 Annual Purdue Women’s Conference (2 of 4)
On June 9-10 I had the privilege to attend the Purdue Alumni Network’s Annual Women’s conference. Organized and hosted by Purdue for Life, the overarching goal is to motivate, uplift and connect.
This year’s conference, held at the Alexander Hotel in downtown Indianapolis, focused on wellness and growth in both our personal and professional lives: in no particular order, I am going to dive into my main takeaways.
TAKEAWAY 2: Treat yourself like a project (one you care about)
This years’ conference placed a special focus on mental and physical wellness in and out of the workplace. As a frequent exerciser, a healthy eater and someone who strives to prioritize mental wellness, I’ll be honest; I wasn’t expecting to learn much of anything new in this area. I hoped I would learn some new techniques, possibly renew some old habits, and feel re-inspired. What I wasn’t expecting? In addition to the tried-and-true methods I already knew, I would be challenged to form a whole new mindset when it comes to my life.
The lesson? Treat yourself like a business.
We create massive sets of blueprints before we build a home. We use spreadsheets to plan everything from our budgets to our vacations. We have apps to track our spending, our sleep and our weight. Why aren’t we using these techniques to plan and reach our personal and professional goals? In addition, why aren’t we giving ourselves the patience and grace that we would in these other areas, or even to other people?
One of the biggest limiting factors for many women is confidence; our inner critics attack us, they hold us back, and they make us question our instincts. In a business we would look at the facts and make a decision – why are we allowing our personal bias get in the way of doing the same for ourselves? Self-awareness and criticism are important, but it’s important to notice when they helping or hurting progress. One tip given by Robin Kwok: Treat your inner critic like a power outage. Having negative thoughts? Self-doubt? On the verge of a meltdown? Take a second to consider that the system is malfunctioning, and needs a second to reset. Take a deep breath, re-assess the situation, and get yourself back online. It’s not a flaw, it’s a reboot!
Another thing I never expected to learn from some of the most successful women I’ve ever met: know when to stop. Or, as Rebecca Shambaugh said, know the difference between “perfect” and “enough”. Especially as women, we often find the need to feel perfect, to do it all, to prove that we are enough. The truth? You are already there. Most likely, you’ve already done enough to succeed and excel, because you have that job, that project, that responsibility. If you want more, don’t worry about needing to reach “perfection” – Worry about reaching success. What do you already bring? What can you do to meet or exceed expectations? How can you be the most confident and competent version of yourself? Know that you were brought into a situation for a reason, and that reason was not to be perfect. If you are constantly striving for perfection, you will constantly feel like you are coming up short. Don’t be perfect, be enough. Be yourself. Give yourself grace and play to your strengths.
And most importantly, give yourself the type of attention, effort, and patience that you would give to any person or any project you care about, because you are your most important project.
Got a question? Want to work together? Reach out!
