The best way for millennial Arab women to become stronger negotiators and enter a male-dominated space is to develop a growth mindset. Having a growth mindset means you are always willing to learn and use any potential challenges as opportunities to grow and become a stronger person. A growth mindset can also help you build your confidence, so you can better understand your worth and be better able to negotiate on your own terms.
1. Network and help build a sisterhood
Networking is a great way to achieve personal growth because it shows you new perspectives, helps you get valuable advice, and creates a support network full of like-minded women. When you have others who are aligned with your goals and understand the challenges you may be facing, it can be a great confidence booster and outlet for personal growth. You don’t have to go at it alone. We are stronger when we are together.
2. Create your own opportunities
To get into the growth mindset, you have to start creating your own opportunities. You cannot grow when you depend on outside circumstances to provide you with opportunities. It requires us to be creative, thinking of new ways to do something or possibilities of different strategies. It also requires us to be brave, facing the unknown and any challenges that come our way.
3. Define your goals and visualize them
Do you know what you want to achieve? Do you know what it takes to get there, what you need to learn, and what it will feel like to succeed? This is what it means to define your goals and visualize them. When you imagine the challenges you will face, you will be prepared to meet them. When you imagine how it will feel to succeed, it will help give you the courage to keep working toward your goals.
4. Know when to relax
Most advice on helping women grow is about things you need to do or add to your day. But knowing when to relax is crucial for staying in the game long enough to see things through and apply yourself fully. When you give yourself a chance to rest, you can approach every day like a new day, always moving forward and continuing to give it your all. Resting also gives you a chance to reflect on the progress you’ve made and use it as motivation to continue working harder.
5. Get feedback from people you trust
There are some things we either don’t want to tell ourselves or don’t know how to. If you have a network, use it. You can also ask your friends and family for feedback or constructive criticism on something you’re working on or trying to do. This is so important to our personal growth as individuals and contributing members of society. With the growth mindset, you can’t take feedback as a personal attack because it’s exactly what you need to achieve growth and anticipate things you might not be able to see on your own.
Confident women are strong negotiators
What does it mean to be a good negotiator? It means you are confident in yourself, honest, and willing to ask for more. To do this, you need to know your worth. Womex provides the tools all women need to grow as individuals, develop the confidence to dream big, and network with like-minded women who want nothing more than to lift each other up.
Together, we can help close the confidence gap and give aspiring Arab women a resource to grow and achieve more together.