Somewhere among the billions of dollars in advertising and a star-studded rock concert, a football game broke out yesterday!
I’ll admit, while everyone was all, “WOOHOO! Super Bowl!” I was all frolicking throughout Target as it’s sole customer. It was a fantasy come true. Better than a fairy tale, really.
You see, I knew I could catch Missy Elliot and all the commercials I wanted to see on YouTube at my leisure. (I hear I’m pretty good at this Internet thing.)
LIKE A GIRL
Anyway, my daughter texted me a link to the “Like a Girl” commercial because she knew I would LOVE it. And while I actually saw the extended version of this during the summer of 2014 (and totally loved it), it hit me all over again — I have those “like a girl” limiting beliefs about myself…and I’m one bowdy, “one of the guys” kinda redheaded chick.
MY LIMITING BELIEFS
Now, when I was in elementary school through the seventh grade I was kinda a bad ass at math. I was a standout writer, too, and generally a good student. However, I was so advanced in math that I was taken out of my normal math class and was put in a teacher’s office with three other kids to work on math a grade ahead of what the rest of the class was working on.
Funny, though, no one ever said, “Amber you’re so good at math.”
I always heard, “Amber, you are such a great writer. English is your strong point.”
I wasn’t a grade ahead in English, though. Weird.
In the eighth grade I changed schools and flubbed my math placement test because I didn’t want to be taken away from the rest of my new class. I basically repeated the work I had done the year before with ease. I know, totally unlike me, but it’s the truth.
Then in ninth grade I moved to Tennessee, where the schools started like in July, as opposed to after Labor Day in September like in Southern California. Because I had gotten there so late I was able to test out of my first 6 weeks’ grades, but was advised to “skip math” my freshman year.
Again, I was told how amazing I was at English and was even asked to help the other students in my class with their work.
But wait…there’s more…
At the onset of my sophomore year, I was finally put into official high school algebra. One little problem. I was never in class because I travelled with the volleyball team after 5th period and algebra was 6th period.
Oops.
OK…that’s enough groundwork to lay out the reality of my situation. I’ll skip to the end of the story. Somewhere in all of that I started telling myself that I did math like a girl.
Girls are good at words. Boys are good at numbers. That’s what I was told and that’s exactly what I told myself.
It didn’t matter that the compounding circumstances made it difficult to excel in the subject again without a lot of catch up effort. It had to be that I was simply a total girl when it came to math.
To this day I say, “I have multiple degrees and certifications in communications, but don’t ask me to do math.”
That’s crap, really.
I have managed a half-million dollar annual budget, successfully split marketing campaign budgets up into highly segmented audiences based on NUMBERS and statistical results from previous time periods; juggled never-ending changes in celebrity event budgets and successfully reallocated funds from every operating budget I ever adopted as an organizational leader to reduce expenses and maximize revenue or return.
Of course, I did all of that while being in communication roles, so who noticed I was good with numbers?
Not me.
Well this year is different for me. I’m all up in my business numbers. I study my budget, my P&L, my ad conversions, my sales funnel, EVERYTHING.
LIKE A GIRL.
Because this girl was and IS a numbers bad ass.
*drops the mic*
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO LIKE A GIRL/GUY?
Now, ladies, what have you told yourself you can’t do in your business, in your leadership role or in your life because it’s a guy thing?
In what area do you need to own being like a girl?
And guys…you’re not getting off that easy. Do you think I’m going to leave you out?
Awww, nah. Not even!
What are YOU going to commit to embracing that might be out of the typical dude-zone?
What if you showed vulnerability in your business life? What if you focused on how you delivered your messages instead of simply leaning on the numbers?
Let me tell ya, guys, he with the most emotional intelligence wins; and no one is going to pull your man card in the process. In fact, I make a nice living teaching male entrepreneurs and men in leadership roles how to get in touch with their inner selves in order to expand their influence and uplevel their careers.
You see, both sides do it to ourselves.
Yes, there are gender roles and biases, but at the end of the day we each have the opportunity to decide exactly who we are going to become and what we are going to believe about ourselves.
That’s why today I invite you to join me in committing to a reframe of what “like a girl” or “like a guy” means to you.
What truth do you need to face and what story do you need to get straight to really start believing in yourself again?