Put a Stake in the Ground

This week on the podcast I had the honor of speaking with Tiffany Shlain, who is an artist, activist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, national bestselling author, and founder of the Webby Awards. Despite all of those titles, one of the things I admire most about Tiffany is how she celebrates others’ accomplishments – particularly when it comes to women. Rather than feeding into the mentality that we have so much to overcome and are somehow less capable than men, Tiffany has a total abundance mindset. Women are doing and can do so much, and she uses her work and platform to champion how much we have achieved. 

This is the same idea Tiffany used when she founded the Webby Awards, which is now the leading international award honoring excellence on the internet. She wanted to put a stake in the ground to say, “This is excellence. Now how will you top it next year?” By recognizing achievement in such a public way, Tiffany gives people permission to strive and defy others’ expectations. 

Try it yourself:

• Reimagine the story of your life. One of Tiffany’s latest art pieces is a feminist history tree ring. Rather than starting the narrative at a time when women were oppressed or thought of as “less than,” she intentionally begins the story at a moment in history when women were worshiped as goddesses. It’s a much better history to build from. You can do this with your own life, too. Think about your life story. Where do you begin telling it? Is it from a place of strength or weaknesses? Recognize that you are the only person who has authority over your story; you have the power to shape it however you want. 

• Break boundaries for others. When I am climbing mountains, there is often a moment where I am struck by how completely out of reach my journey would have felt to my mother and grandmother. It was the work they did that put me in a position to be able to be a mom and business owner and mountain climber; I don’t ever have to limit myself because of my gender or any other factor. In one particular instance, I was just about to summit Mount Tyree in Antarctica and become the first woman to ever do so. When I placed the American flag on its peak, I thought of all the women in the next generation. Because I put the stake in the ground of what is possible, I hope that they will be encouraged to go out and push it even further. How can you break barriers in your own life for the people who will look at your story and follow your lead? 

• Redefine your days. As busy people, it can sometimes feel like our lives are running us – rather than the other way around. Tiffany recently wrote a book called 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week, which invites us to turn off our phones one day a week and be present with ourselves and the people who surround us. For her family, this happens on Sundays. They have put a stake in the ground and defined that expectation, and it has become something that everyone looks forward to. Tiffany noted that this is often the day when she feels most creative, and she gets more excited about her work by taking a step back on a regular basis. Could you do something similar? What would it look like to change a part of your daily routine?