This may be a controversial topic but I’m going to say it anyway.

What if the term “glass ceiling” is a limiting belief?

In the 1980’s “the glass ceiling” was a phrase that gained popularity as a way to represent the idea that women were hitting a limit of how far they could rise in a company and in compensation. It’s glass because it’s not quite as overt as a solid ceiling that is right out in the open. Instead, it’s a barely visible, unacknowledged barrier between the success of the female and equality with her male counterparts.

It was an important concept because we do need to acknowledge the darkness in order to clear it – But, it’s a new day people.

I challenge you to take a minute and wonder if the term “glass ceiling” is in and of itself now acting as a limiting belief?

I know many of you will not want to hear this but I’m going to tell you that in my career in Human Resources and specifically my experience with recruiting, women often asked for less money and accepted more of a work load than their male counterparts. Very often.

So as we are saying that men in the work place are taken more seriously, get paid more, work less hard to be promoted, are we accepting that as a truth instead of expecting the same for ourselves?

AND if we are accepting that as truth, can we stop doing that please????

When you take a new job or take on new responsibility, I want you to stop and really take a minute to do your homework and know what the job is worth and what it can ultimately pay (see Salary Negotiation Tips to Know Your Worth and Align Your Energy To It). Then, go for the top dollar amount. Know your worth!

Don’t sell yourself short.

We as women tend to be harder on ourselves (and each other!) than our male counterparts. We feel we need more education, more experience, more years in the job before we feel comfortable asking for more money.

We do need experience, we do need to know what we are talking about and be good at what we do, BUT we need to accept the positive feedback when it comes and really embrace the fact that we are already good at it when we are being promoted or going for the new job.

I have a client who is a perfect example of this. She is a teacher for Special Day classes and I’ve never seen someone more committed to making a difference in those children’s lives. Yet, she would always tell me that she didn’t think she was good at her job and felt like she was “winging it.” I would remind her about the many parents she told me would burst into tears of gratitude during the parent teacher conferences because they were so relieved and overjoyed at the progress their child was making, how she was teacher of the year, and how her principal often used her class for tours to show the district how well the school was running. Let the positive feedback in! With feedback like that she should not feel that she’s not good at her job or that she’s just “getting by.”

Men seem to have this issue less. I’ll use my husband as an example and hope he won’t kill me for it. Every night he will take off his boxers and he will kick them up into the air and catch them in his hand. Then he says proudly, “Did you see that?” He is super proud of this ability to kick and catch his own underwear and never ceases to be amused by it. Night after night. He doesn’t need an award and I believe he does this even if I’m not there to witness it, lol. It’s simple, I know, but seeing him find such pride in something so ridiculous reminds me how much we as women tend to beat ourselves up and how little we celebrate our victories. Even the small ones.

I tell this story tongue in cheek, but I really have observed that men tend to be proud of their accomplishments, no matter how small, and make sure they are recognized for them much more openly and frequently than women.

Women, please hear me. We do not need to be so hard on ourselves. We can be proud of the small things and see our value. We can pat ourselves on the back for balancing our work life with parenting. With keeping up with healthy meals in the face of stress. For committing to an exercise routine that allows us to be clear-minded at work.

AND we can be proud of our work! We can let in the compliments. We can believe them. We can ask for the money we should be making.

We can be heard in a room full of men or we can find another room to speak where we are heard.

We can trust that we know how to run companies just as successfully as our male counterparts and most of all we can embrace that we represent both the sacred masculine and sacred feminine and we don’t need to be one or the other (see Why You Should Cry At Work).

We can release this idea of a glass ceiling and decide there is no limit for us.

No limit.

No ceiling.

No barrier.

Just our unlimited potential to be what we want to be and get there in a way that feels TRUE to our inner beings.

Not how we think we should have to be.

If you don’t believe me look at Oprah Winfrey. Her upbringing could have completely limited her ability to succeed. Her rocky start could have kept her from using her voice in the world and what a shame it would’ve been.

But it didn’t. She kept following her passion and became such a leader in self-help topics that are still just as powerful, if not more powerful, than when she started her career.

Find your voice.

Find your passion.

Don’t worry about your male counterparts.

Forge your own way.

You can do it.

We did not come here to play it safe or to play quietly in the shadows.

Did we?

XOXO,