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The Bright Space Blog

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Wellbeing Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Wellbeing Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

How Self-Care Improves Productivity

Ever have one of those days where you feel like you’re floating through time: struggling to start a project, lacking the motivation to get out of bed, facing a blank screen without a clue what to write.

That’s where I am this week. Sometimes, when I feel stuck like this, I don’t even know what day it is!

It can be difficult to pull ourselves out of the cycle of overwhelm, confusion and disinterest.

The good news is that there is one simple thing we can do to give our brains a break and let inspiration flow naturally: practice self-care.

It may seem counterintuitive to allow yourself the time to step away from your work when you have competing deadlines and demanding clients. But it’s time to lose the guilt.

Making time for self-care will improve your productivity because it allows you to focus on the most important asset in your business – you!

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Life Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Life Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

Letter to My Future Self, Who Changed the World

You made it! You’re traveling the world and living your dream life. Remember back in 2016 when you first dreamed of this moment? Remember sitting in your blue paisley chair visualizing how it would feel to make an impact on millions of lives?

You inspire women across the world to believe in themselves and have the confidence to pursue their goals. You teach women in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand the skills they need to start their own business. Many underserved communities benefit from your work.

As you know, this didn’t happen overnight. The road to success was not an easy one; there were potholes, pitfalls, ditches, sudden turns.

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Women Empowerment Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Women Empowerment Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

When being a woman is more dangerous than being a soldier

“Courage is what a woman has left when she’s lost everything else.”

On Tuesday, May 1, 2018, Women for Women International celebrated the courage of women everywhere at their 10th annual Match Her Courage Luncheon in New York City.

Internationally-acclaimed author and spiritual teacher, Marianne Williamson, joined the event as an ambassador for Women for Women International. When asked what this event means to her, she said, “If we want peace, we can have it. It’s not a mystery; it’s a lack of political will. There is no force more important than the awakening of American women to what’s happening in the world.”

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Women Empowerment Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Women Empowerment Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

Give the gift of a better world this Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is the perfect time to celebrate the wonderful women in our lives who love and care for us unconditionally. Women who bring us hope, joy and meaning. Women who comfort us when we’re sad and know just the thing to make us laugh. Women who walked before us to give us a better life.

This Mother’s Day, consider giving another woman a better life. As we celebrate and honor the women who made an impact on us, we can partner with Women for Women International to make an impact on the world.

Photo credit: Monilekan/Women for Women International

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Life Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Life Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

5 Books that Changed My Life

I’ve been reading since I was 3 years old. That’s not an exaggeration.

My mom and dad used to read to me every night. Sometimes my dad would make up something in the story, and I would say, “that’s not how it goes, Daddy!”

Books have always been a huge part of my life.

I have books piled in my nightstand, on bookshelves, on coffee tables. I can never have too many books.

There’s nothing quite like the feel and smell of a new book, bursting with possibility, just waiting to be opened.

I always share what I learn in books with my family and friends, and I love giving books as gifts, especially when I know a book can make a difference in someone’s life.

My life is better because of the wisdom of countless books, and in honor of World Book Day, I want to share some of those books with you.

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Life Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Life Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

4 Ways to Silence Your Inner Critic

I’ll be the first to admit it – I don’t always believe in myself.

My inner critic tells me I’m too young to be an expert. That I don’t know enough about business or marketing. That no one will want my services. That I’m not pretty unless I’m wearing makeup.

Sound familiar?

That nasty voice in your head that tells you you’re not good enough to do the thing you want to do is stealing your confidence.

You likely have an idea of how more confidence would impact your life – or you wouldn’t be here.

In case you need a reminder, confidence improves your chances in the dating game and in relationships. It increases our perceived physical attractiveness by others and improves our performance at work. It even improves our mental and physical health.

But we can’t live healthy, confident lives when our inner critic is screaming that we’re not enough.

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Life Coaching, Practice Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Life Coaching, Practice Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

30 Affirmations for Confidence

So much of what we say about ourselves is negative. Affirmations give us the opportunity to choose words that help create or eliminate something in our lives, such as creating success or confidence or healthy relationships, and eliminating low self-esteem, destructive behaviors and even pain.

Affirmations help us retrain our thinking and speaking into positive patterns so we can truly transform our lives. We can get more of what we want and less of what we don’t.

But be careful because everything we say is an affirmation. Every thought, every sentence is just confirming what we want in life.

So, if you say “I’m so happy and grateful now that I lost 20 pounds,” one minute, then say “this won’t work” the next minute, which one do you think will win out? The second one!

Negative thought patterns are so deeply ingrained in all of us, and it’s really hard to break them. Practicing positive affirmations is one way to break that cycle.

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Women Empowerment Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Women Empowerment Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

What You Need to Know to Close the Gender Pay Gap

Equal Pay Day symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year. This year, that date fell on April 10th, meaning women must work more than 3 extra months to earn an equal salary to our male counterparts.

The gender pay gap – which states that women, on average, make 77 cents for every dollar that men earn – is often mocked as a myth, a mistake or a lie. And not just by men; my female boss didn’t believe me when I shared this statistic with her.

In a recent blog post, I shared an even more deflating statistic: at this rate, gender parity is over 200 years away!

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Life Coaching, Wellbeing Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Life Coaching, Wellbeing Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

How to move from anger to forgiveness

A few weeks ago, my mom was in a car accident which left her car totaled, her back fractured and fractured fingers on both hands. My sisters and I were very upset about the situation, because we all realized that if she had a different car, things could have been much worse.

