I would never have thought of myself as someone who did not own her achievements but, on a recent call with my coach, she wondered why most folks don’t know about the fact that I have successfully built a multi-million dollar company, overcome a serious addiction, done a TEDx talk that was picked as an Editor’s Choice, completed a sprint triathlon, successfully led the re-election campaign for our Mayor and watched my car go through the ice on a lake and have someone point to the reporter on the scene and say, “Interview her. She is the calmest person here.” (P.S. This was very uncomfortable for me to write, but I did it anyway!)

Then my coach dropped the truth bomb: Many career women struggle to acknowledge their gifts, strengths, and achievements, often as a trauma response or due to societal conditioning.

Research has linked both early childhood trauma and microaggressions in the workplace to decreased self-worth, overachievement as a coping mechanism, and reluctance to own success (APA, 2021).

Hello, confidence gap, burnout and imposter syndrome!

WTF!!! This stops now!

That is when I remembered Junior Achievement USA. As a JA volunteer for 5 years while my kids were in grade school, I had heard about an exercise that has been attributed to them that I am calling “Show Us What You Got, You Badass!”

3 Steps to Owning your Career Badassery

Now is the time for you to own your achievements, those hardships you have overcome, those things that you have been acknowledged for by others, and you claim them loudly and proudly for yourself.

Step 1: Create a Career Achievement board. Grab a poster board and put images, phrases and items on it that are a reflection, not of what you hope to achieve, but of what you have already achieved in your career.

EXAMPLE: Promoted twice. PMP certified. Won CISO of the Year award. Traveled global on the company dime. Mentored 15 women. Thrived after getting laid off.

Step 2: Identify Your Strategies. What were the top 3 or 4 strategies you tapped into in order to achieve what you have achieved. Write them on the board in the form of “I AM” statements.

EXAMPLE: I am focused. I am creative. I am persistent. I am a leader. I am an applied learner. I am an active listener.

Step 3: Show Us What You Got, You Badass! Share a picture of your board on our Facebook page. Pin it up by your work desk. Take a picture and make it your wallpaper.

Yep. You did all of that!

And your badass self could not be prouder.