Wealth mentor’s message to women: demand wealth and accomplishment without compromise
Would you compromise your personal values for a dream job? Would you lie about a colleague to gain a promotion? According to research, if you’re a woman, the answer to these questions is probably “no” and, strikingly, this ethical integrity may actually be holding you back from chasing your vision of success.
Tanja Barth is an accomplished wealth and well-being coach with an intimate understanding of how personal integrity can compel you to give up on your dreams. For many years, Barth worked in management at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), responsible for corporate giants such as Sony, Kodak, Glaxo Smith Kline, Mercedes, and Siemens. Now, as a personal mentor and Right Riches for You facilitator, she is on a mission to help women understand that success doesn’t have to be an either-or situation and that it’s possible to pursue corporate, entrepreneurial and financial accomplishment without having to sacrifice the things that are most meaningful to you.
“Many ambitious women grapple with the concept of compromise. The inner dialogue is often ‘Do I value my ideals or my success?’. What women fail to see is that there is always a third option available to them: they can have both … if only they would start demanding it”, Barth remarks.
Barth speaks from personal experience: at one point in her thriving career, she found herself grappling with an intense – and ultimately life-changing – dilemma.
“I was employed by a very wealthy man. He was a billionaire but, from my point of view, had questionable ethics. I felt I would be ‘owned’ if I stayed working for him. It was just something in the way he treated people,” Barth explains. “He wanted me to stay working for him, and he offered me everything I could have asked for in a material and financial sense. But, in the end, I felt my personal freedom was more important to me than making a lot of money, and I walked away.”
“It was only later that the true consequences of my decision became apparent,” Barth continues. “By turning down money in favor of my values in that instance, I had created a powerful aversion to any form of wealth. I not only declined his offer, I disinvited money from my life altogether … and my future choices around money reflected that decision. Of course, at the time, I thought I only had two choices: wealth or freedom. Now, I understand that I had the right, the opportunity and the creative power to bring both of those things into my life.”
According to Barth, there are several things that ambitious women inadvertently believe are ‘either-or’ factors on their path to success including their family and relationships, personal freedom and power, travel and recreation time, integrity and compassion, and sexual power.
To retain (and reclaim) the things that mean most to you while building a successful business or career, she recommends the following mentor tips:
1. Be fully committed to yourself
Despite common misconceptions, commitment is about being willing to do and be whatever it takes to succeed – it’s not only about what you’re doing, it’s also about who or what you’re being. Wherever you are and whatever is in your current moment, be there fully. Give all of yourself to the situation and don’t compromise on your authenticity and personal power.
2. Don’t make the source of your creation something or somebody outside of yourself
Wherever you have placed the power of your success outside yourself, claim it back. It may be that you believe you need the approval of a certain person; or that you must obtain a certain role or qualification; that you must ingratiate yourself into a particular group. In all of these cases, you have made your success contingent on someone or something else. Claim back your power and acknowledge that your accomplishments are created by you.
3. Be willing to walk away
You will know that you have claimed your personal power when you know you are willing to walk away – from any situation, person or experience. When you are willing to walk away, you gift yourself a total choice in your life. Nothing holds power over you; nothing is bigger than you.
4. Make everything an interesting point of view
Learn to appreciate that everything – your perspective, the judgments of others, how you perceive the past, present, and future – is simply an ‘interesting point of view’. Whenever you sense that you are being diminished, compromised or corrupted – when you are feeling trapped, or like you are in an either-or situation – say to yourself “Interesting point of view, I have this point of view”. To dismiss the judgments of others, say to yourself “Interesting point of view, they have this point of view.” In doing so, you prevent making these points of view real. You remain open to demanding other, greater possibilities.
About Tanja Barth
Tanja Barth is a personal wealth and well-being coach, mentor and co-author of Beyond Limitless. She has spent more than two decades in a highly-successful financial career – including as auditor, transaction service manager, private equity & management consultant, wealth manager, and CFO. Now, in addition to her business activities, she incorporates her vast financial and management experience into her role as a Right Riches for You facilitator, and the facilitation of several other Access Consciousness® special programs. For more, visit www.tanjabarth.com.