You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Powerful: Reclaiming Your Strength as a High-Achieving Woman

During a recent coaching session, a client shared something so honest and raw it stuck with me for days:

“I’ve spent most of my adult life apologizing for not being a certain type of woman.”

We paused right there.

Because that statement? It’s not just hers, it’s something so many high-achieving women feel deep down but rarely say out loud. She went on to describe the quiet pressure she’s always carried to appear “put together” in all the conventional ways:

• A spotless home

• Timely responses to every message

• Perfect meals, perfect nails, perfectly color-coded planners

• Remembering birthdays, oil changes, and folding every last piece of laundry

She confessed: she’s not naturally great at those things. She never has been. And for a long time, she felt ashamed of that like it made her less responsible, less mature, less “womanly.”

Through our work together, she began shifting her mindset. Instead of trying to be good at everything, she gave herself permission to stop trying to be someone she wasn’t.

And in that permission, she found power. Here’s the mindset shift we talked through:

• You don’t need to be perfect or even competent at everything.You just need to be self-aware and aligned with your strengths.

• What you’re “not good at” doesn’t define you.You get to decide what matters, what can be outsourced, and what simply doesn't deserve your energy.

• There’s no moral badge for doing it all.That relentless pressure? It’s likely draining your energy and holding you back from showing up fully where it really matters.

Trying to “should” your way into being perfect is often what’s draining your energy and clouding your confidence.

Once this client stopped trying to be excellent at things she didn’t care about and stopped apologizing for it she actually became more productive, more focused, and more fulfilled.

Because now, she’s all-in on the parts of her life where she does want to grow and be excellent:

• She shows up to every coaching call

• She pours love into her family and business

• She takes her workouts seriously

• She solves problems like a boss

• 

So, let me ask you:

What are the 5–10 things you're actually great at?

What lights you up and deserves your energy?

And what are you finally ready to stop apologizing for?

This is your reminder that you don’t have to be perfect to be powerful. You just need to own who you are, play to your strengths, and let go of the pressure to do it all.

Let this be your permission slip to do just that.

Focus forward,

SQ