The very short set of thoughts I had delivered @ Infosys Thiruvananthapuram as part of inaugural session for 'SitWithMe' initiative:
Be it the IT services industry that we are part of or, any other profession for that matter, I feel a woman is no less than any individual be it in intellectual ability, hunger to learn and, potential to perform. There needs to be acceptance of few facts in the first place. It is a fact that we live in a society and there are societal expectations that tend to overwhelm many - especially women. I feel a lot of men or at least a few too go through these expectation management and multitasking challenges.
- Man or Woman - the first step is to realize and accept that you have no super powers.
- Second is to ruthlessly prioritize on what is important for you to do and, do it - giving your best.
- Third is not to feel guilty about everything else that did not get done.
- Fourth step (one that has been pretty difficult for me initially) - is to learn and practice to "gracefully ignore" irritants.
- Final and most important is to spend a little time understanding what makes you happy and try to give yourself that bit of true happiness.
No one can limit our potential and ability to perform or, outperform - other than we ourselves.
