As women in business, at times we may have held back from asking for what we want – a new opportunity, higher pay, part-time hours – while at others we ‘leaned in’ and took that seat at the table and played our stakes on equal ground.
Many women across the nation started voicing concerns about ‘having it all’ with Anne-Marie Slaughter’s 2012 article in The Atlantic Monthly, “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All” soon followed by Sheryl Sandberg’s bestseller, “Lean In.”
Some insist we can’t ‘have it all’ – a successful career, a happy marriage, a stable family – but one thing is certain, we’ve given it all we’ve got. Is it any wonder why at this point in our lives we are we feeling burned out and (do we dare admit it?) Bored!
So which is it? Do we lean in and ask for more or do we opt out? And is it an either/or equation?
Many women I know are opting out. Leaving their lucrative corporate marketing, finance or operations careers to lean in to their own passion and purpose.
I even hear my clients say, “I’m tired of doing what I know how to do. I want to do what I love to do. But I don’t know what that is and I don’t know where to start.”
There is a quietly active and burgeoning women-lead economy of solopreneurs (of which I am a part) who are mentoring other women (and men) in success with health, love, and work. How do they define success? How did they get started?
How do you find your passion and purpose past 40?
That was a question I asked my friend and colleague Sarah Michael last week.
Sarah had some sage advice in this short interview. She highlights that the biggest initial hurdle is to ‘own our power and our gifts by clarifying our passions and integrating the multiple skills and experiences’ that we’ve gathered in living life this far. She offers insights on hidden challenges women have when stepping outside of our comfort zone and confronting our basic survival instincts which may signal to run.
What if you already know your passion and purpose? Learn what Sarah has to say about ‘social proof’ and what she would have done differently given a second chance.
As women with passion and purpose we have so much to give the world. There is no arbitrary biological clock that signals retirement in our sixties. Many of us – most of us – will go on working, sharing our knowledge and gifts with the world well into our seventies and beyond. All you have to do is take a page from Arianna Huffington (61), Gloria Steinem (79), Maya Angelou (85) or Louise Hay (86) to know that there is an entire world waiting to receive the wisdom you have to share.
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Just minutes after I finished this post, I learned that Diana Nyad (64) became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage. She says:
“I have three messages: One is we should never ever give up. Two is you are never too old to chase your dreams. And three is it looks like a solitary sport but it takes a team.”
Release Fear. Think Clear. Get Into Gear.