We all know the impact that self-sabotage can have on our success. But the voice of doubt isn’t always an internal monologue - sometimes, it’s coming from someone else.
Throughout our lives, we meet our cheerleaders - family and friends who are in our corner and believe in everything we do. They know we’ll be successful and want to join the party when we are!
However, we also encounter the ‘naysayers’. They pop up throughout our lives and seem to validate every limiting belief we have. They’ll disguise scaremongering as ‘concern’ and point out all the reasons why we’ll fail.
In some instances, people try to play devil’s advocate to make sure that we’ve weighed up all the risks. But in many cases, they’re projecting their insecurities and negative attitudes onto us.
Shutting out the noise is easier said than done, especially if we’re feeling a little insecure about our potential. But there are so many reasons to ignore the naysayers and focus on creating your own success.
Here are some inspirational women who didn’t let adversity or the fear of failure stop them.
Whitney Wolfe Herd, CEO of Bumble
Bumble, the dating app catering to women and led by women, has made its 31-year-old founder a billionaire.
But it wasn’t a smooth ride to the top. At the age of 22, before Whitney founded Bumble, she was one of the first employees at its rival company, Tinder. She reportedly came up with the name and logo and was credited for fuelling its popularity among university-age users. However, she left Tinder in 2014, shortly after filing a sexual harassment lawsuit against the company.
While Whitney’s legally unable to talk about what she went through at Tinder, a lawsuit was settled against the company for just over $1 million.
An undoubtedly traumatic and life-changing event, the experience could have ruined Whitney’s ambition. Instead, she was motivated to create a female-focused alternative app that empowered women to take back control and make the first move.
And so, Bumble was born.
As of February 2021, Bumble has over 100 million global users and Whitney was named America’s youngest self-made female billionaire, photographed with her baby on her hip.
Girl power or what?!
Carrie Green, Founder of the Female Entrepreneur Association
In 2011, Carrie Green founded the Female Entrepreneur Association - a global network that connects like-minded women and inspires them to turn their entrepreneurial dreams into a reality.
Carrie considers mindset to be key to success. She has an unwavering dedication to helping women believe in themselves, giving them the support they need to achieve their goals.
Building a business isn’t a walk in the park; there are times when we all feel confused, hopeless, and unsure how to move forward. Carrie’s philosophy is that the desire for the end goal must overpower any fear of failure, the urge to give up, or what other people think. Ultimately, the ones who make it are the ones who hang on when everyone else lets go.
Today, the Female Entrepreneur Association has a global network of over 650,000 women and Carrie’s book, She Means Business, is an international best-seller. It’s next on my must-read list! Have you read it already? DM me on Insta @garnetpruk and let me know what you thought!
Oprah Winfrey, Talk Show Host and Philanthropist
The undisputed queen of media, Oprah Winfrey is a globally renowned giant. But her rise to success wasn’t without its obstacles. Born to a single teenage mother on welfare, she was raised in poverty and abused by several family members. This may not sound like the origin story for one of the most influential people in America, but it is.
Despite facing extreme adversity, Oprah didn’t give up. She could have easily believed that her past would define her future but she chose to tell herself a different story.
It was this mindset that allowed Oprah to bounce back from her first major career setback. She was fired from her first television job as an anchor in Baltimore after a producer reportedly told her that she was “unfit for television news”.
Understandably, this was a demoralising experience - Oprah felt naive, unskilled, and inexperienced. But, she took stock of the situation and realised that, while she loved television, she preferred human interest stories to news reporting.
She persevered and was given a daytime TV slot, which is where she found her true calling. She became a household name and, eventually, an international sensation with a net worth of 2.7 billion dollars.
So, the next time you doubt yourself and your abilities, think about what quitting will achieve. Do you want to prove the naysayers right? Or do you want to prove to yourself that you have everything you need to succeed?
If you want to harness the power of mindset to help you stay laser-focused on your path to success, check out my blog on how to make mindset your secret superpower here.
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