I was with a client the other day and she was having a problem at work. The problem being, she felt stuck. She told me she believed in the Law of Attraction and was constantly asking the universe to give her a better job and thinking positively about it. And I could see immediately what the problem was.
But before we get to that, let me just say that sometimes the odds are stacked against you. That doesn’t mean you will fail, it does mean things might not be as easy as they could be. Take the concept that it has been proven that mixed Boardrooms are more efficient than single sex ones (see my previous blog), so you’d think that with this information that we’d be advancing in the area of the % of women in senior management posts in the UK.
Well here’s the news – we are actually going backwards. Have a guess what the % is. Let me give you some stats that may help. The World average is 25% which is 1% up on 2016.
Russia’s % is 47. Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey (apparently called the M.I.N.T economies) are on 28%. So, where do you think the UK is? If you listen to the press you’d think it must be above average right? WRONG. We were on 22% in 2016, and that was up from 18% in 2004. And now we are on…….19%
I know WTF ????
So, if you are looking at a move into senior management, that is not going to be helpful to you. And not just for the obvious reason of getting the real opportunity. There is also the issue of confidence. There is the issue of the ‘hero leader image’ – and no it’s not about standing around in a bar with tight fitting pants!! – it’s the image of a lone leader, leading into a battle aka Winston Churchill style, Nelson Mandela, JFK or even Margaret Thatcher the “invincible look”.
This is the image that many people have – that the leader has to be fearless, perfect and 100% about the job. That is not an attractive image for most women and rules many out of even considering going for the top job. And there is also this little thing called Trust.
Trust, you might be thinking what are you on about Chery? Well let me explain the issue with all of the above.
Firstly, clearly there are less real opportunities for women re: positions in senior management. That is underpinned by the fact that the % of business in the UK with NO women in these positions has increased last year from 36 to 41%, and as my friends in recruitment will tell you, people hire people like them. It’s more comfortable (because the mind loves what’s familiar). So, a board full of men will employ more men. So, yes, less opportunity is a factor.
Secondly, confidence. If a woman knows or perceives that the odds are stacked against her then it may affect her confidence so much that she does not even apply for the role. I know unbelievable, right! However, when Hewlett-Packard did a survey to understand the lack of women in higher roles they found that a man will apply for a job if he has 60% of the required criteria. Whereas women will NOT apply unless they have 100% of the criteria.
Generally, if something goes wrong for a man, they blame others (take a look at any football game – the referee is usually the target!!). A woman on the other hand, well they’ll blame themselves first because their lack of trust is on themselves. (A note here this lack of trust is not limited to women, many of my Rapid Transformational Therapy clients that are being held back by limiting beliefs are affected by lack of trust, that has been handed down from judging parents, teachers or even friends.)
Which brings me back to my client who was,” constantly asking the universe” for this new job she wanted. And that is the problem. If you believe in the law of attraction, then the key to it is trust. Not constantly asking, looking for a sign / evidence, which is really shows, lack. Lack of trust, lack of the job, lack of belief that you will get it. And the universe, well it knows what you really believe.
Even, if you are “being positive” about something but you really believe it is not for you, then the universe won’t go against you. It won’t give you something you don’t think you can have, something you don’t believe you deserve or are capable of. And then you will end up thinking this Law of Attraction thing doesn’t work. The logical reason for this (in case you’ve just read this and thought …this sounds a bit “whoo whoo” (ask me how I know how that feels!) think about the Universe as being like a radio wave.
In the later part of the 19th century, scientists figured out how to electronically generate radio waves using electric currents. Two components are required for radio communication: a transmitter and a receiver.
A radio transmitter consists of several elements that work together to generate radio waves that contain useful information such as audio, video, or digital data (i.e. your thoughts, words, images). A radio receiver is the opposite of a radio transmitter. It uses an antenna to capture radio waves, processes those waves to extract only those waves that are vibrating at the desired frequency, the “Universe” needs to find those thoughts, words and images that are vibrating at the right frequency.
So, here’s the thing, are you ready to trust you? Are you ready to trust the universe will send you what you are looking for or will you be sending out a scrambled message to you and the rest of the world? The choice of course is yours J
If you have a sneaking suspicion that you are lacking in trust or that your confidence and belief in yourself might just be the root of the problem. If you know that you have some issues that you haven’t dealt with which are holding you back. Or if you just feel unsettled and that there should be more for you in this life, then I invite you to come along to Be Inspired on International Women’s Day.
You see, along with our friends at Leading Women in Business in Manchester, we’re hosting a joint event on March 8th at the AC Marriot Hotel Salford Quays, Manchester.
At that event you are going to hear from 6 incredible speakers – headlined by Marie Diamond herself who starred in the $65 million box office film on Law of Attraction, “The Secret”. Marie is also a Feng Shui Master and creator of the Association of Transformational Leaders that I am now a Director of. Marie will be sharing with you how to ensure you are sitting in the right area of your office to get the power spot and how to attract the right energy you need to be even more successful in your business and personal life.
You will be hearing from Carole Fossey, founder of Leading Women in Business, who will be telling you everything you need to know about the painful Facebook algorithm change and how to deal with it and how you can reinvent yourself whenever you choose, through her personal story of overcoming major challenges.
We also have the wonderful Dr Marion Bevington, my collaboration buddy. Marion is a Joy coach, a Yoga master and a specialist in trauma healing. Marion always raises the energy when she speaks and is indeed one of the original WHY’s woman!
We also have Gill Barham who is an amazing health coach, at the end of the day love and success are nothing without good health, Gill will share all she knows to keep you alive!
And in the essence of collaboration and equal opportunities, Dene Stuart, creator of The Thinking Revolution will be joining us too, Dene is a pioneer in the field of personal resourcefulness.
He helps people to develop their personal thinking strategies, so they can create the success in their lives they are looking for.
Finally, I will be talking about How to Find Your WHY! To become (even more) frickin’ awesome!
We don’t have inflated ticket prices, so we can have an ‘early bird’ sale, the tickets start from just £19 depending on what level of participation you want and max out at £99 for the full VIP experience.
Really amazing value, I am sure you would agree, since an individual one-hour session with any one of the speakers would cost much more than the price of the VIP ticket for the full day (which includes an evening networking event running 5 -7pm which all the speakers will be attending and Marie will be speaking at).
Check out the details and book your tickets NOW on this link
If you feel it might be time for YOUR life to go in anther direction, or if you are just interested in a thought provoking educational and inspirational day we ask you to trust your instinct and click this link to book now