The starting point and cornerstone is making small, incremental, yet brave and meaningful decisions. Let’s step through this powerful strategy:

• Small: The decisions don’t have to be big. They can be incidental and even be the ones you make daily. They can be as basic as deciding to step forward and contribute at the next meeting — if your habit, like mine when studying with a class full of males, was to shrink into the background. Prepare beforehand so you don’t let self-sabotage trip you up! That’s its job. Self-sabotage loves to reinforce self-limiting beliefs!

• Incremental: Then you do it again at the next meeting, or the next appropriate opportunity to be seen and heard. One good decision builds and leads to even better decisions, increasing your confidence, self-esteem and abilities. It could be the impetus to secure a better role in the future. Keep using preparation and practice as your allies. They are bravery’s fuel, helping the decisions you make to be successful ones.

• Brave: Whether you’re a mountain climber, an adventure sports enthusiast or engaged in any activity that requires courage, preparation assumes and mitigates risk. Your perceived risk could be the fear of looking foolish or stumbling over your words in a presentation. Preparation can even involve practising out loud what you want to say.

You may well be out of your comfort zone at times and will question yourself, be worried and revert to self-doubt. That’s part of being brave.

• Meaningful: Decisions must be considered, not merely habitual. If your previous choices were shaped by fear of failure, avoiding new roles or challenges, then it’s time to reassess.

Make each decision count, and make them active, not rudimentary, cursory or passive. Understand consequences, and, if possible, strip away the comforting illusions we often cling to. That part is difficult, I know! For example, extending maternity leave might feel like the right choice at the moment, but it warrants deeper reflection. The heart may pull in one direction, but the long-term financial and career impact deserves thoughtful consideration.

When well considered, you have decided the benefits outweigh the costs. You will have calculated the lost earnings for that additional time off and, if paying off a mortgage or saving for a deposit, also contemplated the impact. Perhaps you are looking at additional skills training to counter possible career stagnation. Ultimately, meaningful, well-thought- out decisions can equate to a sense of empowerment instead of feeling lost or ambling, which is sometimes the case. Here are some decisions you can make:

• Ask for or accept training and learning opportunities.

• Negotiate better terms.

• Ask for salary increases.

• Ask for help at work.

• Ask for help at home.

• Seek out mentorship proactively.

• Replace ‘I can’t’ with ‘How can I?’ to open up possibilities.

• Be discerning in choosing tasks that align with your goals.

• Master the art of saying ‘no’ and ‘yes’ thoughtfully and purposefully.

The $1 million gender pay gap can be closed by using the cumulative and compound effect of women making small, incremental, yet brave and meaningful decisions as they go through life. The cumulative effect of your better and stronger decision making transfers to your earnings, which equally enjoy the benefit of compound growth over your lifetime.