Dear Wonderful Woman,

How are you doing?

I hope you're well.

I'm excited about my second Masterclass! I'm also in full acceptance that I'm going to do my best and they'll still be room for improvement. That's totally OK, and in fact the mindset I have adopted so that I embrace continuous improvement.

I wanted to check in with you Ladies, how are things going for your first Quarter of 2022? Not as a means to make you feel guilty, inadequate, but to encourage you to recalibrate if that's what you need to do.

I wanted to share 3 things to help you assess where you are, to acknowledge your progress and your wins and where there's room from change or improvement.

1 Go beyond your surface feelings when you assess where you are right now!

What does this mean? Well this means that we're very good at telling ourselves the stories that we want to hear and that feel comfortable or "how we think we should feel". Beware what lies beneath! You need to do a little digging to understand. How do you really feel? Ask yourself this more than once and in different ways to see if you're consistent or your response changes.

I'd like to share a short personal story. I write on my online profiles, "I'm a speaker" and think nothing of it. Until recently I was challenged about my own thinking about how I really feel about calling myself a "speaker". When someone asks me if I have spoken recently or ever I usually say, "Not really or recently". I was convinced this was the correct answer until I had to go beyond the surface response to complete an application form to pursue some business opportunities. When confronted with the question have you spoken recently? I stopped to actually really think about that, and I could come up with 3 occasions that I'd publicly spoken. However, "In normal life" I had deleted these occasions from my mind! Do you see what I'm saying Ladies?

2 Asses where self help is valuable and when professional help will you to tackle the difficult issues

I believe that self-help can indeed be helpful and transformative. But it doesn't happen overnight and you need to apply the methodology or practices consistently.

However there is a juncture when self-help and peer support cannot replace professional help, especially when you are seeking to tackle deep seated issues which include, cultural identity, depression, people-pleasing, chronic Burnout. I would advise you to seek out the right professional to help you to do the difficult work to heal, create a new identity and to become the woman you want to be.

3 Assess your attitude to choice and agency. Is it serving you?

There is always something happening and issues that we need to grapple with that fall into two categories:

1 Things you can control

2 Things you cannot control

When you focus on 1 thing you can control, life becomes easier and much less stressful. Consider where you are now and what action are you going to take to adopt the focus on things you can control?

To finish I share 2 exciting bits of news! See them noted below:

1 The Navigating your Career as a Black Female Professional Episodes 1 & 2 are available: HERE

2 You have until 6pm UK to register for my complementary Masterclass, 5 Simple Secrets to thrive in the Hybrid-working environment, today 7pm - 8:30pm UK time. Register: HERE

Have a great day ahead!

Warm Regards,

Ekua