Secrets of Six-Figure Women

How boring, I thought. And, yes, intimidating. I pictured these high-earning women as cold, tough, aloof, hard-driven, designer-dressed people I could never relate to, leagues above me.

defines underearning this way: “to repeatedly gain less income than you need, or than would be beneficial, usually for no apparent reason and despite your desire to do otherwise.”

After all, how can we ever expect to earn as much as a man if we can’t even earn as much as we ourselves are capable of making?

Women unwittingly collude with this prevailing inequity by settling for less on our own accord. As a friend of mine put it, “The glass ceiling at work is nothing compared to the lead ceiling in my head.”

It was the intensity of focus on their work, not the number of hours they spent doing it, that factored so heavily into these women’s financial success.

Very few of the high earners I spoke with were chasing the dollars. But make no mistake: They fully intended to be well compensated for exercising their talents in jobs they enjoyed. “What’s important,” one declared, “is to follow my heart.”

This is where I learned that belief in yourself doesn’t mean the absence of self-doubt.

We women have got to stop devaluing ourselves and demand what we’re worth.

Almost every woman I interviewed expressed a genuine longing to live life on her own terms, and that desire—be it for autonomy or achievement, for happiness or fame—imbued her with a wellspring of raw energy that kept pushing her higher and higher.