Episode 43: The little voice that tells you "not good enough" is stealing your future.

What if your belief system was so deeply wired to a frequency of incapable, incompetent, or "not good enough” that you gave up early in the fight - or worse - you didn’t even try?

I spoke earlier this year about a study commissioned in 2023 by the UK’s National Numeracy Organisation, the https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/? showing that women are significantly less confident with numbers than men and report greater negative impact on earnings, progression at work and career choices from not having basic math skills or technical qualifications versus their male peers.?Stats from the report that I shared at the time:

• Women are twice as anxious about math as men (24% vs 12%)*
• 40% of women said they don’t think they are a "numbers person", compared to 23% of men*
• 33% of women said if a job they were interested in listed "using numbers and data" as a requirement, it would put them off applying, compared to 20% of men.*
• 35% of young women aged 18 to 21 aren’t confident making financial decisions

Women who have internalised subconscious beliefs that they are "no good" at math, or that they lack numerical or technical skills are largely taught this belief system, one that blossoms with age into something so fundamentally flawed in their identity that most can't see past the? conditioned "deficiency", ultimately perpetuating women's avoidance of careers in business, science, or math.?

Current research by the OECD and the UN shows us year-on-year the double-digit academic delta between boys and girls that forks in grade school and, for most countries, never recovers.? And this avoidant behaviour means also that women often lose out on opportunities for advancement and higher compensation in their chosen careers at the same pace as their male counterparts simply because they have subscribed to dated/gendered belief systems where being 'nice' - or being in service to others -? is better and carries more worth than the qualities instilled in boys (of being competitive, ambitious, technically able).?

Does this sound familiar?? You're not alone.? This is a known psychological phenomena called Learned Helplessness, and we're covering that in today's episode together with six strategies to tackle it.? Ready? Click below to have a listen!

Listen here on: ??

- iTunes

- Spotify

Citations & Resources?? ??

? Classroom video example:? Nixon, Charisse Ph.D Developmental Psychologist at Penn State Erie. Nov 2007. https://youtu.be/gFmFOmprTt0?si=KAFhTy3yRxGd6d3L.

?

? Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., & Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87(1), 49-74. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.87.1.49

?

? Facing History and Ourselves. "Why Must We Remember the Holocaust? Because Democracy Is Precious." Facing Today, 27 Jan. 2023.? Online.? facingtoday.facinghistory.org/why-must-we-remember-the-holocaust-because-democracy-is-precious.

?

? Dweck, C. S., & Reppucci, N. D. (1973). Learned helplessness and reinforcement responsibility in children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 25(1), 109-116. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0034248

?

? Hennessey, Bridget. "The Effect of Vicarious Learned Helplessness on Critical Thinking." Mako: NSU Undergraduate Student Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, 2007, Online. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=mako.

?

? Maier, Steven F., and Martin E. P. Seligman. "Learned Helplessness: Theory and Evidence." Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, vol. 105, no. 1, 1976, pp. 3–46, ppc.sas.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/lhtheoryevidence.pdf.

?

? Maier, Steven F., and Martin E. P. Seligman. "Learned Helplessness at Fifty: Insights from Neuroscience." Psychological Review, vol. 123, no. 4, 2016, pp. 349–367, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4920136/.

?

? McLeod, Saul. "Learned Helplessness." Simply Psychology, 17 Feb. 2023, www.simplypsychology.org/learned-helplessness.html.

?

? National Lottery Statistics:? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lottery_jackpot_records?

? National Numeracy.org: https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/news/number-confidence-and-social-mobility-report#:~:text=Women%20typically%20have%20lower%20levels,of%20the%20lifelong%20learning%20journey.

And don't forget to checkout my Resource Vault, it's free - grab it here ?? ???? https://the-deal-academy.ck.page/c8da11f82a