How to Empower Yourself

by: Alison Fernandez

Intermediate Software Engineer and WiT Lead

How to Empower Yourself

Hello everyone! I’m thrilled to introduce myself as Alison Fernandez, the proud leader of Unosquare’s “Women in Tech Guild” and a passionate software engineer. In this role, I’m committed to fostering an empowering community for women in our field, promoting diversity, and driving innovation. Through this blog post, I look forward to sharing insights, sparking meaningful conversations, and celebrating the achievements of women in technology.

At Unosquare, we care about our employees and want to support their personal and career growth. We believe empowerment is critical to our success, so let’s dive into ways you can empower yourself.

What is empowerment?

Let’s start with fundamentals. Am I going to go to the Oxford Dictionary for this one? Yes, indeed. Why? Because we need a foundation. Here, we have two definitions: “the authority or power given to someone to do something” and the second, “the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights.”

With these definitions in mind, self-empowerment is the conscious process of taking control of your personal and professional life. Good? No! Great! We now have a definition and a concept, which is a fantastic starting point for learning why everything we discuss in this article is vital. With this foundation, let’s investigate “why” it’s important to empower yourself and how to do it.

Why empower yourself? 

There are many reasons; they can differ for each person depending on their goals, passions, dreams, and more. Embracing your strengths and believing in your capabilities can lead to a life filled with more meaningful achievements and satisfaction. When you take charge of your growth and development, you boost your self-confidence and open doors to new opportunities and experiences. 

More important than just the reasons, let’s consider the benefits that lie in the results of making yourself better equipped to handle life and work’s challenges and changes: 

• It will increase your ability to make better decisions.
• It will help you to recognize your power.
• It will make you feel happier.
• It will help you to take charge of your destiny.
• It will encourage you to develop your skills.
• It will bring you closer to achieving your goals.
• It will help you to grow professionally and in your personal life. 
• It will help you to empower other people too.

Empowering yourself can bring amazing things to your life. One of the main reasons I decided to focus on empowering myself was to make positive decisions that would bring me closer to achieving my goals, to be confident about my ability to create and execute those decisions, and, last but not least, to empower others. These are the drivers behind my writing this post, especially that last point about empowering others. 

My goal (and we are going to talk about goals in a moment) is that colleagues reading this feel inspired to take at least one step forward to begin relying on their judgment and skills, cultivating a more profound sense of fulfillment and creating a stronger connection to their goals and aspirations. 

Getting Started

How to empower yourself

Let’s talk about some tips that can help you to empower yourself. 

Know yourself

It is something that most of us don’t usually think about, but how will you be able to achieve your goals and wildest dreams if you don’t know yourself? If you don’t know what makes you happy, what motivates you, or what you’re good at, how can you improve every day? Why you feel how you feel and how to manage all those emotions begins with “knowing yourself.”  

We must ask ourselves these things regularly to move toward our goals, achieve what we want, make us happy, and make our lives easier and more meaningful. It would help if you made it a habit to consistently assess what drives you to be better or what keeps you from doing so. 

Also, your understanding of self will help you understand others better, which will help you have a better relationship with other people (family, friends, coworkers, partners, etc.) and develop a more robust network. 

There is a famous quote that I like so much, and I think fits perfectly here:

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
– Aristotle

Recognize your abilities

We can consider this part of knowing yourself, but I highlighted it as essential. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses makes you one step closer to working on them. You can improve your weaknesses and strengths by working on them consciously. It will help you to be better at what you are doing, be confident as you know what you are capable of and be closer to achieving your goals.

To recognize your abilities, ask yourself, “What things am I good at?” “How can my ability help me to achieve my goals?” and “Is there something I need to work on to achieve my goals?” Ask yourself these questions regularly to learn more about discovering and recognizing your abilities.

Set reasonable goals.

We all have big goals that we want to accomplish, and that’s wonderful, but if we want to succeed on the first try, we need to divide those big goals into smaller ones. Taking things step by step will make it easier to achieve each step, and without even noticing, we will be closer to achieving those big goals.

To set reasonable goals that are easier to accomplish, I recommend you put them in S.M.A.R.T. order.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-based

Here are some questions that can help you with that under each criteria:

Forbes has a great article on S.M.A.R.T. goals that I highly recommend. 

Assess your knowledge and skills.

We already discussed the importance of recognizing your abilities and setting your goals. Now is the time to talk about increasing your knowledge and developing the skills to help you achieve those goals.

Once you have recognized your weaknesses and strengths and have set your goals, you need to define how you will accomplish those goals. What do you need for success? 

If you have assessed that you need to improve your skills, you can plan to get those skills and knowledge to the level needed.

If you feel your skills are on track, ask yourself if you need to improve them even more. If so, that’s okay and set a plan to make it happen. You can use that time to improve the other skills if no improvement is needed.

Develop a positive attitude!

Let’s be clear: I do not mean that you need to see all the things cheerfully or that you need to be happy no matter what. That is not a healthy approach and won’t last long. But you can work to develop a positive attitude to take on challenges, move ahead, learn, and do the things that will help you achieve your goals. Pay attention to the things that motivate you; if you feel motivated, your attitude is likely positive, and things are going smoothly. Also, consider using positive affirmations to support all aspects of your life, including your attitude. 

Do positive networking.

Somebody once told me that it is essential to surround yourself with positive people because the people you spend time with can define many things, including growth and empowerment. If negative people or people surround you in their comfort zone without any plan to change, it is more likely that you will fall into the same pattern. Or, if you do make changes, you might not receive the support you need from those people. Instead, if you surround yourself with positive people, they will encourage you to accomplish your goals and dreams and push you to accomplish some of your challenges.

Also, look to be near people with more knowledge than you in the areas you’re interested in because you can learn a lot from them. Sometimes, we are scared about being surrounded by people with more knowledge because we do not want to feel dumb, but I think that is wrong. It is a great opportunity; they are often happy to help you and share their knowledge and experience.

So, the takeaways here are:

• It is imperative to surround yourself with positive people. 
• Try to spend time with people who make you feel the empowerment we are discussing.
• Grant yourself the opportunity to meet new people and learn from them. 

Practice self-care.

You must take care of yourself and have a positive mental outlook because things are typically influenced to go well if you are feeling good. When you approach things with a negative perspective, it can harm how things go. Daily reflections on how we feel and think allow us to give 100% to our work and life. You are the engine that drives your life, so take care of yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. 

Also, remember that if you are not feeling good, it is okay to take a 

breath and look for the things you need to feel better. Try to schedule some time for yourself, for the things you like and make you happy, and relax. If you do this regularly, things will be easier for you, and you will have a better experience in this process and your life.

Conclusion

As we wrap up this discussion on empowering yourself, I hope you’ve found these insights and strategies inspiring and practical. Remember, empowering yourself isn’t just about achieving goals; it’s about embarking on a journey of self-discovery, growth, and fulfillment. It’s about becoming the best version of yourself, personally and professionally.

At Unosquare, we’re passionate about continuous learning and leveraging technology to enhance our lives. That’s why I strongly encourage you to keep exploring these topics. Dive deeper into the fascinating world of technology and ongoing learning by visiting Unosquare’s blog. There, you’ll find a wealth of information that can help you stay ahead of the curve, keep your skills sharp, and continue your journey of empowerment.

So, don’t stop here – let your curiosity lead you to even more knowledge and success. And connect with me on LinkedIn if you’d like to talk more about what we are doing in our Women in Tech Guild at Unosquare.