“Identify the parts of your day that are disproportionately exhausting relative to their value to your role or the organization.”
The Right Way to Stand Up for Yourself at Work
Emily Priddy
June 18, 2024
1 minute read
We all know that speaking up in the workplace can be daunting, but advocating for ourselves is not just beneficial. It’s essential.
Whether it’s handling tough conversations, resisting unreasonable demands, or ensuring our efforts are acknowledged and valued, standing up for ourselves is crucial. This is particularly true for women as, according to a recent Indeed survey, a staggering 70% of female employees recognize the need to develop self-advocacy skills—yet only 30% feel prepared to do so effectively.
For any type of sustained professional growth or personal well-being, we have to be willing to effectively advocate for ourselves… The tricky bit is just knowing how to do it.
Enter Rachel Druckenmiller, CEO of UNMUTED, and Optimist Instructor who teaches “Speak Up: Be Your Own Self Advocate at Work”. No matter your personality type or experience level, she has an easy and impactful technique that you can use to become a more effective advocate for yourself at work.
Rachel’s secret to becoming a more assertive self-advocate is to identify and eliminate your “energy vampires.” She says:
Here’s how:
A Step-by-Step Guide to Eliminating Our Energy Vampires
- 1. List Your Tasks:
Start by jotting down every task you handle regularly. Include everything, no matter how minor or infrequent it may seem.
- 2. Assess Energy Impact:
Next to each task, mark whether it’s an energy drainer or an energy booster. Be brutally honest about how each task affects you. Rachel says, “Brutal honesty is crucial in identifying the vampires—those tasks, processes, or even people who significantly sap your motivation, joy, and energy.”
