Despite the fact that there are now more women than men with college and graduate school degrees today, women still face a gender pay gap. A few companies, like Microsoft, have responded to this challenge by becoming more transparent about their pay practices. But the reality remains that most companies are not ready to make drastic changes to their policies. Therefore, each of us has to take responsibility for narrowing our own pay gap.

Here are some tips for how to narrow your pay gap.

Workplace changes have placed new pressures on how we communicate. It is important to find ways to deconstruct those pressures in a positive, deliberate manner to help improve your virtual relationships and work environment. Improving our emotional intelligence is key.

As we continue to grow and adapt to working remotely (and with the additional challenge of masks when face to face), emotional intelligence can feel elusive but that is what makes it so critical. Emotional Intelligence is most commonly defined as the ability to 1) recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions, 2) perceive and influence the emotions of others, and 3) cope with challenges, manage stress, and make decisions. In more practical terms, it means being aware of how our emotions can drive our behavior and impact people (both positively and negatively).

One thing many of the top performing professionals, athletes, and business people have in common is a support system. Most know that in order to optimize their performance they need to recruit a professional, aka a coach, to help them overcome obstacles, serve as a sounding board, and guide them towards improvement.

Although a negotiation coach is similar to a business coach in both importance and guidance, the reasons why you would seek out one over the other are different. Outlined here are 6 top reasons you might need a negotiation coach and how their guidance can benefit your overall career and personal life.

We all walk around with our own set of limiting beliefs. Like your “mean girl” high school friends, who are exceptionally adept at projecting their own insecurities onto you, leaving you feeling lousy and dejected but unsure why.

These limiting beliefs are often sneaky — working on a subliminal level or just under the radar, masquerading as logic and rationale. They beg to be thrown in as justifications or excuses and are closely linked with fear of failure and rejection. We discuss how to identify and overcome these beliefs that continuously hold you back.

When you are Designed Differently you approach business, conflicts, life, and work creatively, optimistically, positively, and head-on. As a matter of fact, the present times make it clear and evident that leaders must lead differently, reframe their business stance, policies, procedures, and protocols, and embrace the Un-. Many people dislike being “Un” anything. No one wants to be uncertain, unprepared, unprofessional, unrealistic, unsettled, or unsure.

A pivotal part of negotiating is confidence. Having confidence in yourself leads to more chances to improve, more opportunities for advancement in business, and higher performance probability. Women face all kinds of gaps in the workplace and life: wage gaps, education gaps, domestic duty gaps, and even a confidence gap.

All these things add up. A lack of confidence holds us back from reaching our highest potential. Even with years of experience under our belts, we can feel as if we don’t deserve promotions or are not justified to tackle larger projects. Here are six ways you can boost your confidence to increase your business performance as well as establish a more robust work-life balance.