Be a Woman Warrior: 12 Tips & Sips to Unleash the Power Within You

By Lynn Anderson

Women know how to lead and succeed in the business world, but as the number of women in the workforce has risen, the anxieties, stress, and feelings of being overwhelmed and overworked have gone up as well. How can more women succeed rather than succumb to the challenges of balancing their personal and professional lives? This book provides a path forward, a way for women to unleash the Woman Warrior within them — the strong, heartfelt force that will sustain and inspire them in all they do at work and at home — creating a new paradigm for business in America today.

The book includes:
- Twelve tips to bring out the Woman Warrior within so women can better face all aspects of their lives.
- Practical exercises to help women take action and start living their lives to the fullest.
Words of wisdom from successful Woman Warriors who know what it takes to be the best.
- Recipes for 12 drinks and 12 appetizers that are not only delicious but are packed with healthful ingredients.
- The story of Abundance, a typical busy woman — watch as she goes from overwhelmed to empowered!

The book also coordinates with a downloadable workbook where readers can reflect on where they want to go and plot a course to get there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lynn Anderson
• Release date: Mar 4, 2011
• ISBN: 9781613640319

Lynn Anderson

Lynn Anderson is committed to helping busy professional woman align their passions to their life purpose through Energy Leadership, creating their life of abundance. As a Certified Professional Coach (CPC), Energy Leadership Index Master Practioner (ELiMP), Public Speaker, Project Management Professional (PMP), Radio Show Host, Author, Workshop Facilitator and recognized Executive Leader, she is passionate about helping woman take positive control of their life by delivering high value content and information, advanced coaching tools to support the process, and giving women the power to not only expand their communications and interpersonal skills but to make conscious choices. As a result, Lynn is creating a powerful momentum of change that will ultimately make a significant impact on the lives of millions of working woman warriors worldwide.Lynn’s most recent book, “Be A Woman Warrior: Twelve Tips & Sips for Unleashing the Power Within You.". She hosts a weekly radio show, The Women Warriors, each Wed at noon ET on www.blogtalkradio.com and www.wowradionow.com. She has over 25 years in military, government, corporate, consulting and now entrepreneur experience working for such large companies as Southern Company Services, Ernst & Young LLC, and Capgemini LLC. Lynn owns her own coaching/consulting business, Coaching4Abundance, which can be found at www.coaching4abundance.com. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, has three amazing children, a fantastic son-in-law, and a wonderful granddaughter. You can find Lynn on the tennis courts most weekends as well as at her son’s baseball games or reading a book.

Book preview

Abundance

Overwhelmed and overworked

Our story begins with a working woman who is overworked, overwhelmed, and just cannot seem to find the energy to get through the day.

Abundance is a wife, mother, and manager in a corporate job. While you would think she has a wonderful life, she just doesn’t seem to be able to handle all her responsibilities and feels like life is getting the best of her. I’m sure you can relate to some of Abundance’s challenges? She can’t fit in her time at the gym, her laundry and dishes are piling up, her paperwork consumes her desk, and she can’t find time to feed/walk her dog much less go out on a date with her husband. How can she manage all of this? Her head is just about to explode. So, let’s see how Abundance’s journey unwinds as part of her transformation to unleash the powerful Woman Warrior within her! I’m hopeful with the tools and activities in this book she can really get to know herself and allow the Woman Warrior within her to shine for all to see. I hope you too use this journey to help you reach your full potential, lead your life of abundance, and become the Woman Warrior you were meant to be.

• • •

I am so overwhelmed with trying to balance my work, my family, and my friends that I have no time for me. How can I expect to help others if I can’t help myself? I need to find a way to balance my life better. I need to take charge and learn how to control things as they happen rather than letting things control me. I really need to find that Woman Warrior within me who can help me win this battle. I definitely believe that these tips will help me become more in control and lead a much more productive, purposeful life. I feel so out of control that I can’t wait to begin. I just can’t continue going on this way.

Special Featured Woman Warrior (in-memoriam)

Michelle Haywood

In this world, some very special individuals can take life’s challenges and just laugh in their face. My sister’s niece, Michelle Haywood, was one of those people.

She had a very special personality that would not allow anyone to stop her from reaching her goals. She had a single focus, and that was to be a success. In the end, Michelle was one of the most successful people I know.

