A Woman’s Guide to Embracing Your Strengths and Achieving Balance

Are you a “Type A” woman? You know the one—you’re the go-getter, the overachiever, you take initiative and make things happen. You are organized, disciplined, and are driven to succeed. You embrace intensity and know just how powerful your personal brand of intensity can be.  You think fast on your feet, juggle multiple tasks with ease, and never back down from a challenge. While these traits may not always be easy to manage and are sometimes not appreciated by others, they do give you an edge in life that no one else can match.

I recently had an interesting conversation about conscious living with a successful woman in which she stated that she viewed her Type A personality as a weakness.  She articulated that the personality type itself was interfering with her ability to create a truly fulfilling life. She believed that her pursuit of accomplishments reduced her capacity to genuinely appreciate the richness that all of life has to offer.  She also believed that being a Type A woman interfered with her ability to connect with her intuition and with spirit.

Let’s just say I did a gentle and compassionate intervention to shift those beliefs with her and she loved it!  Sometimes all we need is someone to broaden our perspective.  To open our awareness to uncharted territories. And we soar.

The Type A Woman

Ladies. Let me start by reminding you of just some of the wonderful attributes of the Type A woman:

• Goal-oriented: We are highly focused on achieving our goals and we are willing to work hard to reach them.
• Productive: Type A women are typically highly organized and efficient, able to manage their time effectively and we get a lot done.
• High achievers: Type A personalities are often high achievers who set ambitious goals and are willing to put in the effort to achieve them.
• Ambitious: We tend to have a strong drive to succeed and are willing to take on challenges and push ourselves to our limits.
• Competitive: Type A individuals are often competitive, which can motivate us to strive for excellence and push ourselves to be our very best.
• Strong Leadership Skills: Type A women are often natural leaders who are decisive, confident, and able to inspire and motivate others.
• Resilient: We are often able to bounce back from setbacks and failures, using them as opportunities to learn and grow.
• Assertive: Type A Women are usually confident and self-assured, able to speak up for themselves, able to express their message in a clear and direct manner, and we embrace boldness.

That’s a pretty good list of character strengths!  To the contrary, Type A women tend to be perfectionists, we may set impossibly high standards for ourselves to fuel our sense of worthiness, and we often have a constant feeling that we simply must be doing something productive with our time.  As a matter of fact, sometimes we are so focused on our ‘to do’ list, that we forget to be fully present and enjoy the current moment as our brains are often churning thoughts about other tasks that are in motion or require our attention.  Other people may view us as too serious or intense, unapproachable, or unable to relax.  Some view us as being difficult to control, bossy, or demanding because we speak up for ourselves, often share our insight and wisdom even when nobody asked, and we are willing to stand our ground.

What is the most straightforward advice for women who perceive their Type A personality as an obstacle to achieving happiness and balance in their lives? First, don’t blame your Type A personality as it’s filled with admirable strengths that many would secretly like to possess.  Appreciate those strengths and how capably they have served you in life.  Second, your execution of the Type A characteristics might be getting in the way of your joy because, well, sometimes, too much of a ‘good’ thing isn’t really a good thing!  For example, there is healthy assertion in which we are able to effectively communicate our needs in a way that boosts our ability to gently influence others and then there is ineffective assertiveness which manifests as aggressive behavior that can intimidate or humiliate others.

But the real answer lies in my third insight, which is that, at some point, we unknowingly transitioned to allowing the activities of our lives to create the momentum that pushes us forward in our world.  We stopped being intentional about them. We succumbed to running on autopilot and simply do our best to keep up with what’s already in motion.  And, while we’re at it, we keep adding to our plate as we believe it’s the ‘right’ thing to do.  I would ask you to consider, ‘right’ by whose standards?

Let me introduce you to the first aspect of Modern Consciousness™:  Automaton 2.0. 

This state of being serves us well in creating our achievements. Quite frankly, it’s the societal norm if you think about it. Our lives are habituated from a very early age. Our parents, caregivers, and the institutions we are exposed to directly inform us of acceptable beliefs, values, and behaviors.  We model the behavior of those around us because we have no other choice.  We are rewarded or punished to reinforce what we’ve been taught.  Questioning what we’ve been taught is viewed as unacceptable, so we conform.  Overall, this isn’t a ‘bad’ thing at this stage of life.  It’s perfectly natural. We cannot care for ourselves when we come into this world so we rely on the care of others who do the best they can do to mold and shape us into responsible adults.

I call this aspect of Modern Consciousness™ Automaton 2.0 to acknowledge that we have applied our strengths and risen far above our basic instincts.  We have evolved into intelligent beings with high mental capacities and levels of understanding.  Bravo! That is to be celebrated! We have also leveraged our strengths to create success in our lives!  That, too, is surely worthy of applause!

But I find that, at some point in this phase, we begin to question if this is all there is to life.  The voice from deep within our hearts begins asking that question gently at first, which we ignore as we’re, well, busy accumulating all of the things we thought would make us happy.  We don’t have time to deal with that!  Life is good, we tell ourselves, and it often appears extraordinarily good on the outside.  Yet, over time, the voice grows louder and louder.  Often, if we continue to ignore it, we are met with a crisis that propels us toward change.

When your true desires are out of alignment with the reality of your life, an imbalance is created that results in frustration.  Unattended frustration will create various negative outcomes for you as time moves forward which serves only to amplify the frustration.  Regard your frustration as a wake-up call to reevaluate and realign your life. But how? How does one go about the process of considering if their priorities have changed, if their very definition of success has changed, or investigate why they have lost not only their passion but their internal peace and joy?

Recreate Your Reality with the Help of a Compassionate Expert: An Efficient and Effective Approach to Life Transformation.

You can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and years to obtain the knowledge to unravel the threads that create the tapestry of your life as I did when I was met with crisis, or you can take advantage of hiring me to guide you through my process to efficiently and effectively begin recreating your reality and changing your emotional baseline.  How? Through my Modern Consciousness™ Ascension Formula which includes my five A’s:

• Assessment:  Evaluating where you are currently
• Aspiration:  Articulating where you want to be with thoughtful intention
• Architecting the Bridge:  Acknowledging the gap and building a pathway to take you from your current position to your desired destination
• Activation:  Defining practical steps that take you in the direction of your aspiration
• Alignment:  Making your aspirations a reality and integrating them into your daily life

Incremental changes create profound transformations through the compound effect. What are you waiting for?  Wouldn’t you prefer to compound positive changes rather than frustration?  A little practical advice here though not to deter you but to set expectations. As we start delving into the factors of your current situation, you may find that your frustration initially intensifies. But that’s okay. It’s part of the process.  The emotion needs to surface to release it through love.

If you’re curious to know more or would like to apply for my Modern Consciousness™ Elevate Your Life™ Intensive, reach out to me at [email protected].