Jenn Deal Coaching

Messing things up.

Learning.

Doing better the next time.

Messing things up.

Learning.

Doing better the next time.

If you want to be really good at your career, you’re going to have to get comfortable with not knowing how to do all the things immediately. You’re going to have to get comfortable with making mistakes. You’re going to have to get comfortable with the discomfort of hindsight.

We all experience that in our career.

Here’s what I’ve found - the bigger and bolder the life you are trying to create, the more you have to learn, the more you have to mess things up, and the more you have to try and do it differently the next time.

Try talking differently to yourself next time you tell yourself you “should” be different or be doing something different.

Question it.
Why should you? What if you shouldn’t?
What if you’re doing exactly what you should be doing right now? How are you doing exactly what you should be doing right now?

Acknowledge what you are doing right. Acknowledge what you are doing well.

And then if you still want to do something differently or improve on something, that’s okay too! There’s always a take away or something to be learned or something to get better at.

But maybe skip the self judgment piece of it this time.

A ❤️ note to you: These are the kind of thoughts we tackle in coaching. Dismantling. Shifting. Changing the way you show up to be more aligned with who you are and want to be. Changing your emotional experience of your job for the better. The way that you talk to yourself impacts everything you do. It’s likely holding you back from being as good at your job as you can be and from enjoying it as much as you could be. I can help you fix that. First step is to sign up for a free call with me at the Book an Appointment link in my bio, so we discuss the exact plan to help you make the changes you want.

Systemic change is needed in the way women are viewed and treated in professional spaces.

But we can also create change on the individual level. Internal change to stop buying into the messaging that has us shrinking and external action.

More self-promotion and self-advocacy is one way, on an individual level, that we can intentionally show up for us and take up more space.

There is absolutely a possibility that it will come with repercussions. But there are also repercussions if we don’t.

A great place to start is to simply acknowledge and keep track of your accomplishments, kudos, and wins.

I like to keep a file.

Emails I’ve received from clients. Emails to myself about things that I’ve done well. Emails from colleagues.

Do you have something similar? How do you keep track of wins?

A great second step is to find ways to share them.

I used my file of emails when I had an annual performance review as an associate or to advocate for myself for promotion to partner.

(I also use them when I’m having one of those days of self-doubt. To remind myself of the evidence I have that I’m good at this job.)

Other ways you could consider sharing your wins:

▫️Share them here on LinkedIn
▫️Send your boss a list of things you’ve accomplished at the end of each month or quarter or set up a meeting to discuss them
▫️Advocate for a new opportunity for yourself and use those wins to show why you’re the person for that opportunity
▫️When someone congratulates you on something, don’t diminish it. Acknowledge that you worked hard. Acknowledge that it was complex.
▫️Nominate yourself for an award or accolade or leadership role.

If it feels really uncomfortable to share your wins, I get it.

It takes practice.

My favorite way to start getting comfortable with this is to find a colleague or a friend that you can start sharing with. Let them do the same. Trade wins.

A ❤️ note to you: If this idea seems uncomfortably impossible, I can help you start advocating for yourself more. Send me a DM or sign up for a free call with me at the Book an Appointment link in my bio, and we will talk about how.