My question for you today: Do you struggle to stand up for yourself?

It can be intimidating - a lot of us are taught not to rock the boat - and, if you find yourself putting others first over yourself, it can be a pattern or habit that you don’t even realize you have.

Personally, I’ve found that it’s often easier to stand up for someone or something else than it is to stand up for myself. And I know many of you have told me the same thing.

Because this topic came up in a client session a few weeks ago and then also in a few more conversations since then, I wanted to share an exercise I shared with my clients.

So how can you make sure you’re able to stand up for yourself when it counts, like asking for the promotion or a salary increase or holding to your boundaries?

Start standing up for things that are low-stakes for you.

Why?

Because, it’s about practice. Think of this as a muscle you are strengthening and toning. That means you need to focus, be intentional and build in a lot of practice with this before it becomes something that is comfortable or second nature, like you would if it was a sport, music, a language, dance...

So now, throwing it over to you - what are some ways where you can practice standing up for yourself vs. going with the flow?

I’ll start with two of my own: calling the cable/internet company when my internet bill jumped up to ask if there were alternative options and more recently, saying no to an opportunity that I knew I didn’t have the bandwidth to take on.

Cheers,

Vidya

P.S. I had a great time chatting with my friend Jackie Janiec on her Beyond Small Talk show a few weeks ago, about breaking free from careers that no longer serve us. You can check out our conversation on your go-to media channel: YouTube, IG TV, Podbean, Spotify, or Apple Podcast! If you know someone who would benefit from hearing this, please share the links! And check out Jackie’s other Beyond Small Talk episodes!