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Advice for a Young Woman Looking to Go Somewhere

Kate Ward
7 min readOct 17, 2018

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“woman standing on middle of road” by Guilherme Stecanella on Unsplash

This article is inspired by this article by Ryan Holiday. Notice the similar title and formatting; he deserves credit for that.

This article is also inspired by what I wish someone had told me a long time ago — before I went off and spent my parents' money on a state university education, or even after I landed my first “job.”

It’s certainly not comprehensive. But it’s the best I have for you today.

Here goes:

  • Don’t hedge, hem, haw, or hold back. Your dreams matter. Your goals matter. Don’t hold back. If you want to be a stay-at-home mom, be a stay-at-home mom. If you want to be a world-class investor, be a world-class investor. And if that vision changes along the way, go for it.
  • Realize that your gender has a potentially negative effect on how you see yourself. There have been numerous studies conducted to prove that young women who are required to mark their gender on standardized tests perform worse on the math and science sections than they do if they don’t have to mark their gender. You must overcompensate for this implicit bias you hold against yourself by training your mind against it.
  • Apply to jobs that you’re under-qualified for. Not drastically under-qualified for, but partially. Women historically are less likely to do this…

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Kate Ward
Kate Ward

Written by Kate Ward

Thinking deeply about how to make myself and the world a little better. & writing about creators mostly | email: kate@onedayent.com

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