Personal Leadership for Women: Don’t Act Like Prey!

Don’t Act Like Prey! is a series of blogs on assertiveness.  Our professional and personal success depends upon us being assertive.  We must stand up and speak out for ourselves.  If we are passive, we will never achieve our goals and the success we desire.  If we are aggressive, we will destroy our professional and personal relationships.  The key to balancing passive and aggressive behavior to become assertive is respect.  We must respect our rights while respecting the rights of others. 

For all the blogs on Don’t Act Like Prey!, click on “assertiveness” under labels to the left.

Please leave me comments on what you think and what experiences you have had with being passive, aggressive, and assertive!

Personal Leadership: Pay Now or Pay Later

Everything in life has a price.  It may be a price in money, time, or other intangibles.  Once we spend money on one item, we do not have that money to spend on another item.  Once we spend time on one activity, we do not have that time to spend on any other activities. 

If we buy on credit, not only do we pay the initial price, but we also pay interest.  What “interest” are we paying when we put off doing the things that will gain us the success we want in our personal and professional lives?

For example, if you are putting off going to back to school, what is it costing you, year after year, in lost income and potential opportunities?  You will still pay the same in money (or more) and the same in time, but the longer you wait the less time you will have to reap the rewards.

What will you pay in the future by not looking for that new job now?  What will it cost you to continue to put it off?  What will it cost you to continue to sit in front of the TV instead of spending time with your family?

We will always pay for what we get.  We can either pay now, and have longer to gain from it, thus gaining more.  Or we can pay later, and earn less.

It is always our choice.

Personal Leadership: Hard Work Works

As I was leaving a store recently, I noticed a tee-shirt a young woman was wearing.  The back of the shirt said:

"Hard Work Works"

What more can I say?

Personal Leadership: Play Your Own Game

There is a great deal of pressure for us to measure ourselves and our success by what others do.  To a certain extent, that can be good.  It can help us strive and achieve more of what we want.

Sometimes, though, it can be detrimental.  We may not want what others want.  We may not want to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve that level of success.  If we measure ourselves against others, we may not appreciate that the total life we have is what we really want.

This occurred to me recently when my husband and I were playing golf.  His golf game goals are different from mine.  He wants to shoot 90 or lower.  I want to enjoy being outside, getting some exercise, and shooting a better average score this season that last season.  If I try to play his golf game, or if he tries to play mine, neither of us will be happy.  As long as we keep in mind what our goals are, we both have fun.

In your personal and professional lives, play your own game.  Play the game that makes you happy and do not worry about what game others play.