This past February, Michelle left us in body — but not in spirit. It is her spirit that I want to emphasize with this memoriam. Michelle’s confidence and determination as well as positive spirit allowed us all to understand that no matter what our goals, dreams, or challenges are in this world, how we show up each day reflects the real Woman Warrior that is inside us. Michelle never stopped showing up with her smile, quick wit, and insatiable thirst for knowledge, no matter what roadblocks or challenges she faced. To tell us more about Michelle’s journey, I asked her mom (Tami McLean) and sister (Katherine Stokes) to share with us Michelle’s story.

Here are Tami and Katherine’s wonderful words about Michelle, a true Woman Warrior.

• • •

Michelle was a fighter from the start; born three weeks early, she came out fighting. She was always very headstrong and stubborn. Little did we know how vital that was going to be for her journey. She always knew exactly what she wanted and was determined, by any means necessary, to get there. She always had such a zest for life, and it seemed that she always knew something that we didn’t. Even looking back on her baby pictures, it seemed she always had a mischievous look on her face. Michelle was always very healthy growing up. During her senior year in high school, she was recognized for perfect attendance for all thirteen years of school. That not only demonstrates how healthy she was, but also her passion for learning. She graduated in 1999 and went on to study animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). It was there that she began to exhibit signs of illness. She started having seizures and losing feeling in her extremities. She came home in 2001 and we knew how severe it was when she was forced to walk with a cane. This was the same person who was so active in softball, hockey, drama, and marching band. It was very sobering to see her deteriorate right before our eyes.

Because of her illness and the extensive tests that the doctors were running, Michelle had to withdraw from SCAD. She lived with her dad for a few years and attended a small community college in Alabama. She graduated from Southern Union with an Associate’s Degree in Computer Science in May 2007. In August 2007, she started attending the Art Institute of Atlanta. She managed to accomplish all of this while she had numerous surgeries: brain surgery to remove a tumor, biopsies on her brain, and surgery to remove pancreatic cancer. Michelle fought so hard, not only for her life but for her dream of becoming an animator.

Day in and day out she fought to get out of bed and get ready for school. She had multiple obstacles to overcome on a daily basis. She would not let anything stand in her way, not her physical disabilities, the pain, the naysayers, the weather, nothing. She would ride her motorized wheelchair in the snow and rain just to make it to class. In 2008, we had a rude awakening. The girl who had beaten the odds so many times was faced with another huge setback: Her brain tumor had returned with a vengeance. She had yet another brain surgery, and later we discovered, in 2009, that she would need chemo as well.

Even facing death, Michelle pushed on. Toward the end, I (Tami) would watch her get up every morning, which would take everything she had, to attend school. She would not let anything stand in her way ― not her ill health, not even her mom. She had a sarcastic personality ― at times, to get through her day, at the end of her life, she’d say all she wanted to do was graduate and start making money so she could take care of her family. She wanted to continue with her passion, which was finishing her degree. Even the day that she died she wanted to work on her homework and study for a test she had the next day. School meant more to Michelle than succumbing to her cancer. She was going to fight. Fight for her life, and for her dream. She just didn’t know that this time no one would be strong enough, not even her.

She fought daily and as far as she was concerned, cancer was not going to win!!! She was sunshine to my day (Tami)…You might get frustrated with her, but in the end, she would make you smile! On her last day on earth, she was still fighting me on going to school on Monday. That is how dedicated and committed she was. Well, God had a different plan and it didn’t include school. She had suffered enough, and it was time to go home and be with him. She is up there now watching over us, running around and laughing. She filled my heart when she was here and still fills my heart now that she is gone. She will always be our hero and will be waiting for us on the other side.

In December of 2009, when her tumor had shrunk with the help of chemo, she told me (Katherine) that she believed she was meant to do something great. I told her I thought so too. Later, after her death on February 28, 2010, I realized what that was. She inspired us all to lead a full life. To actually live and not just stand idly by and let life happen around us.

Michelle always lived by these standards in life: tell the people whom you love that you love them, do what you are passionate about, fight for the ones you love and for what you believe in, don’t let the negative outweigh the positive, and never give up. She was the best big sister anyone could ever have. She always protected me, loved me, and inspired me. I hope to be strong like her and fight for what I love as much as she did. Never let life deter you from what you want. Bad things happen, and they happen to everyone, but it is how you respond to those bad things that makes someone successful. Negative attitudes never let anyone get to where they want to go.

