Women in the Workforce: A Reflection

Nicole Worth

Throughout high school, everyone asks a thousand times about what you plan to go to

college for and where you plan to go. Then in college, everyone asks about what you’re going to

do with your degree and what kind of career you want. Since 8th grade, I’ve known that I

wanted to study computer science and make a career out of it, but only in this class did I start

to consider other aspects of what makes a career and what kind of career I want to have.

One of the first things that we started discussing in class was the topic of positive

intelligence. As I’ve come to learn, positive intelligence is made up of the judge, who imparts

negative judgments on you, the saboteur(s), who assist the judge and push negative

reinforcements, and the sage, who provides a source of positive support and thinking that

battles against the push of the other two. In class, we took a saboteur assessment that showed

us what our top saboteurs are. Mine is Pleaser, which means that I have a tendency to seek

acceptance and love by helping and saying yes to others even if it results in my own needs

being pushed to the side. Ever since we discussed this, I’ve been noticing times that I let my

judge and my saboteur take advantage of me with my friends and family. However, in class, we

also talked about several techniques that we can use to combat these hostile takeovers. The

method that I’ve been using the most is the STOP method, where we Stop, Take a Breath,

Observe, and Proceed with compassion (for yourself and others). Doing this makes me

reevaluate the response that my saboteurs want me to have and think about the more positive

path my sage wants me to take. At first, it was hard to do--our saboteurs are hardwired into our

brains--but with practice, I have actually noticed myself being more positive and confident in
my decisions and in how I handle others. Another technique that we practiced in class is where

you reimagine an earlier situation where your saboteur took control and picture the way your

sage would respond to the problem. My classmate Cassidy and I, who are both Pleasers,

decided based on this exercise that the next time, we needed to plant our feet and be very

clear on saying “it’s my turn now.” I know that I need more practice with both of these

techniques, but being aware of my saboteurs and actively practicing these repetitive exercises

will allow me to keep from letting them take over my mind in my career. This means that

instead of saying yes to everything that everyone else throws at me, I will work on making sure

that my own needs (both in my career and my personal life) are being met before I go to help

others.

Another big part of our class this semester were the career stage panels that we had in

class, where women of each level of career (Entry, Mid, Senior) discussed their career journeys

so far and answered the questions we had about their particular level. It was really helpful to

hear the strategies and advice they had for us about everything from choosing a job to

balancing a career and a family. I can relate a lot of what they talked about directly to our class

discussions on work-life integration, particularly to the quiz that we took to determine what

type of career we want to have. In taking the quiz, I’ve learned that I am a Separator, meaning I

prefer to leave work at work and home at home without the two crossing over (something that

is tricky to do in this pandemic!) and that I am also more of a Personal First type of person,

meaning that I tend to put my personal life over my work. During our discussion with the Entry-

level panel, the advice given about this topic was that there is always more to be done in your

career but that you should be sure to schedule and prioritize yourself as well. Ms. Angevine also
brought up that while keeping a balance between work and personal time is important, having

work messages come in on your phone can bring peace of mind in that you are aware of what’s

going on in the work side of things, which is something that even as a Separator I can

appreciate. The Mid-level panel expounded on this by impressing that by saying yes to one

thing, whether it be work or play, you are saying no to something else so it’s important to

prioritize the things you have on your plate. In the Senior-level panel, Dr. Hurlbert’s advice on

work-life choices is that part of picking a career is picking the life that you want, and Dr. Olich

followed up on that with a comment about how sometimes that decision is anchored by the

places and spaces that you’re in. From these conversations, I plan to look more in-depth into

my values, and how those impact the type of career I want to pursue. Already my career goals

have shifted; based on the results of my chosen values and the advice of building a list of likes

and dislikes for my career, I have come to believe that my career lies somewhere in nonprofit

work, like guest speaker Ms. Rocco.

It is scary, knowing that right now I am laying the foundational work for what will be the

rest of my life. There are so many unanswered questions about what I want to do and how I’m

going to do it that at times it feels overwhelming. This class could not have come at a more

perfect time to help me navigate these career decisions, and to soothe my anxieties about not

choosing the right career, or pushing through the potential challenges I will face. I have learned

techniques to push past the mental blocks that hold me back, gained invaluable advice about

being successful in my career, and started generating a network of strong, supportive women

who I can turn to with questions when I get stuck. After this class, I know that I will call upon my
abilities, passions, and values to find the sweet spot that is the ideal career for me and I will

embrace the changes that it brings to my life.