The following article was published Cascade Business News, August 2000

"Hold On To Your Power, Girls!"

By Ann Golden Eglé, PCC , CPCC Of Golden Visions Success Coaching

How powerful do you feel as a woman? How about as a professional, wife, friend, colleague or mother? Is there any room for improvement? While some may attach a negative connotation to ‘power’, I see it as fully experiencing the magnificence of our innate strength, honesty, beauty, authenticity and intuitive wisdom as a woman?

If it is hard to think of yourself as being powerful, look at it another way. How is it to give up your power? Sadly many of us can answer this question with rapid response. As one highly successful woman recently admitted to me, "There have been too many times in my life where I have freely allowed my power to slip away—often several times in one day, in one meeting! I feel very much in my power one moment and the next it is gone. It’s agonizing but I can’t seem to stop the cycle!"

We know the churning feeling in our stomach when we relinquish our power, like when we say ‘yes’ and mean to say ‘no’, or when we stand by politely and allow someone to monopolize our valuable time when we have more pressing issues to attend to. Perhaps the saddest example of loss of power is when we allow people to treat us with less respect than we deserve.

There is such strength, insight and wisdom to be gained by standing firmly in our authentic power, fully aware of who we are and what we want. It is liberating! Life gets easier. Choices come more quickly and with more definition, less thought. There is no guesswork. We know where we are going in this life and precisely how we will allow people to treat us along the way.

The side benefit is that we do in fact get what we wanted in the first place without giving anything up--respect, intimacy, freedom, higher levels of success, etc.! All by simply taking command of our power!

How does one get to a place of navigating life through firmly standing in a place of personal power? It doesn’t have to be as huge or as difficult as it appears. Here are some suggestions:

• Spend quiet, alone time each morning contemplating what you want to create today. No need to worry about tomorrow, it will be here soon enough.
• Honor yourself by looking for the learning that each new situation presents. Avoid the place of self-criticism or judgment.
• Don’t assume that you know what others think about you or your work. If you want to know, ask.
• Get really curious about what unique gifts you have to offer the world.
• Risk trying something new, anything. Amaze yourself with your courage, spunk and creativity.
• Be more discerning with whom you choose to spend your time. Surround yourself with individuals who will nurture your growth and expansion.
• Create space in life for your passions by learning when ‘enough is enough’ elsewhere.
• Laugh more…love more…smell the scents each season and allow yourself to be pleasantly surprised each day.

For those of you who are on your path to stepping more fully into your power, I wish you much luck along your journey. Enjoy every step! Did I mention to laugh more?

Ann Golden Eglé, CPCC, (Certified Professional Co-Active Coach) is the President and Owner of Golden Visions Success Coaching. Ann is an Executive/Motivational Coach and coaches individuals throughout the U.S. and Canada. She can be reached at 541-385-8887 or CoachAnn@attglobal.net.