How to Manage Your Inner Critic

Many of my clients and several audience members often remark that they feel somewhat like an imposter because they're not as bright, capable or successful as others perceive them to be. They're often afraid someone may find out. If you share this issue, this article interestingly helps you manage your inner critic. If you need more help, 1-1 coaching may be the solution to help you break through your blocks and be more confident and successful in your own eyes. Call or email me to discuss your needs. And, don't worry, our conversations are strictly confidential!

View the Harvard Business Review article: How to Manage Your Inner Critic

Women's Health & Fitness

Today is national Women’s Health & Fitness Day! It's the largest annual health promotion event for women of all ages. This unique national program — with participation by local organizations throughout the U.S. — focuses attention on the importance of regular physical activity and health awareness for women.

More than 1,000 groups across the country will host women’s health and fitness events at senior centers, hospitals, health clubs, park and recreation districts, local health and service organizations, schools, retirement communities, houses of worship, and other community locations today and also on the last Wednesday of every September to come. An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 women are expected to participate in these local activities.

Whether or not there's a local event, do something for your health and fitness today! If life is too busy, click over to my website for a free article Top 10 Ways to Fit Fitness into Your 'Too'-Busy Schedule.

Any activity, including walking, exercising, a health screening,
or even attending a health information workshop counts today! The goal of this special day is to encourage women to take control of their health: to learn the facts they need to make smart health choices, and to make time for regular physical activity. Don't hesitate...do something now!

NAFE Names Top Companies for Executive Women

At "The Glass Hammer", an online community designed for women executives in financial services, law and business I came across this article about the Top Ten Companies for Executive Women.

The Glass Hammer explores issues that matter to executive women and provides an opportunity to share experiences and network.

Here's the article:
NAFE Names Top Companies for Executive Women

Shared via AddThis

Making Time for What Matters Most

Unexpected emergencies are normally crises that can happen at any time. They arise often seemingly from out of nowhere. Once they are there, you are more or less forced to take time for something or someone that you had not planned.

Quite unconsciously, or perhaps even consciously, you decide that the emergency takes precedence over everything else at the moment, because the person or thing that emerged is more important to you than anything else on your plate at this moment.

Emergencies, such as this, can serve to help you put everything in your life back in perspective rather quickly. When a health emergency arises, either yours or someone else's, you immediately realize the importance of good health, wellness visits, and preventative care. Your perspective may shift to the importance of health, knowing that if you do not have your health, you may not have a productive or long life. Then, health becomes one of your top priorities.

When the emergency pertains to a relationship that is important to you, you recognize that the people you love and connections in your life, make your life worthwhile, so you take time out to take care of and nurture your relationships.

Making time for what matters most need not be relegated to emergencies. Imagine making time for your health, relationships and everything else that is vitally important to you, before an emergency strikes. Imagine taking excellent care of your physical body, your soul and those you love without being "forced" into it. Imagine sharing time, having real conversations, and being committed to understanding your loved ones or co-workers now - not just when emotions run high and things get a bit hairy or out of control.

Do yourself and your loved ones a huge favor and avoid an emergency by making time out of thin air today for what, and who, matters most to you. I am quite sure you will not regret this decision!

If You're So Smart, Why Can't You....

I booked our family vacation and connected with Steve Dasseos at the Trip Insurance Store to purchase trip cancellation insurance independently. Besides getting a great deal on insurance (more coverage than the destination offered for less money!), we talked about business, entrepreneurship, resources, and more.

Steve shared this clip with me of Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the #1 New York Times Bestselling memoir “Eat, Pray, Love,” about the year she spent traveling the world alone after a difficult divorce. The book has been a worldwide success, now published in over thirty languages with over 7 million copies in print. It was named by The New York Times as one of the 100 most notable books of 2006, and chosen by Entertainment Weekly as one of the best ten nonfiction books of the year. In 2008, Elizabeth was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, by Time Magazine.

Elizabeth shares a poignant inspiration that helps recognize how other's fears and your internalized fears stand in the way of your highest goal achievements. I've enjoyed helping my coaching clients and audiences live life to their fullest potential by identifying their limited beliefs, identifying their goals, and creating an action plan to take it one step at a time.

Click here to follow the link to Steve's Blog and scroll down about half way for the video. It's a little long but definitely worth listening too!

If You’re So Smart, Why Can’t You …

Make Romance a Priority

Romance, in these superbusy(tm) times may need to be a planned event rather than a spontaneous happening. Either planned or spontaneous, here are some simple romantic ideas for little or no money:

1. Write a love note by email, on the mirror, on the kitchen table, etc.
2. Send a greeting card (email or regular mail).
3. Give a warm embracing hug.
4. Give a passionate affectionate kiss.
5. Meet for lunch.
6. Picnic on your living room floor.
7. Kiss hello, kiss goodbye.
8. Take a bubble bath or shower together.
9. Make focused time for each other.
10. And, talk to each other…communicate regularly!

