Don’t overthink, just do it and enjoy

By Marielle Lee - UX Designer
4/09/2019

This is part of a month-long series to support closing the gender gap as we lead up to our first Bring Your Daughter to Work Day #BYDTWD2019.

​It’s ok to make mistakes. I am an ordinary female, grew up in a happy family with 2 siblings and a dog. I wasn’t outstanding in school, in fact, I failed most subjects. I always say and do everything carefully, in order to avoid mistakes and rarely take risks. I used to overthink a lot and end up driving myself crazy (I still do every now and then).

The confidence gap 

I remember a while ago I read an article about the “confidence gap in men and women.” It mentions a study found that men overestimate their abilities and performance, while women underestimate both (their actual performance does not differ in quality or quantity indeed). It also points out that men apply for a job when they only meet 60% of the qualification, while women will only apply if they meet 100% of it.
My life has changed after reading this article. I started noticing how different our male and female colleagues acted at work, also realising how many opportunities I've missed out on, due to a lack of confidence. I have gradually become more and more open to new things without overthinking and started to enjoy being challenged. I used to be so afraid to make mistakes but overtime I have learned it’s ok to make mistakes, as long as I learn from them.

Get out of your comfort zone

Life is an adventure, women can do everything men can do. Don’t underestimate yourself. If you always overthink, you are just going to freak yourself out and end up not doing it. Life is fun, get out of your comfort zone every now and then, your adventures will take you further than your fears and you will be amazed how much you grow from it.

Besides work, I do martial arts, there are so many females at our gym, they fight just as good as males, regardless of the body size difference. Every time I train, I face different challenges, I have my good days and bad days but that’s ok, this is part of the learning. The most important thing is that I learn from it and I know I am already better than I was yesterday. You can't predict what is going to happen but you can learn to enjoy the challenge.

Read more in the series from our Kiandra Team.

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