4 'Must-Do' Self-Empowerment Strategies
This will be obvious to some and WTF to others, but there has been so much study on self-empowerment and the positive effects it has on your mind and body. Not only that, there is a huge amount of evidence stating that self-empowerment plays an essential part in helping with growth in both your personal and professional life.
If you aren’t doing any self-empowerment techniques, then you probably feel deflated and tired most days of the week. This is because your brain needs to feel stimulated by accomplishments and positive outcomes to keep moving forward.
What we are quickly finding out, is that the reason why some are more motivated than others is not that they woke up with 10 coffees, it's because they have already planned and started their self-empowerment for the day.
Now, if you are still reading, you have likely realised that you are one of those in the “not-so-motivated” category and need a good ‘healthy’ pick me up from now on. Lucky for you, you’re about to gain everything you need to get where you're going.
So, what Is Self-Empowerment?
Self-empowerment means making a deliberate choice to take charge of your future. It entails ongoing positive choices, planning and taking action. Then, having the confidence in your ability to make and execute decisions.
Self-empowered people are motivated to learn, achieve and self-assess their strengths and weaknesses regularly. They make conscious decisions to help achieve their goals.
“Make yourself a priority once in a while. It’s not selfish, it’s necessary! ”
Tips to Achieve Self-Empowerment
If after reading that, you realise that you don’t do much that is listed, then here are 4 tips that will help achieve self-empowerment and start your self-empowerment journey destined for a more positive life.
Develop A Growth Mindset
Decades of scientific research by Dr Carol Dweck discovered that there are two types of mindset: fixed mindset and growth mindset.
People who have a fixed mindset believe that everything they know from their skills and intelligence are “fixed” traits. They prefer to stick to things they know or are already good at and spend time developing and nurturing their skills, in their comfort zone with thoughts like “I know what I am good at” or “I am talented in…”.
People with a growth mindset believe they can develop their skills and abilities knowing full well where they already excel. They love to learn and go out of their comfort zones to grow in different areas.
Developing a growth mindset means you will be more open to trying new things, assessing your weaknesses and embracing them to fix them. You will keep moving forward even when failing, improving yourself and learning new information regularly.
In developing a growth mindset you should be:
1. Changing your self-talk and attitude – from “I can’t do it” to “I can learn to”.
2. Assessing your flaws and failures and discovering how to improve next time. Is it that you need more study? Do I need to create habits? Or it might be simply a choice to cut it out of your life.
3. Taking criticism and feedback from others. Sometimes it is simply being more aware of what needs to change. The best way to get this information is to get feedback from others and have a good session about self-reflection.
4. Have a solution-oriented mindset – when times are tough do you say “someone else can figure that out” or ignore it completely to move on. Having a solution-oriented mindset is about understanding and knowing that when things are not going your way, how can you fix it. It is asking yourself “what do I need to do to get it done?”.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Read, Read, Read And Read Some More
There is a reason why books are still being written and why reading helps with self-empowerment. Reading introduces you to new ideas and invites you to solve problems.
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”
When you read self-help books, it opens up your mind to your flaws, helps with new ways to improve yourself and how to prioritise what is important in your life. It is like a big slap in the face (in a good way!).
Here are some great books to get you started:
Mindset by Carol Dweck
The Happiness Trap by Dr Russ Harris
The Mindful Kind by Rachael Kable
The Happy Life by Lola Berry
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Making Sh$t Happen by Peter Sheahan
You might find that some don’t work for you, but like most genres, you need to find the underlying theme that resonates. Your journey isn’t meant to be perfect, but it is meant to keep you moving forward.
Set Goals And Write Them Down
Self-empowerment means having a plan and understanding that it’s a series of actions and decisions achieved over a certain amount of time. It’s ongoing steps, written down and with clear goals of what needs to be achieved.
Your goals need to be measurable, achievable goals. You need to research and understand how to set them. Start with small steps and then as each one is accomplished move onto big ones.
You also need to ensure that you are looking back on them and assessing how the process is going. Without self-evaluation, your self-empowerment levels will drop. When you self-evaluate, you will find that you are accomplishing more than you think and it will help keep you motivated to keep going.
Be Assertive - Asking for What You Want Firmly and Fairly
Do you often feel as though you fail to get your opinions heard, or that people readily dismiss or undermine your views? This means that you aren’t assertive enough. Remember though, there is a difference between being assertive and aggressive.
Assertiveness is more about expressing your wants and needs clearly and calmly; while being empathic to others. You are not against people, but you need to be able to show people that you are confident in your opinion, or when asking someone to do something without tension.
Here are some examples of self-empowering assertiveness.
Saying no to working overtime because you know you need to rest and recover.
Asking for a refund on a faulty item without getting angry at the sales assistant.
Telling your friend you respect their opinion, but you don’t agree with their point of view (then calmly explaining why).
Use open and friendly body language when you communicate.
As this year ends, this is the perfect time to start practising some good self-empowering habits. This is not limited to empowering yourself. You should also be thinking about ways to empower others.
I will end this with a challenge for you. My “21-day guide to getting SH$T done” is now available. Every day for 21 days, you will get a new self-empowering habit sent to your email to get you taking action from a self-empowered mindset and kickstarting 2022 with a bang.
These 21 days have been developed from a combination of years of researching and my own success, as well as talking to countless successful people about their self-empowerment journeys and methods.
Up for the challenge? Apply today!
I’m ready