Most women think that they need to work hard to prove themselves and compete with their co-workers, men, and other women to climb the corporate ladder.
I get enough exercise elsewhere.
When it comes to corporate, I’ll take the elevator, thanks.
A member of my team came to me a few months ago frustrated, defeated, and a little angry.
She felt under-appreciated for everything she’d been doing for the company. She shared that she was working her ass off, committing long hours, and even turning down two separate vacation invites because she didn’t want to take time off work.
I was floored. I had no idea about the vacations (which I never would have approved of her missing), and more importantly, I had no idea what she had been doing in the company that had her working so hard.
We discovered upon exploring that she was indeed working her tail off, but on things that had virtually zero impact on the business.
In her mind, she was working hard, skipping essential events in her life and making sacrifices, but hadn’t stopped to check to see if what she was working so hard on was aligned or relevant to the business.
And it wasn’t.
She was caught in a vicious loop of working harder to get acknowledgment for things that were not useful to the company, not receiving the acknowledgment she wanted, and then working even harder to get it.
I see this situation too many times.
The single biggest complaint I hear from women leaders is that they feel burnt out and overwhelmed. They know what they’re capable of but don’t feel they have any more to give to get there.
The problem with ambitious and driven women is how much they can do.
So they take on more. And more. And more.
To prove themselves, to get the job done, and to climb the ladder.
So when more gets added to their plate, or they want a promotion, they do what they do best.
More.
And the even bigger problem is that it works.
Until it doesn’t.
You’ll know it stops working when you’re spending the majority of your time and energy managing your inbox from hell, stuck in unproductive meetings, unclear on what needs to be done but overwhelmed by how much needs done. You’ll feel unrecognized for how much you do and frazzled all the time.
Even if you’re getting a lot done this way, if those things are happening to you, I’m telling you, it’s not working.
Sure, you can climb the corporate ladder that way.
But you can also take the elevator.
The elevator includes mastering productivity.
No more 16-hour days to prove yourself or get noticed.
No more “playing” the office politics game to get in with the right person.
No more skipping important life events to get a little more recognition, which will give you another promotion that – somewhere down the road (when you’ve already missed your kids growing up and your relationship with your husband is strained, and you have little time for yourself) – you will regret aiming for.
That’s all climbing.
Stop climbing. Take the corporate elevator and get the results you’re aiming for.
With love,
Mari Carmen
