5 ways to empower others
- with LOVE from Bel
- May 26, 2018
- 3 min read
For many reasons, we see everything in our world as competition. Don’t get me wrong I love to win a UNO game but life is a bit more than a game.
I recently posted a pic on Instagram with this comment:
‘There is something incredibly special about women standing side by side. Honouring, supporting and empowering each other to be the best they can be. It’s not just women though it’s everyone. Let’s remove the need to compete and appreciate that there is room for us all in the amazing world we live.’
No catchy pun but words from the heart. I was surprised at the amount of people that commented in support and was compelled to write this.
Some of the ways in which we compete are so embedded in our daily actions that we don’t recognise them. Here are a few things to pull yourself up on and start doing:
1. Share how you found your success
Let’s face it you’ve done some cool shit in your life! That exchange program to Germany, that hike in the Gold Coast Hinterland, holding a position on that committee, the workshop/conference that shifted the way you think, the leadership camp you went on where you met your life-long friends. When was the last time you told someone else about these opportunities and encouraged them to take on one themselves?
2. Tell them they are amazing
When was the last time you said to someone ‘YOU’RE GOING PLACES!’. I recently had coffee with a mentor and that was the one thing she said that stuck with me. Not because she thought that of me, but because it made me think how often do I tell others they are going places? The world needs us to do this more! We might think it (often) but do we actually communicate it?
3. Convert your jealousy to inspo
You know when you hear about a success of someone else or you see a pic on insta and you’re like ‘WHAT? How did they do that?’ ‘That’s not fair!’. Perhaps there is a deep seeded will for you to achieve something similar. Often the jealousy we feel comes from a competitive place. Perhaps, if you really think about it maybe youwanted that attention or youwanted that accolade or youwanted that hot bod! Filter this jealousy into ‘I need to get my act together and seriously look at how I can achieve the same’. Take responsibility of those jealous thoughts and sit down and plan your next steps to achieve the same. Convert those jealous vibes into some serious inspo.
4. Say congratulations and mean it
Sonow you’ve acknowledged that stab in the heart was a sense of jealousy, it’s time to eat a piece of humble pie and honestly congratulate them. Congratulate them for the discipline, sacrifice and courage it must have taken for them to achieve. Who knows next time they might ask you to join them or even better, pass the opportunity on to you! After all, what goes around comes around. You want them to congratulate you when it is your turn, don’t you?
5. Identify your own strengths and you will start to see the strengths in others
It took me a long time to understand this quote:
“Comparison is the thief of joy!”
Now that I understand the meaning, I can acknowledge when comparison begins to creep in. I get jealous, I start defining the difference in my abilities to others and usually it is about what they can do that I can’t. So, now when I find myself thinking like this, I stop, take a breath and refer to the 5 tips above. I am consistently stopping to take a minute to appreciate who I am and what I have to offer this world.
with LOVE from Bel x