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 Inspirational Women
by Pollyanna Lenkic
When you close your eyes and think of a woman who inspires you, who do you see? Mother Teresa, Katherine Graham, your mother, neighbour or colleague?
History is full of examples of inspirational women who have achieved remarkable feats - ordinary women who have achieved the extraordinary. But what is it that takes them out of their comfort zone and helps them achieve more than they ever believed possible?
An Inspirational Australian
One of Australia's most inspirational women and an Australian icon was Sara Henderson who sadly passed away in May 2005. Her story is well known. Three years after her marriage to American Charles Henderson, Sara moved to a remote cattle station in the Northern Territory. Her new home was a tin shack. The station," wrote Sara, "was two hundred miles southwest of Darwin by air, a staggering five hundred by road, if you could call it a road. Our nearest neighbours were about one hundred miles away."
After her husband's death Sara had to come to terms with not only her personal loss, but also a debt of almost $1million that she had inherited on the property.
Where many would have sold up and fled to the comforting arms of friends and relatives, Sara and her daughters Marlee and Danielle, took on the enormous task of rebuilding Bullo River, with such tremendous results that in 1991 Sara was named the "Bulletin/Qantas Businesswoman of the Year”. She had also written three books with combined sales of $1 million, with her first book “From Strength to Strength” being awarded Australian Book of the Year.
Gaining Your Own Inspiration
It can be tempting when we read such inspirational stories of success and triumph to convince ourselves that we don't have the same qualities or strengths. But we do!
Think of a time when you have overcome a fear, an obstacle or achieved something in your life that has surprised you. What was happening for you? What was the commitment behind the goal that you were aiming for?
In her book, Sara talked about strength and perseverance as important themes in her life and devoted much of her autobiography to events that helped develop and grow these essential characteristics.
What are the events in your life that have helped shape and develop your essential characteristics?
Take a moment and write down five key moments in your life. How have these events shaped who you are today? Think about how you view and review these events.
Facing Your Challenges
Through a series of management tools and exercises, we can train ourselves to look at every situation, whether positive or negative, from a number of different perspectives. Each perspective challenges us to identify the different outcomes we can create for ourselves. We can then decide which of these outcomes are the most attractive and desirable and why.
Whilst identifying outcomes is important, creating a plan to realise these outcomes is essential. Such plans motivate us to take action, which in turn impacts hugely on who we are, what we believe is possible and what we eventually achieve.
Sara Henderson could have taken on the perspective of “I can't do this”. If she had, we would have been robbed of a truly remarkable and inspirational woman. There is a Sara Henderson in all of us - we just need to find the right perspective and compelling motivation.
Pollyanna is an ABN member and an experienced facilitator, certified coach and a certified Practitioner of NLP. She began her coaching career in London before returning to Melbourne in 2003. Pollyanna brings extensive business experience to her coaching practice. She trained with the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) in London, one of the few organisations accredited by the International Coaching Federation.
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