By Sarah Stephen

Until you work as hard as others, you can’t say their success is luck because pressure reveals what they are made of.

In the current global climate, everyone is cautious, so credibility is king, but I often admire the woman who does not fear difficulties or making hard decisions because what she is building is self-belief. She knows that a credible woman is a trusted woman and that choosing to continue when others throw in the towel shows something about her character. She refuses to let life get in the way and takes action even when the mood is not right, and she is fascinated by doing the same thing over and over again, driven by purpose and not by numbers, until her environment becomes favourable. She understands wealth is not what you pursue and that it is what you have the power to attract by who you become.

I have seen this in my own work, and the women who last are rarely the loudest in the room. They are the ones who keep showing up and keep learning and keep their word even when nobody is watching.

She knows the problem she wants to solve and so tailors the experience. She accepts that before a vision is born, a burden is experienced. She has a completely different view of the same environment as others and sees pressure as a blessing that helps her make progress. She does not fake it, and she is resolute, resilient, and ambitious for the cause. She knows that the work can feel lonely, and she keeps going because the purpose behind it is bigger than the moment.

As people languish in uncertainty and feel paralysed by it, with their precious time being stolen, she applies rigour because what she measures herself against cannot be changed or readjusted to make her more comfortable, and her consistency over time produces maximum results. She knows she can accomplish anything in life as long as she does not mind pressure. Front runners in life always run the hardest and risk the most. Pressure does not ask whether you feel ready, and it does not wait for a better season; it arrives when it arrives, and what matters is how you respond to it. The woman who treats each hard day as practice for the next one slowly becomes someone that fear can no longer move.

I am always curious about that turning point for a woman when she faces the brutal fact that no one is coming to save her and then turns that knowledge into decisions that mean she will prevail regardless of the difficulties. Was it a slow realisation or an aha moment?

A woman who saves herself even under pressure becomes unstoppable through education, courage, knowledge, her voice, instinct, and faith. When you meet her, you do not have any impression of the turmoil she has passed through because she is so articulate about her life, and she does not get too high about her wins or too low about her losses, and she makes sure she wins more than she loses.

I once read that women connect predominantly through sharing problems, but I believe that women of today connect through solving problems. Their process of self-discovery is often beautifully captured through pressure to progress.

 

Stephen is a Luxury Real Estate Advisor advocating for women’s financial freedom.