So many of us tend to put other people’s needs ahead of our own and feel exhausted. Women tend to be highly attuned for reading faces, hearing emotional tones in voices, and unspoken cues. We are hard-wired to connect. This makes us natural peace-makers and healers because we can sense when someone is upset or isn’t getting their needs met and we want to make it better. The side-effect of this is that it can turn us into “people-pleasers.” We may put other people’s needs ahead of our own and not ask for what we want for fear of upsetting them. Generally speaking, we don’t like rocking the boat or ruffling feathers.

When you step up into leadership and a CEO mindset, you will likely ruffle feathers and rock the boat. You will encounter those who will misunderstand you, disapprove of you, lose faith in you, disrespect you, or want to pull you down. They are not always men. There were women who were against women voting. I invite you to set firm boundaries around anything and everything that isn’t helping you to grow. To my knowledge, no woman has made history by “behaving” or by caring so much what people think of her!

Close your eyes and visualize your inner child. Picture yourself when you were about 5-7 years old. Ask her what she needs right now. What is one thing that you are committing to doing today to put your needs ahead of everyone else’s?