The Glass Hammer exists

If you are a women executive in the financial services, law or business industry, you may be interested in a BLOG called "The Glass Hammer". This site is an online community created specifically for women executives in financial services, law and business. It’s not only about work, but also about what to do after work, and it’s about having fun and being a fantastic human being.

The founder, Nicki Gilmour, publishes this BLOG to help you not only survive but to thrive at life and at work. The goal of The Glass Hammer site is to:

• Engage you with stories from the top and the trenches and share with you the good, bad and ugly of life in the business world.
• Answer your questions and address work/life issues via our on-call panel of industry experts.
• Become the ONE place you check for networking and employment opportunities.
• Give you the best training and support so both your career and your life can flourish.
  

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Dream Jobs for Working Moms

A new survey just realeased from Pew Research Center finds that only about 21 percent of working mothers with children under 18 view fulltime work as the best arrangement, down from 32 percent just 10 years ago. Of the working mothers surveyed, a whopping sixty percent, prefer part-time work, up from 48 percent in 1997. And, about the same amount of women, about 19 percent, say they'd prefer to not work at all.

This survey was conducted by telephone this past February and March to a national sample of 2,020 adults with a margin of error of about 3 percentage points for the full sample.

Based on the latest federal figures in the US, 70.5 percent of American women with children under 18 work outside the home--including 60 percent of mothers with children under 3. Three quarters of the working mothers are currently working full-time jobs, although this survey reflects a preference for part-time work.

What's your schedule look like in your dream job?

Email Coach Natalie at natalie@nrgcoaching.com to share your views.

Sincerely yours,

Coach Natalie Gahrmann

Women Leaders Getting Better at Juggling

I read an article yesterday that was published in the Miami Herald. It was in the Balancing Act section and was about how top women business leaders are good at juggling. Although I avoid endorsing juggling as a strategy and opt for rebalancing or integrating instead, the key point that I extracted from the article is about women talking more to each other and sharing solutions. Women today are finding more work/life solutions because we're supporting each other better!

As women climb the career ladder or start their own business, the importance of having a diverse network of supporters both inside and outside of the workplace increases as does their responsibilities at work. Those who have been most successful at achieving an overall life satisfaction have learned to incorporate effective strategies for enhancing performance and productivity.

Even as women are building businesses and advancing on the career ladder, an ever-increasing number are also achieving work/life balance -- A whopping 61 percent of women business leaders interviewed for this article claim they are satisfied with the balance between their career and personal life, up from 51 percent in 2006, according to the 2007 survey released by FIU's Center for Leadership and The Commonwealth Institute.

Talking with other women and learning about potential strategies that work has helped women adapt effective strategies for better balancing their lives. The universal challenge of findingmore work/life balance is easing as more and more women talk honestly and openly about it and determine creative solutions. As women set more realistic expectations, we they are permitting ourselves to have time for our self and to ask for (and accept) help both inside and outside work, when needed.

Women need to stop hiding behind the facade of being perfect and be real instead. There's so much more we can learn from each other when we're open and honest!

From one working mom to many others....

Yours truly,

Coach Natalie Gahrmann
natalie@nrgcoaching.com

Women in Leadership

I read an article in the Star Ledger last week (Thursday, Feb. 22) titled "Ms.-Fortune for women in leadership: Slip from long-term trend; state's top ranks suffer loss".

The trend I read about in the article regarding the decreasing number of women at top leadership positions is disappointing. Although this wasn't something that I ever wanted, I know many powerful and bright corporate women who could fill corporate officer and board director positions. Fact is, we even have our first women (a mother!!) running for the Presidency and a somewhat slow growing number of women in government leadership positions at the local, state, and national levels.

However, in the Fortune 500 companies the numbers of women in officer positions shrank from 16.4 % in 2005 to 15.6 % in 2006. And, where I live (NJ), we can no longer claim a single one of the 23 women CEOs in the Fortune 1000 since Lucent's Patricia Russo transferred to Paris to retain her job with France's Alcatel when the companies merged.

My experience working with women in the highest leadership positions reveals the ambivalence these women sometimes face between wanting to climb the corporate ladder and wanting to be with their kids more. The demands of higher level positions are usually heavy and difficult for those with a family. Many of the women in the highest leadership positions have partners who stay home with the kids and/or full-time live-in nannies who handle much of the childcare and household responsibilities.

Women are the ones who have the kids and are genetically set to do most of the nurturing. Women leaders tend to make many sacrifices. "Work/life balance is a big challenge; we are the ones who have the kids, and that's not going to change. Corporate careers are complex and women have a lot of choices, and that's a good thing; if we want more women to stay we have to signal to them that we value them and want to help them." according to Jennifer Allyn, managing director for gender, retention and advancement at Price Waterhouse Cooper, (one of the award winners where 3 of the top 17 top executives or 18% are women and are 16% of the 2,000 partners.)

More and more women are opting out of corporate America and starting their own business where they can set their own path and achieve more of what they want when they want it!

I'm curious, what are your thoughts about the decline in top leadership positions by women? Would this be something you'd want? Email me to share your views.

Yours,

Coach Natalie Gahrmann
natalie@nrgcoaching.com