We love you, Shelley. You are a true inspiration and definitely a Woman Warrior in all that you have done.

"Dream big and dare to fail." — Norman D. Vaughan

Woman Warrior Tip 1:

Let your heart lead you toward victory.

What is your vision of greatness? If you find yourself in a rut, unhappy with the life path you are on, quite often the answer is way back at the beginning of your journey — before you set one foot out the door, before you pack the gear for the trip, before you even truly wake up in the morning. If you want to become the greatest version of yourself, you have to be able to see in your mind’s eye and know in your heart what that greatest version is. You need to create the ideal vision of you, the strong Woman Warrior within you who is able to live her dreams through her heart, and then act on that vision.

If you can do nothing else with this book, please use this first tip whenever you feel that life is not going the way you would like it to go. Working harder is not going to get you out of the rut you are in — you’ll only dig yourself in deeper. Instead, you need to stop and figure out where you truly want to go. Often, that means changing directions — backing up instead of pushing forward, or veering one way or another off your current path. A warrior doesn’t forge ahead blindly; she is led by her mission in life and uses her heart as a guide, and her attitude toward her current situation is aligned with her vision of where she wants to go.

Knowing and living by your life purpose allows you to align your feelings and values to what you are trying to accomplish. When you live life based on what you believe is your real purpose, that core mission you were put on this earth to achieve, you will be living your true values, and you will create an inner peace within yourself and those around you. When you act in a way that is at odds with your life purpose, negative energy and doubt creep into your life.

I have experienced, and continue to experience, many challenges in my life and working career. These challenges serve as opportunities to look at whether I am heading in the right direction — and to do that, I need to know what that right direction is. When I was able to articulate my vision of greatness for myself — that I want to help others, work with people, and focus on positive results — that was when I really was able to excel in all aspects of my life.

Knowing and following your purpose in life is one of the first steps of good leadership, because when you are guided by your personal mission, it shows. Living life with a purpose inspires others to do so as well.

An inspiring and powerful woman leader is someone who aligns and uses the major dimensions of her life in a purposeful, passionate, and positive way. This includes nourishing and growing her thoughts (mind), her feelings or emotions (heart), her strength (body), and her spirit in support of her life’s purpose. When mind, body, heart and soul combine in support of one goal, the results shine outward in a positive, passionate way. That is when great leaders are produced. I think of Mother Teresa, Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Palin, and even Cher. These women are very different, yet they are all powerful women warriors. We can look at these role models to help us envision what a strong Woman Warrior might look like.

Your vision, though, has to speak to you, not to anyone else. If you do not own it, you will not show the passion and peace that resonate outward for others to see and experience. You have to love the skin you are in. Each of us has a unique gift that should be shared with others. That gift is your unique brand, your mission statement, your life purpose, what you were born to do and what is in your DNA to accomplish. You just have to tap into your heart, mind, body and soul to find it.

• • •

When people seek to transform themselves, many want to rehash old problems, old thoughts, and old failures.

Not here.

On our journey, we are going to create a vision of greatness for you — an Ideal Warrior — that is exciting, wonderful and full of possibilities. But before we jump in and look at what that new attitude, what that new self, looks like, we need to get in the right frame of mind.

When I was a consultant at Capgemini and part of many ASE (Accelerated Solution Environment) events, one of the big axioms we used in order to help executive and project teams understand what their vision for the future business should look like is, You cannot get here from there — but you can get there from here. This basically means that if you know where you are going, and if that destination is clearly articulated and described, then you will be able to create a plan that gets you from here to there. The key is that there has to be clear to all the players.

What is your there? What does your Ideal Warrior look and act like? What do you want to stop doing, and what do you want to be doing? What does your heart say about this to you? Are your values a part of this vision? You have to know where you are going in order to get there, and it has to be vivid as well as clearly articulated so that you can really see and feel what that future state truly is. Without this clear vision, you can get off track easily and lose your path along the way.

Creating a clear there may take time — do not get frustrated. You may need to repeat this step a few times before you feel you have clearly articulated your Ideal Warrior and are satisfied that it is tangible and that you (and others) can understand it.

As you are creating this Ideal Warrior, remember that your ideal state is a wonderful place to be, and all wonderful places should be centered on a wonderful sunny disposition. Enjoy the process.

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