By Patricia O’Gorman, PhD
Austin Geidt credits her road to sobriety with her success in developing Uber. But that’s not the whole story. Let’s understand what she is saying in terms of how this journey also helped her re-define herself as a woman.
Her road to recovery had her going back to basics, dropping out of college, and getting help for her drug addiction. But it also resulted in her graduating college at age twenty-five with a blank resume. Her lack of experience didn’t stop her.
Being Resilient, Not Discouraged
Was she discouraged? No. She was proud of her sobriety, and this hard-fought journey helped her know that she had many skills, that she was resilient. Austin began looking for a job and answered a tweet about an internship in a new start-up. She was Uber’s #4 employee, and today she’s a top executive.
Trusting Who You Truly Are—Not What Your Toxic Girly Thoughts Say
Austin began her new career by using what she’d learned in her recovery on the job and by being who she knew herself to be. As a result, she didn’t fall into the trap common to so many young women professionals: listening to the guidance of toxic girly thoughts that tell them how they should look and how they should act in order to be acceptable.
Here is what she learned and credits for her success:
- Perspective. She is very proud of her work, her accomplishments, and her team, but she is most proud of herself and her recovery. She doesn’t define herself by outside standards, like toxic girly thoughts coach women to do.
- Directness and Honesty. Austin doesn’t focus on being liked, a common toxic girly thought that trips women up in their personal lives and at work.
- Goals. She believes that humility, rather than the “self-importance” of toxic girly thoughts, informs your “measure of success.”
Want to be inspired? Watch her video interview with Fortune Magazine:
http://fortune.com/video/2015/12/02/uber-austin-geidt-sobriety/
And read her interview in Business Insider:
http://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-austin-geidts-insane-life-2015-12
Have you met someone who embodies the idea of personal resilience, someone who overcame her self-defeating and toxic girly thoughts to embrace her personal power? Maybe that someone is you? I invite you to share your story in the comments, or email me at girlythoughtsdetox@gmail.com.
??Remember, you’ll find more ideas for getting rid of your negative self-talk in my two latest books, The Girly Thoughts 10-Day Detox Plan: The Resilient Woman’s Guide to Saying NO to Negative Self-Talk and YES to Personal Power and The Resilient Woman: Mastering The 7 Steps to Personal Power.