Women Winning All Over the World

I spent last week hosting a week-long celebration for International Women's Day. There were women from over 20 countries, panelists and experts from all over the world sharing their stories, secrets to success and wisdom. If I learned anything from this amazing experience, it is that women are winning all over the world! It feels like a huge increase since I started in business over 20 years ago, and when I asked myself why, I found one common answer. Women are being honest with themselves. 

Women win by being honest with themselves. I see that we strive more to share who we are than try to beat someone else at game we don’t even really want to play. Each of us has different strengths and weaknesses and we can achieve absolutely anything when we make the most of our strengths and don't let our weaknesses control us. Fear of weakness and failure often cripple our best selves from meeting our potential but the overwhelming support of so many other women and women’s support networking groups is alleviating our fear of failure. 

In fact, I would like to share one of my secrets to success with you – failure. I failed. I failed so many times that I could never count them; and it's been awesome! Each time I fail, I use it as a stair to the next level. I spent years trapped inside myself yearning for stability and afraid of risk because of failure but when I finally emerged, I realized how much time I had wasted. Perfect may never happen and that’s ok; but nothing will ever happen if you don’t start somewhere and that’s not ok. 

Your idea might not be great but you will never know if you don't try. Also, so what if it is awful? What made it awful? Don't do that again. Take it a new direction and try again. Most importantly, have fun doing it. I heard from more than 30 women this week from around the world and one thing we all had in common was that we've all failed at some point but now we're winning. Amazing, successful, global professionals that failed. Imagine that! You are not alone. Failure does not have to be a negative; it is what you make it. 

Women have so many ways to win when we let ourselves. Be honest with yourself about what you want, what you can do and what you can't. I said it, there will be things we can't do and that's why we need support. You are never alone, there are women all over the globe fighting in your corner, you just have to look for them.  

There are also men all over the globe in our corner, so let's not forget them. I recently posted about failing after a long week and two of my male friends were the ones that lifted me highest. They began their own conversation which included, “women have been sharing their space with men so that men can go forth and do the things they wanted,” and “women have empowered men and now women are just asking men to share back the playing field.”  I was greatly encouraged by their male perspective and support they give me.

Women are winning all over the world. We are winning because we are honest, we try, we listen, we support and are supportive. Don’t let your fear of failure hold you back because the world needs your gifts. You might not be the best, but it’s not about being the best; it’s about being you and we all know how to do that. So, what’s holding you back from winning today?