Personal Empowerment and Why It Matters

Blanca De La Rosa discusses how people can take control of their careers through personal empowerment.

Today’s post is by Blanca De La Rosa, author of Empower Yourself for an Amazing Career (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Are you in control of your life and your career? Is your life what you imagined it would be? Or have you somehow allowed yourself to be deterred from your chosen path? Did you know that nothing changes unless you change it?

No matter what you seek, it can only happen if you do something about it. Take charge of your personal power. To be empowered you must know what you want for your life and why.

Personal empowerment is a collection of beliefs, actions and skills all working together to help you achieve your goals and it begins with two things: self-awareness and a positive mindset.

Self-awareness of your strengths and weaknesses—skills and abilities in addition to your values and goals is a must.  This is our ground zero. Identifying your unique and transferable skills and strengths will help you define and refine your personal brand so that you can enhance your marketability. You are in control of your personal brand – perception is reality.

Find a way to differentiate yourself and stand out from the competition. Be your own campaign manager, and promote your most marketable and transferable skills, experiences and expertise. You are in the best position to manage this campaign; if not you, then who? You know what you have to offer, what you bring to the table, so showcase it whenever you have the opportunity.

A positive but realistic view of yourself will go a long way to help you achieve your goals. It’s not enough to want to achieve a goal; you must know and believe that you can achieve your goal. If you think you can’t, you won’t. It becomes a self-fulling prophecy. You must be ready, willing, and able to go after what you want. You can get stuck in a never-ending loop of setting goals, planning, and learning for years. However, if you don’t follow through and take action, nothing happens.

Being self-confident is believing in yourself, your abilities and your judgment. It is freeing yourself from doubt and ego-based fears. When you believe you can change things, or make a difference in a situation, you are much more likely to succeed.

Self-confidence is one of the key ingredients required for a successful career. Projecting a lack of confidence and knowledge will construct barriers that may impede the growth of your career. Have faith in your skills and abilities and do not allow the cultural mantra of the organization or your peers affect your self-confidence

Some people appear to be born with self-confidence, but most must work at it. Self-confidence can be developed and nourished. However, getting it right is a matter of striking a perfect balance between low-confidence and over-confidence that is realistic and represents your true ability. But, how do you project self-confidence? For starters, you can manage your body language.

Did you know that body language makes up more than 50% of your daily responses (Source: Psychology Today)? Whether you’re aware of it or not, when you interact with others, you’re continuously giving and receiving wordless signals. Your body language speaks much louder than your words. Your non-verbal communication – gestures, postures, and physiological – cues others about what you are really thinking more so than what you say. When the words you speak conflict with your body language, your body language wins every time. Your body language will confirm your true thoughts.

Personal empowerment comes down to belief in yourself and follow-through. Be presumptuous enough to believe that you are just as good as, as smart as, or better than those around you and that you have a significant contribution to make.

After graduating from college, Blanca De La Rosa went on to have a successful 34-year career rising through the ranks of Mobil/ExxonMobil Oil Corporation, where she had domestic and international positions. De La Rosa represented her company as a host, keynote speaker and panelist at various events with organizations supported by the company’s charity foundation.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!