New Year Goals with Kirsty McWilliam
I love the start of a new year but I don’t “do” resolutions. Instead, I prefer to focus on celebrating the achievements. The other part of the new year though, is carving out a new plan—fail to plan, plan to fail! And this year it’s a new decade, too. The excitement!
At the start of anything new, I think there comes a feeling of anything is possible. My favourite saying is “it’s only impossible until it is done”, and a new year always feels this way to me.
So, what could be possible for you this year? It may be a wellbeing plan, a fun plan or a career plan. If it is a career plan, let me share with you the common “problems” we hear from women looking to progress to senior leadership:
1. Having to choose between career progression and time with family
2. Feeling overlooked by men who shout louder than them
3. Telling themselves they’re not good enough
Which “problem” is holding you back?
1. Women are still the main caregivers. Over a week, a woman will spend nine hours more on childcare and housework than her male counterpart. That is not how much we spend, but how much more than our partner. Over a year, it is an extra three months of work… I don’t want to give up being a caregiver, I love being a mum but if I am going to have a career, too, then I will need support from my partner. 50/50 time is here. We can also be our own worst enemies - we have high expectations; we take on too much and say “yes” way more than is needed. Then we wonder why we feel exhausted!
2. Find your own voice. We don’t need to shout to be heard but you do need to take a seat at the table. If you don’t, no one else will. Reading Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In would be a great place to start. You can also feel inspired by a Scottish woman now living in Australia, Lucy Foster. Lucy knew she wanted to progress to CEO from her current role, but she also had two young girls and didn’t want to be in the office full time. When the CEO job became available, she put an advert on Linkedin to ask for a job share. What a genius idea. No surprise that when she found the right candidate, the interview panel could not argue with having a combined knowledge, wisdom and experience which now spanned 50 years! They are now the first joint CEO I know of, and they are going from strength to strength. I would encourage you to all find your own path, don’t keep asking for the same thing and expecting it to work.
3. This ties back to self-regard and imposter syndrome. Many of us literally are holding ourselves back by not believing in ourselves, and if we don’t it is harder for those around us to believe in our ability too.
But don’t do this alone—find people to help. Who, in work, will take a seat at the table for you when you are not there? What is your voice? How can you make an impact this year? And lastly, surround yourself with positive people and dial down your inner critic.
Make a positive decision right now to move it forward this year, a new year and time to take that step forward.
For further help and advice from Kirsty and her team of accredited coaches visit www.coachingdirectuk.com