3 Stories
Sarla had her eyes on a new idea for quite some time. She wanted to start an enterprise in the corporate gifting arena. Her talents and keen interest in fine arts, design and craft had sparked this new proposition. Although she had a steady job in the accounts department of a pharmaceutical company, she knew her heart was elsewhere. But she was hesitant to take any action. Her assessments on herself were holding her back. Running a business meant a lot of time and energy would need to be spent outside home. Besides, a business was considered riskier than a predictable 9-5 job.
Vimala, a manager in a software company and a mother of 2 girls was a fabulous cook. She had innovative ideas and wanted to start a health food company that would cater from home. Yet, she held herself back. Her husband ran a printing business. Her job would bring a steadier income. Wouldn’t it be a risk for both of them to run businesses? What would her family think of this? Was she risking the future of her children?
Ragini felt like she needed a challenge. Her work as a product manager was great, but she knew she could perform more in a customer-facing role. This would mean a lot of travel for days, sometimes weeks, visiting client sites. But would that mean she’d have to shirk her household responsibilities? What if it upsets the status quo at home? She thought it better to forget this idea.
These stories sound familiar, don’t they?
We’re constantly surrounded by all these assessments. Culture, family of origin and the way girls are socialised in our society to care– all of these reasons lead to certain assessments that we as women, begin to hold about ourselves and the world around us.
CARE – It fuels our actions
As a coach, I find women are scared to have, what I call the CARE conversation with ourselves. We hesitate to ask ourselves–“What do I care about most?” We are afraid it may rock the family boat or the marriage boat or any other boat that so tightly binds us down.
While organizations offer diversity and women in leadership initiatives to women professionals, my work has highlighted for me that as women, many of us have buried our aspirations so deep, we do not know they exist.
What would happen if women began to ask these questions? Is there a way for us to care about our family, our relationships as well as manage a professional care?
Asking ourselves what and why we care can be scary. It can upset status quo. But it can also bring unexpected gifts into our lives so we can grow to our fullest potential.
So go on and ask your self ‘ What do I care about? Why do I care ?’
Make a list and then ask the next important question ‘ Am I taking care of what I care about?’
THESE QUESTIONS CAN CHANGE YOUR FUTURE AND YOUR LIFE.
Are you READY?