Reclaiming Your Power: A recap of my 9/4 telecall

By: Jewel Ray Chaudhuri, Ph.D. | Posted in: Female power, Leadership | Saturday, Dec 6, 2014 - 4:37pm

In this blog post you will find a recap from a 9/4/14 telecal, where I explored the topic of reclaiming your power, and spoke about 8 ways in which we give up power as women and 7 tips for reclaiming our power.

Eight Ways in which we Give Up Power as Women

• We believe that power is a dirty word. We think of it as good or evil. Would you want power if you thought of it as evil? This view may cause us to withdraw or hide from wanting power.
• We make other judgments about power: real and masculine; false or less than and feminine.
• We define power solely as command and control. We may lead by command and control if that’s the only way we see it.
• We assess ourselves as “not good enough” often comparing ourselves to others.
• We often sell ourselves short by focusing on the one thing we might not have done well–the old “it wasn’t perfect” so I’m not perfect. We globalize incidents rather than localizing them.
• We verbally sabotage ourselves with words like sorry,should, oh, it’s nothing.
• We accommodate others often putting their needs above our own and then feeling guilt or anger about doing so.
• We lack coherence in our way of being. Our emotions, language and body movement give us away. We use words that lack power, feel powerless which causes us to move in a less than powerful way and it shows, easy for others to read as “not powerful”.

 

Seven tips for reclaiming  power:

• We can reframe and redefine how we look at power. Instead of thinking of power as outcome or having power as an end result, think of it as the energy needed to move something forward.
• We can develop a mindset of excellence, “good enough or “doing our best”. Perfection stops us;excellence moves us forward.
• Practice putting on a cloak of confidence. Each day. In front of your mirror. And in front of others.
• We can position ourselves as powerful, strong; capable, the power that comes from being fully who we are. Ask yourself: what are my strengths ? My passions? What am I committed to?
• Train your body, your language and your emotions to be powerful. Emotions drive actions. What’s the emotion that gives you power? What does your body look like when confident? What is the language that you use that shows your strength? Stop and observe yourself during your work day– is your presence powerful?
• Connect with your inner qualities of joy. Gratitude, peace, passion, wholeheartedness, courage;curiousity.
• Identify role models who can guide you in strengthening your power.
• Get in touch with your heart and gut and out of your head. The head judges, the heart loves. Connect with that part of you that says “yes” rather than”no”.

if you would like to take a deeper dive and practice strengthening your woman power, sign up for my Embrace Your WomanPower 21 day challenge.