How To Be Formidable Over 40 with Sarah Pittendrigh

What does the word formidable mean to you? To some it might mean a Miss Trunchbull level of overbearing, to others it may simply mean being a confident woman. In this week’s conversation, Sarah Pittendrigh explains how she helps women over 40 find the confidence they need to be whatever level of ‘formidable’ that works for them.
Sarah’s experience in finding inner confidence is hard-won. She has personally and professionally overcome challenges that would make anyone buckle; cancer (twice), bankruptcy after the collapse of her multi-million-pound business during the 2008 crash which left her as a single parent living on income support, and divorce then re-marriage to her husband. Now back on her feet and running a thriving business, Sarah also devotes much of her time to coaching successful CEOs and entrepreneurs in how to find their formidable side. Funny, down-to-earth and bursting with no-nonsense kindness, Sarah is formidable in the best possible way.
In our conversation we cover:
💪 How people say they want success because it brings them freedom. But what they really want is to feel safe. Safety is what brings freedom and happiness, because it makes us feel secure. Becoming formidable means understanding yourself, feeling good about yourself in a grounded, calm way so that you can move forward without fear of judgement. It’s this feeling that makes us formidable, because no-one can shake us.
💪 How the cliché is true: our most valuable life lessons come through the knocks we get. The trick is to look for the lesson in each experience. To ask yourself what has created it? Why has it happened? What can you learn from it? What can you take away from this?
💪 How to get over our fear of being judged. Fear of being judged is like being in a prison where the other person holds the key to your cell door. You are handing them full control of your life. So rather than focusing on yourself and asking “How could they do this to me? Focus on what is it about them that is making them behave this way. Why do they feel threatened by you, why do they feel insecure, why are they so unhappy with their own life that they have to distract themselves by focusing on making yours uncomfortable? When you do this, you remove the emotion, you are able to have a more considered opinion about what’s happening, and this gives you freedom.
💪 How looking for success to prove someone wrong is not the best long-term motivator. It is exhausting and you will run out of motivation as you get further away from the problem.
💪 Look after your energy. This is key - because if you haven’t got energy, you can’t have motivation, you can’t be creative, or inspired, or innovative. So remove anything form your life that drains you - get help, get support so you can do this. It means that you have energy in the tank to keep you going when things go wrong, as well as move you forward when they are going right.
And so much more! It’s an incredible conversation, that is packed full of insights and take-aways from someone you will want to become your very best friend (she has that way about her).
Website: sarahpittendrigh.com/
Instagram: / sarahpittendrigh
LinkedIn: linktr.ee/sarahpittendrigh

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How do you put yourself first without being selfish?