I just returned from a fabulous professional conference — my second in as many weeks. The travel and registration costs associated with conferences often keep me from attending them, but nearly every time I go to one, I find it well worth the investment. My most recent one was the Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women’s annual Empowerment Conference in Nashville. I’m on the board of that organization, but this is the first time I’ve attended to the conference. Let me tell you, I am so glad I was there. My head is buzzing with ideas and inspiration, and it was wonderful to connect with so many women attorneys practicing across the state of Tennessee.

I know most of the readers of Alexigraph aren’t in the legal field, so I’ll spare you the details of the topics specific to law practice. The agenda included a session on women mentoring women, which was packed with information and advice relevant across all industries (and, in many cases, for all genders). The speakers were Erin Gerstenzang and Megan Zavieh, two impressive solo attorneys and dynamic presenters who regularly speak to bar associations and legal conferences — lawyers, if you get a chance to attend one of their talks, you should go.

Near the end of their mentorship talk, when addressing the need for self-promotion and the so-called confidence gap, Erin and Megan set a timer for five minutes and told us each to “make a list of everything that makes you a bad-ass.” A little later, they had us read our lists to the people around us to become more comfortable with bragging about ourselves. We weren’t allowed to edit the lists.

This seems like a simple exercise, but it was effective. Spending five minutes thinking of as many valuable things about myself as possible was incredibly confidence-boosting. Talking about myself out loud in that way felt even better. The women in my group had some common items on our lists, and we all sounded like forces to be reckoned with as we read them. I kept my list and plan to read over it before future negotiations, presentations, or other situations that might require me to feel in-charge and fearless.

The presenters also spoke about the importance of prioritizing, which has been a focus of mine lately. One tip that stuck with me was Warren Buffett’s Best Yeses Rule. According to Erin and Megan, Buffett suggests making a list of everything you want to do (likely 20-25 things), picking your three favorite things from the list, and then saying no to everything else. As someone with a life-long tendency to spread myself too thin, this seems like a good approach to me.

Have you been to any good conferences lately? Have you picked up some great motivational tips or life hacks? Tell us in the comments.

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