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Self-doubt and insecurity are issues many people face in life. Unfortunately, for many, this leads to living an unfulfilled life and buried dreams. Worse of all, it leads you to live life for others – not yourself.
Volumes have been written about the impact of self-doubt. Countless people have logged uncountable hours in therapy sessions just to try and overcome it. But few have risen against their inadequacies and turned them into a passionate quest to help others overcome. Few have flipped the script so well as to turn their weakness into a strength (and business) the way Thatja Andrade has.
Coming from a vulnerable place to a place of power and influence, Thatja Andrade has a lot to teach on how to live a fulfilling life. Here are six lessons the school of life has taught her.
1. Decide When Enough is Enough
After several years of hustle trying to be an entrepreneur and giving up and working in corporate America on a Job that made her miserable. Thatja’s body started giving her clues, pain started agonizing her body to a point she had to listen to it before it was too late.
Desperately, she decided to put her foot down and finally take charge of her life.
This is the first step to release yourself from all the chains that are weighing you in life. At first, you might not realize it, but life answers vividly to those who take charge of it.
2. Take a Leap of Faith
Deciding that you’ve had enough won’t change anything. You have to take a leap of faith. Leaving a job that provided financial security is never easy. Sometimes, you need to take some bold steps into the unknown to find your true self. It takes boldness to decide to grab life by the horns and live it on your terms.
The thing with taking a leap of faith is that you’ll never really know what’s on the other side. That’s why it involves faith. But once you take the leap, no matter the outcome, you come out a better person at the end of the experience.
3. Join a Community of Like-Minded People
Sometimes it’s easy to think that people who are making it in life are born with special traits. It’s only when you get close to them that you’ll realize they’re just regular people like you and me. The only difference is they earned to be extraordinary. This is one reason you must join a community of like-minded people. People who have achieved what you want to achieve and those traveling the same path you’re on.
Human beings are social creatures by default. We grow more from interacting with others. And we achieve more by partnering with those who have the experience we’re seeking to gain.
But the most important part of belonging to a community is that you get support and inspiration from other businesswomen. Not just business-wise, but in other areas of life too. Communities are a great place to find true friends who really understand you and share the same values and goals.
4. Live Life Passionately
Life is meant to be lived doing the things you’re passionate about. Not just for the sake of the joy it brings. You should also be able to leverage your passions and turn them into a profitable business.
For Thatja, feminine leadership and women empowerment are some of her biggest passions. And her dedication to helping women build influential and profitable online businesses led her to start The Magnetic Woman Academy – and the Magnetic Online Empire an organization dedicated to helping women reach their full potential in life, love, and business.
One thing many people fail to realize in life is that passion usually leads to profit. And those who discover their passions often struggle to find out how to turn it into a business. Find your passion and find ways of monetizing it.
5. Build a Support Structure
An African proverb says it takes a village to raise a child. In other words, even though you have a great business (child), real success comes from having a support system to help you as the “parent”.
The journey to success in life and business requires that you have a support system in place. This is a network of mentors, coaches, cheerleaders, and other people who stimulate you to grow and motivate you to move out of your comfort zone and beyond your limits, but also are there to understand your pain when you need comfort, because they understand the roads you have walked and the ones you will walk.
When it comes to having a support structure, there’s one main mistake people make: We tend to put all the need for support in just one person. I made a mistake of thinking my intimate partner could be everything to me, at all times. If he wasn’t there to support me when I wanted, I would feel rejected and lonely. But in fact, he was just not an expert on the problem I had. The truth is, we can’t be everything for everyone, at all times. That’s why it is important to have a variety of people in your community to get your needs met for advice and emotional support.
6. Understand that Your Femininity is Your Strength
The world has taught us that to be female is to be weak. That if you’re to succeed, you must act like men.
That’s the old way, it doesn’t work if you want to be magnetic and fulfilled.
Your femininity is not a weakness. It’s your strength. As a woman, you can’t play the game of life as a man and expect to win. Trying to do so is what has led many women to burnout and end up defeated.
I learned this the hard way as I was starting my career as an entrepreneur. I realized I had strayed too far from my core essence, and it was hindering my success. That’s when I had my aha! moment. I knew I had to return to my superpower and harness my feminine energy.
One thing many women are not taught is that we can build businesses the feminine way. As a woman, you can master your strengths and use them to build a successful business. Once you realize this, be open to the support of others. Learn how to receive and ask for support when you need it. In business, lead with your heart. This is something only you, as a woman, can do. If a man tries to use the methods I teach to women, it won’t work. We can do it much better than a man.
7. Embrace Challenges as Part of Life (And Business)
Never expect life to be always sunny because it won’t. There are rainy days…life is fraught with challenges, especially on the path of success.
You have to embrace these rainy days. They’re part of the seasons.
How do you do that?
By realizing that what you really truly want is coming. Because after the storm, comes the rainbow. Whining and complaining about the challenge you’re facing, will only delay your ability to notice the rainbow. What are you focusing on?
You need to come to a point of maturity where you should realize there is just more to life. Once you get to this point, you’ll realize that all the minor things that you once deemed major pale in comparison to the truth of your existence. The truth of the power that you are, the impact you actually have, and the greater purpose you were always meant for.
When you are willing to grow, I mean truly grow, you will realize just as Thatja did that you lose nothing by embracing and facing your challenges. You only gain more of who you truly are and come to a realization of what you’re capable of being
8. Let Your Inner Radiance Shine
It’s sad that most people, especially women, have been conditioned to suppress their inner energy and beauty. Yet that’s your personal key to success in life.
How do you reclaim yourself from a society that prefers you don’t?
The story of the inner healing that helped me completely shift my own understanding of being a woman – and reframe it as a deeply revolutionary act of female self-love.
I thought I was doing everything, I had the degree, the job, the partner. I thought I was supposed to be happy with those things. After years of working for things I wasn’t passionate about, my body started sending me signals that I needed to change my choices.
Those signals came, in the form of pain. And I had no choice, I had to look at it. I had to face the distance I felt from myself. I had to face the voices of self-doubt and fear that kept me stuck.
A friend invited me to attend this transformational event, hosted by a top personal development leader. I said yes, and it changed my life forever. By being around these mentors and communities, I started to remember my true power. I began to shift my understanding of what being a woman is and reframed it into a revolutionary act of female self-love.
I realized I needed to let my inner (feminine) radiance shine and guide me to my purpose.
Your inner energy magnetizes and attracts the right people and opportunities your way. This is also something members of The Magnetic Woman community learn. It’s your inner radiance that sets you apart in life. It also helps you carve out a special place of influence and impact in the world.
So, don’t hide your inner radiance. Let it shine.
Thatja’s parting words of wisdom to all entrepreneurs, especially female entrepreneurs, are:
“To succeed in life, you must get into the game. Master it, own it, and share it. We are super powerful beings with the gift to create a masterpiece. Use your power to turn the rules of the game of life in your favor. You are blessed with such ability by the Source of all creation. You are not a drop of water in the ocean; you are the ocean. This is your wake up call. The world awaits you, your truth awaits you, a new life awaits you, and it is all already in you. It is a different game on the other side of the bridge.”