Put the oxygen mask on yourself first, Feminine Leaders!

Destinations are limitless when your dreams are in the driver’s seat. Striving for high performance has incredible advantages in personal and professional capabilities of achievement. In today's article I am going to focus on connecting the dots between the current statistics on career-ambitious women, their ability to succeed and a worryingly increasing number of stress factors women experience currently.

Last week, in week 1 of a 12wk Video Series called KEY PAIN POINTS OF FEMININE LEADERS, we spoke about “Putting the oxygen mask on you first, before you put it on anyone else”. You can watch the VIDEO HERE!

It is a concept which can be challenging to grasp for some women, whether at work or at home, due to a combination of the demands of career success and personal dreams and aspirations.

The fifth annual survey of wellbeing undertaken by global health service company Cigna with 13,000 people over 23 markets showed that, internationally in US, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, India, Canada and Turkey, 87% of women aged 35 to 49 with childcare responsibilities and responsibilities about the care of their elderly parents, say they are stressed at work, with 64% claiming to be in an ‘always on’ work environment, where they are expected to response to work emails in the evening or weekend.

It is ineffectual to the growth of global economy nor it is to the development of our society that women find themselves in positions where in order to have successful careers they neglect some of their essential needs. In fact, continuing doing so would be sending an unhealthy message to the next generation of uprising female leaders. It is unsustainable to 'be always on', it can lead to serious chronic physical and mental health problems. It also unproductive, as our nervous system has been designed for 'go and stop' type of activity rather than never-ending action.

There is a better way to be a high achiever while staying congruent with values. What we want to see happening is that women are placing the same level of importance onto themselves as they place onto their career. It takes the same level of discipline to become a high performer personally as it takes to create a significant level of success professionally.

There are a few main ingredients which play a key role in transforming one's ability to perform joyously at a high calibre long term:

1. DAILY RITUALS which allow for discipline in body and mind provide us with a consistent sense of ME-TIME - something which many women unfortunately feel like they are lacking in their weekly routine.
2. BOUNDARIES! Keeping the word to ourselves with the same level of importance as we do to others is critical in order to teach others how much respect we require.
3. CLEAR PRIORITIES with the number one priority being YOU! We have had enough conversations about self-care not being selfish. Those people who have a great level of self-love tend to be able to create great milestones in multiple areas of life, while honouring their values. This, on its own, is a complete game changer! Experiencing satisfaction is imperative to create a life full of contentment and freedom.
4. SUPPORT is gold! I believe it is our duty to create support circles and alliances while we give ourselves a permission to ask for help and receive help, as easily and eagerly, as we help others.
5. “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” - Benjamin Franklin. TIME MANAGEMENT inclusive of Me-time, family time, rest, hobbies etc is fundamental to the journey to high performance.

At the moment women are significantly underrepresented in decision making in Australia with only 28.1% of directors, 18.3% of CEOs and 14.6% of board chairs according to WGEA 2019-20 data. Organisations which actively encourage, implement and track the results of Diversity and Inclusion initiatives build greater opportunities for women to have a healthy lifestyle aligned with their ambitions.

Feminine Leaders! Put the oxygen masks on you first, before you put it on anyone else if you are now ready to lead and live 'the Ultimate Life', your vortex where life is rich in flow and peace.