Women In Those High Paying Positions Have Something I Don t Have Are You Sure

W omen in Those                  of the company for which they      High-Paying Positions         work, yet they expect to earn      Have Something I Don't        enough to support themselves.      Have - Are You Sure?                  They do not worry about unbridled                                        ambition ruining their lives.      I believe there are three reasons     They know that business is not a   why most women do not pursue          conveyor belt that they get on     positions which they know to be       and cannot control. People are     higher-paying.                        not promoted against their wills.                                                                           • They believe they lack              The issue of ambition may cloud    sufficient ambition                   your view of a specific job        • They see the sacrifices as too      opportunity. You may decide that   great                                 a particular level of ambition is  • They view themselves as             necessary for a specific job,      unqualified                           when other things are actually                                           much more important. You may be    Let’s look at these, one at a         wrong about your own ambition      time.                                 level, or unsure of it. This                                             uncertainty may seem to be an      Ambition                              important obstacle to overcome.                                          You may not want to be ambitious.  Think about how you define the        You might think it is unfeminine   work “ambition.” Many people          or unattractive to have ambition.  believe that people either have       You may feel it is selfish and     it or they don’t, and there is no     greedy to want a lot of money.     middle ground. Of course,             You may feel it is more noble to   ambition is not an either/or          work hard for little pay than to   concept. The majority of working      work hard for a lot of pay.        men do not aspire to be president                                        Some people would have you            require different kinds of         analyze your feelings about           sacrifices. Yes, there are         ambition until they are               high-stress jobs which require     completely resolved. You will         long hours and travel. But many,   probably retire before you can        many jobs which pay more than      accomplish it. Try to simply put      yours require far less sacrifice   these bad feelings and all            than you imagine. I am constantly  thoughts of ambition out of your      amazed at the sacrifices women     mind. Ambition is a vague             are willing to make in long        concept, defined by different         hours, extra work, harassment and  people in various ways. You work      belittling treatment, when their   for many reasons, and one of them     paychecks hardly warrant any       is money. If you had enough           sacrifice. Many working men and    ambition to get out of bed this       women who go home to their         morning, you have enough to           families every evening earn much   pursue a new career.                  more than you do. Be realistic,                                          but don’t count yourself out of a  Sacrifice                             new career just because you have                                         other priorities in your life.     You see women anchoring the news,     Everyone does.                     selling cars, and developing new                                         software products. If you’re like     Qualifications                     many of us, you may see these                                            positions as requiring more           The issue of whether or not you    sacrifice than your current job.      are qualified for a different      You may believe that these women      career path is probably more       will pay any price to climb           simple, and at the same time,      further and earn more.                more complex, than you thought.                                          The word “qualify” has been        The fact is, different jobs           overused and abused in the         workplace. In fact, it remains        Women responded that they would    undefined and means different         need 100% of the skills. Men, on   things to different people, even      the other hand, believed they      when they are talking about the       needed an average of 40% of those  same position. Women are much         skills. Personally, I think this   more likely to consider               study would have the same results  “qualified” to mean technically       if done today. Consider the        competent. We believe direct          difference between 40% and 100%!   prior experience in that exact        Yes, this is an over               kind of position is necessary. We     generalization, but you can        believe some kind of unique           probably think of several          technical training is required.       examples of this in your own       In fact, the position may require     experience. This alone can         someone who is politically savvy,     account for the difference in      and is able to bring a new            confidence levels we often see in  prospective to the job. Generally     business. If one person considers  speaking, men with the same level     himself qualified with far fewer   of skill are more likely to           skills than another, he will       consider themselves as                automatically feel more confident  “qualified” for a job while the       and appear more confident. In      women next to them see themselves     fact, he will be better able to    as unqualified.                       execute the job, since self-doubt                                        is a barrier to success.           In 1977, Betty Harragan (Games        Well-paid women have learned to    mother Never Taught You, Warner       live with this. They have          Books, Inc.) quoted from a study      recognized that if they wait to    in which men and women were asked     be 100% qualified, they’ll miss    how many of the appropriate job       their chance entirely. So will     skills they would need to have in     we.                                order to “qualify” for a job.                                            What we consider to be good           before we act. When we act in      performance on the job may be         spite of our own self-doubts, and  impossible for any human. Until       succeed, or at least survive, we   we can adjust our view of             gain confidence.                   competency, we will never see                                            ourselves as qualified for the        In other ways, women often differ  jobs we so deserve. Until we can      from the men around them in how    see ourselves as qualified, we        they approach work. We are more    will not be. Change your view of      likely to feel powerless and       competency from perfection at all     doubt ourselves. We are more       times to excellence in the            likely to be paralyzed by that     context of the job. Make your         self-doubt, unable to act until    demands on yourself more              we are certain of the outcome. We  realistic, and you will be able       often have a different, and        to do more. More women must learn     unhealthy view of risk. We are     to “fake it until they make it.”      sometimes more task-oriented than  We must assume authority, instead     is advisable in decision-making    of waiting for it to be handed to     positions, and we may lack         us. We must see self-doubt as a       negotiating skills. What we can    faulty mis perception that we         do about this is the subject of    must rise above, instead of an        Each of Us: How Every Woman Can    indication of our unworthiness.       Earn More Money in Corporate       We are able to do this in other       America. It is important to        areas of our lives, we must learn     remember that all the highly-paid  to do it in the workplace. For        men and women you know have        most people (men and women alike)     learned these skills, they         self-confidence is learned rather     weren’t born with them. They are   than earned. We simply do not         only people                        have enough time in this life to      doing their jobs, they aren’t      overcome all traces of self-doubt     perfect at the business game.      With a few minor adjustments, we      in our incomes.                    can make an enormous difference        About the Author: Patricia Smith is a businesswoman, speaker, and the Author of Each of Us: How Every Woman Can Earn More Money in Corporate America. http://www.eachofus.com Published At: www.Isnare.com