Friday, April 1, 2022

Blogging A to Z 2022 - Affirmations & Ambition

#AtoZChallenge 2022 Blogging from A to Z Challenge letter

The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge (2022) gets underway today. It's been a few years since I participated, so I am excited to join in this year. As a reminder, I will be discussing topics of interest to those who identify as women. The Book Connection is lucky number 78 in a list of more than 140 bloggers who are participating in 2022. I encourage you to check out the list and visit other blogs with topics of interest.

AFFIRMATIONS

The origins of affirmations dates as far back as 1500/1000 B.C., the early 20th century, or the 1980s depending on which source you use. My personal experience with affirmations began in the late 80s/early 90s when I read my first book by Og Mandino, The Greatest Miracle in the World. This book contains "The God Memorandum," which shared the four laws of happiness and success. "The God Memorandum" became so popular, it was published as a separate guide published as early as 1990.

This memorandum, a message to the reader from God, is said to offer "comfort and encouragement to anyone with faltering self-esteem or a lack of motivation." If I recall correctly, the reader was supposed to recite this memorandum once a day for 30 days. 


Do you believe in daily affirmations? What are some of your favorite affirmations?

AMBITION

Ambition is a word that seems to come with a fair amount of negativity for women. Real estate is the first industry I've been part of where women are the majority (currently 67%), which has allowed me to feel more comfortable in celebrating my success.

In this article from 2019, Forbes contributor Caroline Castrillon discussed numerous studies that indicate, culturally, ambition in men is viewed as a positive trait, but is criticized in women. Castrillion also cited a 2017 Pew Center Research survey of adults in the United States that ranked top traits or characteristics of men and women. 

Top three traits for men: honesty/morality, professional/financial success, ambition/leadership

Top three traits for women: physical attractiveness, empathy/nurturing/kindness, intelligence

So, we want men to be honest, financially successful, and ambitious, but those surveyed aren't as concerned about their intelligence (ranked 9 out of 11). However, women are supposed to be attractive (because somehow that means I'm a successful and good person), empathetic, and intelligent, but those surveyed don't see a woman's financial and professional success (ranked 7 out of 13) as important. FYI, single females are 5% more likely to own a home than single men. Oh, and as a former single parent, I can tell you my professional and financial success has always been top of mind.

Susannah Baldwin, author of Women, Language, and Power: Giving Voice to Our Ambition, wrote in this January 2022 article, "The good news is that we can challenge the false belief that to be ambitious is to be unfeminine. And we can learn how to grow comfortable, even confident, in acting on our ambitions and realizing our goals." 

Reciting daily affirmations and changing the way we talk about ambitious women helps us to achieve our goals and gives women everywhere the freedom to succeed on their own terms. 

8 comments:

Danielle L Zecher said...

Sometimes I think it's amazing how much things have changed for women since my grandmothers' generation and sometimes I think nothing has changed.

I don't have any daily affirmations, but I love motivational or inspirational quotes.

Cheryl said...

I agree, Danielle. In some ways things have changed, but even recently I realized as a woman I can be discounted and ignored simply because I'm not one of the guys. I keep plugging along.

I like sharing motivational and inspirational quotes. I usually do that on my Facebook page.

I enjoyed visiting your blog today. Good luck with the challenge.

nashvillecats2 said...

This was good to read Cheryl. you raised some interesting points.
Good luck with the Challenge.
Yvonne.

TWW said...

Happy first day of the blogging challenge from no. 189 on the list.

Arti said...

Thank you for visiting my blog Cheryl.
I smiled when I read your post. I have a little desk calendar (very old) of daily affirmations/sayings that sits on my writing desk. The one for 1st April reads: "A generous heart will quickly become a precious heart."

ladyleemanila said...

such an interesting read, Cheryl :)

Arlee Bird said...

Excellent kick-off to your A to Z posts. This is good information and advice for any reader no matter how they identify. What I always need more of is ambition. Especially now that I'm retired and getting older, it's important for me to keeping having dreams and hopefully finding enough ambition to pursue them.

Have a great April Challenge!

Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out Battle of the Bands

Cheryl said...

Thanks, nashvillecats2. It was great visiting your blog today.

Thanks for visiting, #189, aka TWW.

Arti, so nice to see you here. Love that April affirmation.

Ladyleemanila, glad you found my ramblings interesting.

Arlee Bird, nice to see you here. Here's hoping you have that ambition you need to pursue those dreams.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone. Good luck with the challenge.