This morning I opened my email and saw this great article from @nytopinion on Medium:
Why Girls Beat Boys at School and Lose to Them at the Office
When I got to this line in the article that quotes the work of
journalists Katty Kay and Claire Shipman: “‘Underqualified and underprepared men don’t think twice about leaning in,’ they wrote. ‘Overqualified and overprepared, too many women still hold back. Women feel confident only when they are perfect.’” I was practically screaming, PREACH!
As a woman who has worked to “store up “insurance points,” her entire life, who is parenting a girl who is “anxious even about being anxious,” this article was just what I needed to read before I start a new job.
In fact, I really wish someone would have said the following to me ages ago:
“A colleague of mine likes to remind teenagers that in classes where any score above 90 counts as an A, the difference between a 91 and a 99 is a life.”
And then I remembered this trophy that I kept this trophy in my office for years. It is a First Place trophy from the Malibu Grand Prix and Castle in San Antonio, TX (now closed, I checked).
At a leadership team offsite in 2009, I beat my entire, all-male team in go-kart racing. I have received various career related trophies and awards over years. But this one was special. I still remember just how fun it was to beat all of the guys not because I had stayed up all night working on a presentation, not because I had put in the most work, but just because I drove faster.
The trophy says, “Push, Pass or get off my ass”
I recently threw it out in a massive cleaning binge (Thank you, Marie Kondo, for putting that out in the universe) but I will always remember that sweet victory.
And when I start my new job, I’ll be focused on getting a 91 versus killing myself for a 99.