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Focus determines your future and your fortune

  • 2 hours ago
  • 3 min read

When I speak to women who are beyond ready to move up the career ladder and it hasn't happened yet, they often believe that they are lacking something.


Their shortcomings appear magnified in their eyes, constructive criticism from their team leaders can feel hurtful and most crucially from my viewpoint, they begin to forget how much potential they actually hold within themselves.


However, the missing ingredient might actually be a lot less complicated than they think.


If you are not where you want to be in your career right now, the quality of your focus might be the very thing that changes your future.


Some time back I worked with a coachee who, almost as soon as she was starting to make breakthroughs in our work together, experienced one family emergency after the other.


Naturally, this took up a huge amount of her emotional capacity and energy.


And yet, every month she showed up and did the work, even as life happened around her.


My job as a coach was to hold her accountable during that challenging time, because as women we can neglect our own needs when we have to be there for others.


And on an invisible level, hold that energetic space for her to step into the new identity she was growing into.


I can only do that when coachees meet me half way. 


She not only did a great job in keeping her focus when walking through fire, but she became seen as a trustworthy person because of it.



The next time I met her in person, she was carrying herself with so much more solidity underneath her usual warm, friendly manner.


So your focus will change your future.


You might not see it this way, but a sharp focus demonstrates, if nothing else, trust in yourself: that you can persist no matter what and still manage to go after the results you want.


Anyone who displays that level of determination in private exudes it in public.


You can bet that they will have a very organic path into leadership, without the struggle that most people go through.


Because that’s the kind of person who automatically becomes first choice.


Any leader would want them by their side when navigating the rocky terrain that is the current economic climate.


I hear so many women say that they are frustrated with where they are, and that they are ready for the next step in their careers.


But sometimes there’s no follow through. I never hear from them again, which makes me wonder about their commitment to the very thing they want to achieve and how that is perceived by the people on their team.


An internal conflict does you no favours in sending out the right impression, because others can read your uncertainty a mile away.


So if you want to or need to park your career ambitions for the moment for whatever reason, then just be honest and make peace with it, rather than be disingenuous.


To thine own self be true.


But when you do know that it's time to focus on your career, then let a laser sharp focus keep that goal front of mind and visible to everyone who needs to see it.


____


I support women working in majority male industries with building the confidence to take their careers and businesses to the next level.


Step into your next meeting with more confidence: 

Sign up to watch this free 5-part video series: https://tinyurl.com/confidence-in-meetings


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