I have recently started curating an Instagram account. It’s called Quiet the Hive, so called to represent the busy bees that we all are, our strong sense of community, others reliance on us (family, friends, work, our inner voice), our independence and the constant humming in our head. Women juggle a lot of stuff (yes, men too, but I’m a woman and so speaking from what I know, and I know we juggle a s**t load). I wanted a way to reach out and share what I know, what I don’t, and what I’m learning to help manage my own buzzing. And a way to support women to take a moment to quiet the hive in their head.
What I’m finding interesting is how this seems to be speaking to all sorts of women. Followers are growing daily. It seems that while we are high flyers, home CEOs, orchestrators of all events and all things to everyone, we are still in serious doubt of our ability, our worth, and staking our claim to our deserved place.
Last week was ‘Confidence Week’ at Quiet the Hive. Those of you who read my musings know that I am a self-diagnosed Imposter Syndrome sufferer, so may find it interesting that I felt I was a good person to share lessons, ideas and challenges on confidence. The thing is, my compulsion to help women claim their place and own it without apologising is stronger than my own shocking lack of confidence in my own ability – oh the irony!
I am lucky enough to know some of the most brilliant women, all of whom have amazing stories, insight and experience to share. Most of whom apologise for doing so. One of challenges I set on Quiet the Hive during Confidence Week was to ‘take a leap’.
A leap is something that, according to Tara Mohr, means ‘play(ing) bigger now, according to what playing bigger means to you’. That’s the beauty of the leap. It doesn’t have to be big by anyone’s definition other than your own. Do something that gets you out of your comfort zone, that gets the adrenalin flowing. Stop putting it off. We are great procrastinators, we listen to our lizard (see ‘conversations with my lizard’) and talk ourselves out of playing bigger. Take five minutes now (pretend your writing ‘Very Important Work Musings’ if need be) and think about what you know will move you forward that you’ve been putting off. It doesn’t need to be huge. It just needs to propel you closer to where you want to be.