Hi Reader,

I’m excited to be headed out to Tampa later this week to visit my dad, give a corporate talk on retaining women in tech, and inspire students at my high school. Today, I want to chat about something that I’ve been working on recently, building self-trust.

We often emphasize the importance of building trust with our team members and colleagues because it’s crucial to effective leadership. However, what is often overlooked is how crucial self-trust is to our success. As women in tech, we frequently find ourselves prioritizing the care of others over our own, which can lead to deprioritizing our self-care.

How can improving self-trust lead to more success as a woman in tech? Here are a few examples:

1. Greater Innovation: Trusting ourselves empowers us to share our ideas more freely and pursue innovative solutions that might initially feel risky.
2. Effective Decision-Making: With self-trust comes greater confidence, enhancing our ability to trust our instincts. This often leads to quicker and more decisive actions.
3. More Successful Negotiations: Knowing our value and trusting in it makes us more effective in negotiating for promotions, pay raises, and strategic decisions.
4. Influential Leadership: Self-trust fosters confidence in our abilities, enabling us to lead authentically and inspiringly.

Self-trust, confidence, and influence are deeply interconnected. If you don’t believe in your abilities and value, it’s challenging to expect others to. How can your team members trust you if you don’t demonstrate trust in yourself?

So, how can we go about building self-trust? Start by preventing erosion of it!

How often do you commit to going for a daily walk, eating better, or improving a current habit, but then not follow through? This inconsistency erodes your self-trust.

It’s much more effective to establish a few consistent, manageable habits that you can commit to every day, and then build upon those. For example, I have started something I call my “four 5’s,” inspired by a course on manifesting that I’m taking. These are four activities I do every day for at least five minutes: journaling, meditating, learning, and exercising. I chose these because they directly contribute to my self-care and make me a more effective leader.

I’ve been practicing these daily for six weeks now, and I’ve noticed an increase in my confidence and trust in myself.

Remember, it’s crucial to start with achievable and realistic goals. Should I exercise for more than five minutes? Ideally, yes. But no matter how hectic my day gets, I know I can commit to those five minutes. By maintaining this consistency, I’m reinforcing my self-trust–proving to myself that I can uphold my commitments every day.

I encourage you to reflect on how you might be eroding your own self-trust and what could be your version of the “four 5’s.” You might be surprised by how these small, consistent acts can profoundly change how you view yourself, and in turn, how others view you.

Cheers,
Jossie

P.S. I’ve got two open coaching slots! If you’re struggling to find fulfillment in your tech career and feel something is missing, let’s talk. I’d love to discuss how coaching can help you create a career where you thrive. Book a FREE strategy call today: Book Your Call​
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