If you have never competed in a pageant before, you may have no idea the amount of time, discipline, and ambition that is needed to successfully position yourself as a quality contestant for the title of Miss America.
High heels, swimsuits, perfectly sculpted hair, and celebrity-enhanced makeup may even force you to question the relevance of pageants in the new millennium. But there is more to pageant-life than the average viewer sees. Someone who competes for the title of Miss America has to be talented, politically aware, a confident communicator, socially responsible, and a positive role model for women around the world.
There is a lot that we can learn from women who grace the stage of Miss America; even ambitious career-driven women who are trying to climb the ladder or build profitable businesses can learn some tips from Miss America that will make them stand out in their careers.
Set Goals
No one just wakes up and appears on national television as a contestant vying for the title of Miss America. There are small goals that you should set every day in order to get you where you want to go. You have to set goals to workout a certain number of days per week in order to achieve a healthy body weight or deliver a certain amount of speeches in order to feel comfortable speaking about a certain topic.
Structure your goals into SMART goals to help you achieve them faster. Jim Rohn once said, “You want to set a goal that’s big enough that in the process of achieving that goal, you become someone worth becoming.” The goal of becoming Miss America is a big audacious goal that changes the lives of many women. What is your goal for your career?
Know Your Strengths
In the book Strength Finders 2.0, Thomas Rath urges individuals to focus on doing what they do best instead of investing most of their time obsessing over their weaknesses. Pageant Queens invest a lot of time working to uncover their true strengths and refine it, because they understand it is to their competitive advantage during the competition.
If you want to win in business, you have to understand what you bring to the table and how it allows you to add value. Need help discovering your greatest strengths? Take a look at the Strength Finders 2.0 quiz.
Communication Skills Are Key To Your Success
There is no substitute for good communication skills. It can make or break you. You can have all the talent in the world, but you won’t be taken seriously if your communication skills are not up to par. Just ask the women who were ridiculed for their responses during the pageant Q&A and how their communication skills impact their professional future.
Career women need to go beyond intellectual competencies and brand themselves as credible professionals by upholding strong communication skills. Need to polish your communication skills? Join a local Toastmasters club where you will have the opportunity to receive feedback on prepared speeches and extemporaneous speaking.
Be the Best at What You Do
Competence creates confidence. When you have put in the work to establish yourself as an expert or top tier performer, you gain the confidence to tackle any situation that comes your way. When you see women showcase their talent at the Miss America pageant, you are witnessing years of consistent work, a willingness to perfect their craft, and a desire to stand out through innovation and creativity.
You have to be willing to do what others won’t do now in order to rise to levels that others can’t even dream about going near; your work should create a standard of excellence for others to follow.
Work on You Every Single Day
You have to be willing to invest in you, no matter what is going on in your life. What are you doing daily to get where you want to go? Developing your craft is important, but you also need to pay attention to your health.
Are the foods that you are eating providing you with energy to do more of the things you love? Are you incorporating physical fitness into your schedule in order to increase your daily productivity? Swimwear is still a part of the Miss America competition because it’s the best way to show your commitment to yourself. You can list all of the great things you are doing and have done, but your body serves as proof as to what you are doing every day.
Go for What You Really Want
It takes courage to pour your heart into a dream where the probability of success is not in your favor. Let’s not talk about the level of confidence it takes to publicly share your dreams with the world and allow your looks, intelligence, and worth to be judged by millions of people whom you don’t know. Women who compete for the title of Miss America may be filled with fears, but they don’t let those fears stop them from going for what they really want.
Don’t decrease the size of your dreams just because of your doubts, the public opinion, or the time that it may take to accomplish them. Be like Miss America and go boldly after what you want and inspire other women to do the same. Your courage is unconsciously giving other women permission to walk in their unique path.
Charlene Rhinehart
After being the first Certified Public Accountant (CPA) to win the title of Ms. Corporate America 2015 in a pageant held in Orlando, Fl, Charlene Rhinehart created the Career Goddess Academy to help female millennials attract career success and a lifestyle they love. She is also the Managing Director of CEO Unlimited LLC – a professional training consulting firm designed to help small business entrepreneurs and career driven employees create endless opportunities through online professional branding, career advancement resources, diversity and inclusion consulting, and workplace solutions. Charlene has been featured as a contributor for The Huffington Post, Your Coffee Break, Addicted2Success, and other publications on the web.
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Knowing your strengths is such underrated advice. I would extend that to managing teams as well. When everyone plays their part, the team is happier and the end product is better. This reminds me that I need to remind my future career woman of this!