Hey, you ambitious woman
I was a good student, but as I excelled, something started to happen.
I started to get so good at doing it right and pleasing the teacher that I got trained to do it more and more.
My perfectionism followed me into getting my masters at Harvard and into work.
And when my daughter came along, I was so focused on “doing it right” that sometimes I missed the unpredictable and wild and wonderful new person who was right in front of me..
We good girls get so good at getting it all done.
But while we’re busy “excelling” there’s a little voice in the back of our heads whispering that something’s not right.
Because as we get more senior in our career, the usual recipe we relied on stops working.
Because the usual tools we use—grind, push through, harder, faster, better—just aren’t working anymore.
It’s exhausting us. Draining us.
And sometimes we think we need to just burn it all down.
Quit. Join an ashram or something.
(and most of us can't afford to do that anyway... hey you breadwinner, you.)
But there's that little voice in our head that whispers—I want more.
I want more in work and life. I want a vibrant life in all realms. I want to fulfill my potential.
I want to die happy because I used up all I had to offer. I spent it all.
We get told that there are two options.
Grind and push through, or quit and burn it all down.
But there is a third way.
- It means leading from boldness, and vision, and who you uniquely are.
- It means rejecting overwork, perfectionism, and people pleasing.
- It means taking more risks and leading more boldly.
For me, the third way wasn’t just about having more peace and being more present for my family (although that happened).
It was also about showing up for my career as my life’s work.
And I see that in my clients.
Like the client who went after a big hairy job (that paid $100k more) in a company that was facing challenges. And even though she was intimidated by the work, she chose to trust her own vision of how to solve the problems.
She knew she’d fail on the way to succeeding, and then fail again. And she would let that be ok.
Because she knew that there was big work to do, and she had something unique to give.
For you it might be something else.
Like reclaiming the spark that has gone out of leadership because you’re just so busy.
Or maybe showing up more boldly with the dynamics of your fellow leadership team.
Maybe you’re stuck in the day-to-day and you want to be more visionary.
Or maybe it’s stepping up into a big stretch opportunity where you can change your company and the industry.
Whatever it is for you, it starts with reclaiming your capacity for vision and power at work.
I help women lead more easefully, more joyously and more boldly.
You don’t have to get there on your own.
If you’re looking for support stepping into your leadership, I can help.
Submit an application to start a conversation about working together.
Official Bio
Maya Sharfi is a career and executive coach and the founder of Build Yourself. She helps women advance their careers on their own terms and helps companies grow and promote their rising women leaders through coaching, training, and consulting.
Companies Maya has worked with have seen a 3x increase in the rate of women promoted, and 18% of women are more likely to recommend their companies to other women. They’ve seen more women owning and leading initiatives and setting boundaries that make projects more effective and grow junior staff. Maya’s individual clients achieve results like moving into senior director roles, launching new, innovative programs, and achieving $25k raises.
Maya has trained national industry groups, like Women in Innovation and the American Institute of Architects, and works with leadership and staff at global design and innovation companies. She’s a former Harvard Innovation Lab resident, ran a research effort on women in social impact design for the Harvard Business School, and was named as one of Impact Design Hub’s Social Impact Design 40 under 40. She’s a graduate of Brown University and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
