By Dr. Maria G. Hernandez
Latina Cubicle Confidential™
Happy 2015! Feliz Año Nuevo!
Are you making any resolutions this year? You know the rules, right? Make them real. Write them down. Go public with your commitment. Reward progress. As always, I wish you a year of 360 degrees of success — mind, body, spirit — to bring you 360 rewards — love, health, prosperity, career success, and communidad!
One of the strangest assignments you’ll hear in my career coaching is to keep a Do NOT Do List. Yes, a list of things you will NOT do. It is a list that’s equally hard to make, and keep. Here’s just a few examples to consider for your own list:
Do not doubt the power of your thoughts and intentions. If you haven’t figured out that you are what you think” — let’s get this right in 2015. When you focus on what you cannot do or what you don’t have, then you are losing the big pix on life and career. One of the biggest shifts that took place in leadership science this decade is the focus on strengths management. Focusing on your best YOU is paramount to success. Equally important is to make positive intentions. Keep seeing yourself succeeding at your goals. This tends to be a universal truth of successful people: they never stop believing they will fulfill their dreams. Take a minute before you begin your workday to envision what success will look like.
Do not participate in drama. I’ve said before that it is tough to avoid office politics. You must take note of your boss’ favorite employee or customer and their worst nemesis. But the stuff that can undermine Latinas in particular is getting caught up in creating more drama. I once had a conversation with a reporter for a major news magazine who flat out stated — “the blogger world of Latinas is fiercely divided, be careful what you say”. Sadly, there is a lot of needless division in our community. We’d all be a lot further along if we gave people the benefit of the doubt that they actually mean well. And when it is clear they don’t or just have issues that overwhelm your patience — let go of the desire to demonize them and simply limit their role in your life. Don’t get caught up in trying to correct, fix, or otherwise manage that person or make it your objective to tell others about their issues. It isn’t the easiest thing to do but the more you get caught up in chismes or actively discrediting others, the more likely you will burn bridges you may need later. Life is way too short to be taken up with managing all the drama.
Do not sabotage yourself. When your career depends on a specific presentation, decision, meeting or report—do you postpone preparing for it? Do you go it alone? Do you avoid getting feedback? That’s a wonderful way to sabotage your success. Everyone can get caught up avoiding something unpleasant or denying we need help. But if tend to finish up after a big event by saying “I should have…” you may be sabotaging your success. It’s a vicious cycle to avoid: Create an opportunity, undermine your chances of succeeding and then beat yourself up.
So, why do we do this? There is such a thing as a fear of success — getting that promotion means you’ll need to perform at a new level or need to learn new skills. Take a moment to work through the fear and realize you can ask for help.
Tell me about your Do NOT Do List at Latina Cubicle Confidential and join me live at the next LatinaVIDA™ “Rise to the Top”
Dr. Maria G. Hernandez has 20 years experience consulting in both the United States and Mexico to senior executives in Fortune 50 companies and facilitated change initiatives for elected officials and their staff. She has worked in academia, business, nonprofits, technology startups, and public agencies. For more information, visit Latina Cubicle Confidential™ on Facebook or on Twitter @SavvyLatinaInfo.
