Read an extract from POWER by Kemi Nekvapil!

Kemi Nekvapil is one of Australia’s leading credentialled coaches for female executives and entrepreneurs, an author and a highly sought-after international speaker. Her new book is called POWER: A woman’s guide to living and leading without apology, and in it she gives her readers the tools to navigate the challenges that impact who we are, from discrimination and burnout to trauma and self-doubt.

Today, you can read an extract from POWER about decision-making. Read on …

Kemi Nekvapil (Photo by Prue Aja Steedman).

The Power of Ten Decisions

When listening to The Tim Ferriss Show recently, I heard one of his guests talking about the ten biggest decisions they had ever made in their life. It got me thinking about the ten biggest decisions I have made in my life. All of them were courageous, most of them hard. Let me share them with you:

1. Leaving my first true love and choosing to be celibate for two-and-a-half years.

2. Leaving a well-paid acting career to work for free in Thailand.

3. Deciding to have a baby with a man I’d known for nine months.

4. Moving to Australia while six months pregnant with said baby to live with my in-laws, whom I’d only met once.

5. Choosing to have a second baby and get married.

6. Writing my first book.

7. Training for and finishing my first marathon.

8. Training as a credentialed coach (always in training).

9. Training as a Dare to Lead™ facilitator (always in training).

10. Buying our farm and acreage.

All my biggest decisions involved Presence, Ownership, Wisdom, Equality and Responsibility.

I needed to be present to how I was feeling in a particular situation; I needed to take ownership for my stories and let go of the stories of others; I needed to listen to my own wisdom, even when it made no sense to other people; I needed to see myself as an equal to make the life choices I wanted to make; and I needed to take responsibility for the implementation and outcomes of all of these decisions.

So often, we forget the times we have been courageous, when we have stood in our power, claimed our space, owned our worth and gone after what we needed or wanted. It does not mean these decisions are easy. In fact, big decisions are rarely easy – that’s the point of your ten biggest decisions.

Take a moment now to think about the ten biggest decisions you have made in your life so far. Even better, write them down and then answer these questions:

1. Which decision are you proudest of?

2. What does your list tell you about who you are?

3. What does your list tell you about your power?

The power of the decisions we have made in the past is an evidence-based way to build our power into the future.

One the greatest tools my coach Belinda gave me was the power of evidence. If I was questioning my ability in something she would say, ‘Let’s find the evidence that questions your doubt.’ It is such a powerful tool, and when appropriate, it’s a tool I now use with my clients.

Your list of your ten biggest decisions is your evidence – proof that you have stood in your power before, no matter how hard, lonely, terrifying or confusing it may have been. You have been powerful before and your power has guided you through life.

You can be powerful now and you can be powerful in the future.

—This is an edited extract from POWER: A woman’s guide to living and leading without apology by Kemi Nekvapil. Published by Penguin Random House Australia, RRP $34.99.

POWER: A woman's guide to living and leading without apology

Limited Signed Copies Available!

by Kemi Nekvapil

Shift your thinking about what power is and who gets to have it, and live life fully and without apology.

Kemi Nekvapil knows the feelings of fear, vulnerability and powerlessness. Growing up in foster care, many times she had the doors to validation and opportunity closed to her because of her race and gender. Learning to make her own choices and use her voice without apology were her first steps towards a bold, purpose-filled life...

Order NowRead More

No comments Share:

About the Contributor

Booktopia Guest Blogger