10 Commandments for Badass Business Rule-breakers!
Sometimes we need a little reset and to remind us of the amazing, strong and powerful women we are – even us Badass Business Rule-breakers.
If you’re a female entrepreneur over the age of 40 – you’re probably already less interested in mainstream bullshit and people-pleasing – so let’s have a quick recap!
1. Thou shalt not do shit you hate
Life’s too short buttercup. You’re here because you’re still the Badass you were when you were 21 and your knees didn’t creak in the morning. It’s too short to be a doormat. It’s too short to do all the stuff you feel you ought say “yes” to even though you die a little inside when you hear yourself say it. Don’t look after the neighbour’s kids. Don’t visit the outlaws out of ‘politeness’. Don’t agree to see a film you know you’re going to hate. Don’t sign up for that god-awful committee you don’t give a shit about. Don’t agree to travel 1000 miles to attend Bridezilla’s dress-fitting. Fuck that shit off.
2. Thou shalt own thine body
OK, so sport wasn’t your thing when you were younger. That’s OK – you don’t need to do sport now – but you do need to look after your body and do the best you can by it. I know you’ve got brains – make sure you’ve got the muscle to match it. Building muscle will keep your body at the same pace as your brain. Get Jillian Michaels strong, not Hollywood lithe. Train for the Zombie Apocalypse, not Spring Break.
Get Botox and fillers if you want. Get your teeth straightened if you want. Wear short skirts, long hair, horizontal stripes – you want it? You got it.
3. Thou shalt stop seeking permission or validation from others
Other people are so drab. Why are you waiting for them to tell that what you’re doing is OK? Where has that got you to this point in time? Chances are, the ones you’re waiting to say ‘hell yes!’ are the ones who are never going to give it to you. Not in this lifetime – and not in a million lifetimes. You do not need anyone’s permission to live life on your own terms. Permission is for naughty children, not fully-grown Badass women!
4. Thou shalt not be limited by the limits of others
So your sister is married to the man she met when she was 16 and your best friend loves her job as a clerk at the insurance company and would never, ever, EVER book a one-way ticket to Rome just because she once had a fleeting conversation with someone about how beautiful Tuscany is this time of year. You are treading your own path and I know you’re the sort of woman who takes the rules with a pinch of salt anyway… until it comes to someone else’s opinion. But, unless they’re putting food on your table they can butt out!
You are the woman whose life is littered with warm, funny, jaw-dropping stories and adventures cast far and wide – who didn’t get tamed by marriage and kids – even though there were times when that old life felt as though it belonged to another woman.
You are still the Badass you always were. Keep on being that lone wolf.
5. Thou shalt own that shit
So you’re a grump in the morning before your coffee, you like wearing green with blue, your make-up is straight out of 1989 and the best conversation you’ve had this week is with your cat. No need to apologise for any of that – I enjoy seeing a woman rock an ‘out-of-date’ outfit because I know she loves it and it makes her feel happy. The woman talking to the dog at the party is usually the one with the best stories behind that seemingly odd facade. Embrace your eccentricity – it’s all yours and you may as well enjoy it as we go hurtling towards our inevitable death.
You need to up the font-size on all your devices, talk to your optometrist about [whispers] varifocals and find yourself browsing the large-print at the library? Own that shit.
You are the woman who hitch-hiked to Amsterdam and woke up with purple hair and a new best friend called Dirk! Own that shit.
6. Thou shalt find your niche
Hey you! Lady talking to the cat – yes, you! Stop banging your round peg into a square hole and stand up. You don’t need to move with the herd – you are bigger than that and you are greater than that. You shalt create your online business with the knowledge and confidence that you are the best at what you do and you do not need to do it the way others are doing. If everyone is going one way – be the woman who goes in the opposite direction.
You’ve always known you were a Badass and that you didn’t fit in. Office politics baffled you. Game-playing eludes you.
Find your niche, find your people and run with it. The world is filled with Badasses hiding in the shadows and they need you to lead the way.
7. Thou shalt honour thyself
Sorry, not sorry! Stop apologising for shit you don’t regret. Stop saying sorry for being an irresponsible flake when you were younger just because you were late on a bill or missed a family dinner without just cause! People expect you to neatly fit into their boxes because they don’t understand you. Fuck their boxes. Fuck their rules. You are a rule-breaker and you don’t need to go around saying sorry for being you and doing the shit you do.
Be brave, not brash.
Travel to the corners of the world which speak to your soul – the guide book you bought to Chile, your love of Vietnemese food, your desire to drive north of the Daintree River, your need to climb Kilimanjaro.
Fuck the nay-sayers.:
8. Thou shalt create power
Nobody is coming to your door to hand deliver your bag of power. Stop waiting for someone else to give you permission to take the crumbs of power. Get out there and create it yourself. You need need to power-march down the corridors of Wall Street – but you do need to own your shit, make your money and buy your freedom of choice.
Make so much money you never have to compromise your ideals or do shit you don’t want to do because they hold the power [money]. Make so much money you can say NO to the shit which does not serve you. Make so much damned money they know you can’t be pushed around.
9. Thou shalt not penny pinch
You want the Chanel make-up? You want the cashmere on your back and the leather seats in your car? Fucking have them – but know you’ll not get buried with them. Remember: if they’re not putting food on your table, it’s none of their business what you spend your money on. Want nice shit? Buy it and love it. Better to buy something you really love than compromise on the stuff which doesn’t bring you joy. But fuck Marie Kondo also.
10. Thou shalt practice saying “fuck off”
For everything which doesn’t fit, for everything which isn’t you, for everything which saps your soul and diminishes you, for everyone who makes you unhappy, for everyone who tries to tell you that you can’t and for everyone who thinks you should know better at your age.
Fuck you. Fuck off.
