Michelle McQuaid

For all women, society’s ‘good girl’ expectations can be suffocating. For autistic women like me, these patterns become amplified to dangerous extremes.

When my husband and I wrote our wedding vows more than a decade ago there was a very specific promise we both wanted included: “To give you the freedom and support to adventure both alone and together towards our dreams.

Confidence.

Do you fear that bringing your true self to work would limit your career?  Given the explicit feedback or implicit signals female leaders often receive that our softer sides are best left at home, this fear is completely understandable.

Do you have a voice of self-criticism that chatters away inside your head?  You know the one that says the kind of horrible things you’d never say to anybody else and feel mortified if anyone knew you spoke to yourself in this way? Don’t worry you’re in good company.

Eighty-five percent of Australian businesswomen describe themselves as just “functioning” over the past six months at work, with more than 15% flat out languishing according to The Australian Pulse of Women In Leadership.

More than anything else when it comes to improving our confidence, research suggests that taking action is the most important step.

Associate Professor Angela Duckworth from the University of Pennsylvania has found the most successful people in any field rarely succumb to thoughts of giving up.

Despite the overwhelmingly accepted idea that stress is harmful for us, increasingly studies about stress tells a very different story.

Do you have a chance to do what you do best each day at work?  You know, to actually use your strengths – those things you’re good at and actually enjoy doing.

Do you believe the concept of success at work and at home is a myth? Turns out that while many of us are making great progress on the career front, 70% of women now say it’s impossible to have it all.

Let me ask you a question that’ll help you identify what’s really stopping you from going after what you truly want; why do you hold yourself back? Thinking about it? Let me share some startling research that puts this in perspective .