If Sheryl Sandberg somehow isn’t one of the biggest inspirations to every Career Girl, she definitely should be! The name conjures up more images of success and determination than most, and her multifaceted, multi-billion dollar career path has made her a shining  star in terms of being a role model for women and girls everywhere.

Her marvelous personality takes shape through her willingness and determination, through her desire to achieve success, through her appreciation of those around her, and through her enthusiasm in helping other women and girls become the best, happiest, and most successful people they can be. These 5 life lessons and tips will give you an insight into some of Sheryl Sandberg’s most fundamental values and ideas, and applying them in your everyday personal and career life can help you to achieve the highest levels of happiness and accomplishment.

You have a voice: Use it!

Sheryl Sandberg knows all about using your voice to inspire, to encourage, and to make a change. She has used her voice to try and make positive changes for the future for young girls by eliminating the word ‘bossy’. She has written books on becoming a leader and expanding your horizons in order to achieve success, purely to benefit and pave the way for girls everywhere. She also has a version of her book exclusively for college graduates, so they can get more specialized advice and information from her wealth of knowledge. She exemplifies the idea that by using your individual voice, you can inspire and evoke unimaginable amounts of positive change.

Be willing to go out of your comfort zone.

Sheryl Sandberg is one of the few women flourishing in a mainly male dominated leadership position. As she discusses in her book, women comprise a large portion of college graduates, and yet, men still hold more leadership positions. It’s been proven by countless women that being successful and being a leader go hand in hand, but becoming comfortable with leading can be hard. Just taking small steps each day to go out of your comfort zone will make you a better leader, and will allow you to achieve more than you ever thought possible.

Believe in yourself.

Serving as an inspiration to women everywhere has a huge perk: confidence. Being confident in your abilities is the key to becoming successful. Sheryl Sandberg has shown us that believing in yourself and what you are capable of is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your career. If you can believe in yourself, you can ultimately become the best you that you can be!

Bad things are going to happen in life, and it’s okay to deal with them.

Sheryl Sandberg definitely understands sadness-her late husband’s death was tragic, and she had to learn to deal with grief in her own way. She taught us that it’s okay to grieve, and to be sad, and if you can do that while still managing your career, then that’s great, but if not, that’s okay too. She knows that whatever you have to do in order to feel less pain with the situation, and overcome the grief that comes with the tragedies in life is fine and despite this you can still be an extremely successful woman.

Don’t underestimate what you are capable of.

Perhaps the biggest piece of career advice that Sheryl Sandberg can give us is that you should never downplay your abilities, or lower the expectations you have for yourself. Believing that you can and expecting that you will achieve boundless amounts of success is important. She’s not saying that you should be cocky or overconfident, but she is definitely saying that you shouldn’t doubt what you are able to do. She is encouraging all girls and women to become the best at whatever they put their minds to, and to believe that you can achieve whatever you put your mind to.

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