Five Words for Female Professionals--Second Word

     Yesterday's word challenged you to be bold in pursuit of your goals.  As women, we can't deny ourselves the opportunities to compete equally in the workplace for what we are qualified to do.  Neither can we keep placing everyone else's needs at home before our own.  We have to go boldly forward in gaining what brings us fulfillment in our lives.  We have to enjoy life too!
     Today, I challenge you again to get closer to your goals (and you must have those in place first!) by considering words that will motivate you to achieve.  The second word for female professionals who are striving to improve their lives in 2014 is strategy.  That's right: strategy.  Just declaring what you want to do is not enough.  Talking about it to your friends or coworkers won't necessarily make it happen.  You must be strategic in your thinking and your planning when it comes to making something concrete come to fruition.  For example, if you have been wanting to write a book--a novel about cybercrime with a female protagonist--but it's only been a thought in your mind, then you've got to get it out of your head and onto paper.  I've spoken with several women who say they have a book in them.  But have they written anything?  No.  It's merely a dream.  A goal deferred.  They're not sure how to go about it.  And they keep putting it on the back burner because they weren't "bold" in their efforts to make it happen.  So other things got in the way.  Now they are years down the road, and nothing has been completed.
     Strategy says to the individual, I'm going to think critically about what I want to do.  Then I'm going to research it and talk to anyone who can help me.  I'm going to do the legwork, the arm work, the brain work and any other work necessary to set myself up to make this project a part of my life.  I'm going to work it like a job and get it done.  Women who create a strategic plan are more likely to reach their goals because they have something real to work from.  They have a path to follow.  Being strategic means thinking the project through from start to finish and putting all of the necessary resources in place to reach the awesome ending you've dreamed up for yourself.  Therefore, think, plan, do and achieve.
     If you want to learn how to be bolder and strategic in 2014, join us for the new "Women's Forum on Leadership" on January 14, 2014 at the Capital City Club in Columbia, SC.  Contact Betty to register and to get further details.  Look for the third word tomorrow.  Receive all five this week and be the first to state them in the comments section of this blog to get free tuition to this awesome series.