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What's holding you back from achieving your career goals? Chances are, these same obstacles or challenges once held back the successful women executives of today.
Last week, six women on Vena's Executive Leadership Team shared the advice they would give their younger selves. Now we want to know, what are some of the success habits that led to their career growth and success?
Habit building has positive effects on your individual resilience, both at work and outside of work. As you learn about the habits that have driven the success of our women executives, find inspiration for building your own habits around your desired career path and personal development.
Did you know that women make up 60% of Vena's ELT, in comparison to an industry average of 24% representation of women in tech C-suites?
The first step is to envision what you want from your career and to dedicate time to self-reflect on the things that motivate you. Once you have a clear sense of who you want to become and what legacy you want to have in your career, the right habits you need to put in place become more obvious. As James Clear states in his book Atomic Habits, "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."
"Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."
--James Clear
So what matters most to the women in Vena's C-suite and how do they build success habits around this focus?
Find out how in this blog. This week, we asked them: What are some of your success habits?
What Are Some of Your Success Habits?
Learn from others. Ask questions and seek advice from people you trust. Emulate the behaviors of people you admire.
I try to consistently show up at my best in every interaction--always being prepared, doing more than the bare minimum and consistently meeting deadlines. Almost every job in my career has been a result of a previous impression I made on someone.
I try to learn from others. To do this, ask questions and seek advice from people you trust. Emulate the behaviors of people you admire. And when you can, read a lot.
I also try to take care of myself. To me, that looks like eating well (most of the time), getting seven to eight hours of sleep wherever possible, exercising regularly and enjoying time with family, friends, and my two dogs.
Have windows blocked off in your calendar so you can focus on getting stuff done.
It's important to have windows blocked off in your calendar so you can focus on getting stuff done. It's so easy to get caught up in the constant stream of email, Slack and Zoom meetings so focus time must be protected.
I also find regularly maintaining my to-do lists has been a contributor to success--I love marking off items as complete.
Get to know people, understand them, invest time in relationships and collaborate effectively. Whatever we do, we are more effective when we work well together.
Don't forget to take time for yourself--make yourself a priority.
Keep yourself organized and prioritize. It's important to build organizational habits that work for you. e.g. get good at calendaring, prioritize what needs to get done both professionally and personally. It helps to start each day reviewing what you want/need to accomplish and do a retro at the end of the day to understand how things went. While things don't always go as planned, I believe organization and prioritization together help me navigate more effectively through challenging times.
Don't forget to take time for yourself. This has definitely been a "learned" success habit for me where I'm focusing on the importance of self-care--you can't be your best self (at work or at home) if you don't take time to recharge and relax. Figure out what works for you and then make that a habit to build into your life. It may be as simple as a daily walk, some meditation or ending the day by reading something you enjoy. Just make yourself a priority.
Keep an open mind and be curious over being opinionated, while leaning into the unknown versus status quo.
Foundationally, I practice self-care as time with myself and in nature before I give time to others. When my son was young, even though I am not a morning person,I would wake up 20 minutes before he did to fuel my mind and body with what served me, whether that was music, stillness or a slow shower. Now, when I have more personal time as he's older, it means a walk or run with my dog in the morning in nature with my favorite source of inspiration in my Airpods, which allows me to give to myself before I give to others.
When it comes to the way I work, I always try to remain curious about what I think I know and what I want to learn. This includes how I can learn more about what I don't need to know, but would enable me to empathize and align to the needs of others. Keep an open mind and be curious over being opinionated, while leaning into the unknown versus the status quo.
Get comfortable with likely never getting to the bottom of the to-do list. And let go of any guilt that comes with that.
I don't believe there's a one-size-fits-all approach that works for everyone or even one that always works for any one person. Like with all things, context matters and the ability to flex is probably the most important habit of them all.
That said, I've come to believe that for me, it comes down to a fairly simple idea: doing the right things well enough. It's straightforward in concept, but consistent execution is the hard part.
What it requires is being really clear about what matters and why. Everything else will distract and detract. This means getting comfortable with likely never getting to the bottom of the to-do list. And letting go of any guilt that comes with that.
While calling the right plays to maximize impact is important, so is applying the right level of effort and attention. Mission-critical, bet-the-company projects that have little or no margin for error will require a different level of focus. Others won't. Successful people know the difference.
Tune in for the next blog to find out what the women on Vena's ELT have to say about helping teams find work-life balance.
Come grow with us! Vena is hiring. We have offices in Toronto, Canada and in London, England. Visit our Careers page for current job openings or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to learn more about life at Vena.
As Senior Director of People Experience at Vena, Shada McShannon oversees the people operations function, HR business partnerships and Vena's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy. She holds an undergraduate degree in Women’s Studies and Peace Studies, along with a postgraduate degree in Human Resources Management. Shada is passionate about delivering an exceptional employee experience and fostering a culture of equity and belonging. Outside of work, you’ll find Shada spending her time outdoors with her dogs or getting creative by making handmade jewelry.
