Turning Doubt into Triumph 

I spent twenty years collecting titles and trophies like they were trading cards, not because I wanted to fill up the empty spaces on my bookshelf, but because I needed to fill a hole inside of me. I was a card-carrying member of the overcompensation club; not feeling good enough most of the time pushed me to be seen as more than enough all the time to make up the difference.

Perhaps you’re familiar.

My nagging self-doubt began as a teenager and picked up steam after giving birth to two children and entering the most competitive sport around: Motherhood. A world in which other mothers appeared to glide through life on ice skates while I stood in the corner tucking my muffin top into my pants and praying I’d make it through Thursday without losing my ever-loving mind.

Self-doubt is a beast like that. It inhales everything you do wrong, nothing you do right, and blows it back into your face. If you’re playing host mom to a dragon of self-doubt, you’re just like millions of mothers who’ve lost their ability to say no, draw boundaries, live in the present moment, remove their masks and ask for help.

I should know. That was my life until a professional opportunity led to a personal epiphany that changed my life forever. In my role as a senior vice president in the advertising industry, I was invited to conduct research with mothers across seventeen countries in order to help pitch and win the global Johnson & Johnson business. Though I had selfishly seen the research as an opportunity to pry into the minds of other moms and learn how they managed to stay afloat in a way I no longer could, no such thing happened.

Regardless of age, income, race, and nationality, every mother I studied was plagued with some sense of doubt. I heard “I feel like I’m a bad mother most of the time” from Berlin; “I wish I could stop beating myself up” from Paris; “I always feel like I should be doing more, and that I can do better” from Korea. These mothers revealed their doubts and insecurities, and every last one confessed to putting up a facade and acting as if she had everything under control.

Just knowing I wasn’t alone was the spark I needed to set off a two-year self-help journey during which I read, studied, evaluated, and tested advice from self-help books, spiritual gurus, mindfulness conferences, meditation teachers, other mothers and of course Oprah (because, duh.) The insight, tools, and advice I collected and applied to my own life changed everything. I went from broken to whole, from silent to vocal, from embarrassed to proud.

Soon after, I began dedicating my life to making the lives of mothers easier. Today, as the founder and CEO of The Mom Complex, my team and I work alongside brands such as Johnson & Johnson, Chobani and Pinterest to turn the pain points of mothers into new products and services to make their lives easier. And I connect with mothers directly through speaking engagements, self-help workshops, this blog and my book, Slay Like a Mother: How to destroy what’s holding you back so you can live the life you want.

Making the shift from worrier to warrior is not easy. It took twenty years to realize self-doubt was controlling my life, two years to figure out how to destroy it and four years (including over 23 rejections) to sell a book to a publisher on how to help other women do the same.

During this time, I noticed my dragon of self-doubt trying to rear its ugly head and insist that I wasn’t impressive/strong/smart enough to write a book. But I shut that bitch radio down, kept working and learned a life-changing lesson along the way. I never needed piles of accolades and accomplishments to save me from my self-doubt; I just needed a sword so I could save myself.

And that’s all you’ll ever need, too.

—

KATHERINE WINTSCH is an internationally recognized expert on the topic of modern motherhood. The majority of her expertise comes from studying the passion and pain points of mothers around the world—the rest is accumulated from a little trial and a whole lot of error while raising her own two children with her husband in Richmond, Virginia.

As the founder and CEO of The Mom Complex, Katherine and her team help develop innovative new products, services, and marketing strategies for the world’s largest mom-focused brands, including Walmart, Babyganics, Pinterest, Kimberly Clark, and the Discovery Network.

Katherine’s sought-after research and expertise have been featured by Today, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company, and she regularly writes about the topic of motherhood on her popular blog, In All Honesty, and for Working Mother magazine.

 

SLAY LIKE A MOTHER

“Slay Like a Mother is a feisty, clever, and fun blueprint for modern motherhood that belongs on every book shelf and in every diaper bag…As a woman and mother, you’ll gain a newfound power, happiness, and ability to leap tall Lego buildings in a single bound.”―Erin Falconer, author of How To Get Sh*t Done: Why Women Need to Stop Doing Everything So They Can Achieve Anything

A revelatory, inspirational guide for mothers to crush their “never enough” mentality and slay every day!

Katherine Wintsch knows firsthand the self-doubt that rages inside modern moms.

As founder and CEO of The Mom Complex, she has studied the passions and pain points of moms worldwide to help some of the largest brands develop innovative new products and services.

As a working mom of two, she was running in an exhausting cycle of “never enough”―not strong enough, not thin enough, not patient enough, not “mom” enough.

In Slay Like a Mother, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll discover eye-opening lessons about:

• THE MASK YOU’RE WEARING. The one you hide behind when you say everything is “just fine” when it’s not.
• YOUR UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS. The goal-setting tactics you’re deploying to get ahead could be what’s holding you back.
• THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STRUGGLING AND SUFFERING. Being a mother is a struggle ― it always has been ― but your suffering is optional.

Brave, supportive, and insightful, the stories and advice in this book will encourage you to live more confidently, enjoy the present, and become your best self ― as a woman, a mother, and beyond. Perfect for fans of Girl Wash Your Face and #IMomSoHard!

***As featured in The Wall Street Journal and Parade.com***

Additional Praise for Slay Like a Mother:
“Wintsch’s style is brisk and forthright with enough humor to make readers laugh even as she illuminates dark corners. Although this is aimed at moms, any woman will find this enlightening and encouraging.”―Booklist, STARRED review
“Slay Like a Mother is much more than a self-help book for women; it is the end of self-doubt and the beginning of self-love… and that is nothing short of life-changing”―Rachel Macy Stafford, New York Times bestselling author of Hands Free Mama

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: How To and Tips, On Writing