We were all so angry when we heard about the accident. There was a terrible snowstorm that day, and another driver was driving too fast and lost control of his truck. He left the scene without a scratch on him, and my mom was rushed to the hospital in a neck brace.

We were angry at the other driver because he almost took away our only living parent. We were angry that she was the one who was hurt and would be out of work for 4 weeks. We were angry that he was driving so fast during a snowstorm, that he was even on the road at all.

But all that anger left us feeling helpless, depressed, frustrated. We were powerless to change the circumstances. Meanwhile, the man driving the truck doesn’t even know we exist.

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Life Coaching, Wellbeing Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Life Coaching, Wellbeing Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

What to do when you feel uninspired

We’ve all had those days where we feel like we’re floating through time: struggling to start a project, lacking the motivation to get out of bed, facing a blank screen without a clue what to write.

That’s where I am this week. Sometimes, when I feel stuck like this, I don’t even know what day it is!

It can be difficult to pull ourselves out of the cycle of overwhelm, confusion and disinterest.

The good news is that there are simple things we can do to give our brains a break and let inspiration flow naturally.

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Wellbeing, Life Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Wellbeing, Life Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

15 of My Favorite 30-day Challenges

My top strength is Competition. I love pushing myself to try new things, build new habits and improve my life.

30-day challenges speak to my soul! They’re a great way to try something new for a month. At the end of the challenge, if you like it, you can keep going on your own! If you don’t, you can move on to something else. The Sagittarius in me LOVES that there’s an end date.

Read on for my list of 15 favorite 30-day challenges.

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Women Empowerment Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Women Empowerment Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

5 Organizations Making a Difference for Women Everywhere

Happy International Women's Day 2018!

Women have made great strides in the pursuit of gender equality over the last few decades, but we still have a long way to go.

The World Economic Forum's 2017 Gender Gap Report tells us that gender parity is over 200 years away!

I don't know about you, but I'm not that patient. I want to see parity in my lifetime.

That's why I'm so passionate about empowering my clients and followers to discover their natural strengths and talents, harness their inner power, and step boldly into their dream lives.

This year's IWD theme is #PressforProgress. There has never been a more important time to keep working toward equality. 

On the heels of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, IWD has the power to fuel momentum for women everywhere to stand up and take action.

Are you ready to be the change we all want to see?

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Career Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Career Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

8 Resume Tips from a Former Hiring Manager

As a former hiring manager, I’ve combed through hundreds of resumes and cover letters. I’m also the go-to person in my friends and family circle when someone needs help updating theirs.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: your resume is one of the most important documents you will ever own!

It’s true – your resume can be the one thing standing between you and a job you love and your key to a prosperous and exciting future.

That’s why it’s so important to spend time crafting a concise, yet powerful resume that is tailored for the job you want.

Let’s start with the basics.

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Life Coaching, Career Coaching, Purpose Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Life Coaching, Career Coaching, Purpose Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

How to Find Your Life Purpose in 4 Easy Steps

You like your job, but it doesn’t excite you anymore. You’re entering the job market but aren’t sure what you really want to do. You feel like something is somehow missing from your life.

Sound familiar?

We’re all souls having a human experience, trying to figure out why we’re on this Earth.

I’ve been there.

And from my countless existential crises, audiobooks and cups of coffee, I’ve found my life purpose. Or at least, my purpose for now.

How did I do it?

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Life Coaching, Passions, Purpose Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Life Coaching, Passions, Purpose Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

7 Questions to Ask to Discover Your Passion

In 2016, I started a new job, in a new town, with a new car, and I was on top of the world.

All my goals seemed to have fallen into place. I had the opportunity to build relationships with a new group of leaders, I had more autonomy over my work and full access to the senior leadership team. Not to mention a hefty bump in salary.

But about a year in to this position, I stopped feeling the high that brought me to that role in the first place. I enjoyed the work I was doing; it was challenging and rewarding. I liked many of the people I worked with (okay – some of the people). So what was missing?

Challenging work and a good team weren’t enough for me anymore. The missing piece was passion. I didn’t feel anything for the work the way I did in my previous position.

Then I remembered something my mentor told me, “things come into your life for a reason or a season.” Was my season up? Was I meant to do something more with my life? But what?

I started doing some research on purpose and passion. I listened to audiobooks on my commute and read articles on my lunch break. The resources all pointed to similar things: asking ourselves deep, thought-provoking questions.

These questions are designed to make us pause and think deeply about the answers. We don’t often give ourselves the luxury of time and solitude to figure things out. But when we do, we have the power to transform our lives.

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Career Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Career Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

5 Surprising Signs It's Time For A New Job

I should have been ecstatic. I was offered a promotion with the title I wanted and a $15k salary increase. Why wasn’t I jumping up and down with excitement?

Like many women, I had an idea of what it meant to be successful in the corporate world. Navigating my way through male-dominated meetings, sitting at the table ensuring my voice was heard, and climbing the corporate ladder so fast I didn’t stop to catch my breath.

This was the logical next step in my career, right? Then why didn’t I have an ounce of enthusiasm?

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Wellbeing Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Wellbeing Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

Why I Had Enough of Social Media

And the brilliant reason I returned.

I didn’t have the energy to look at another baby picture or cat meme.

I was working 10-hour days and commuting an hour each way to a job I didn’t want. Sure, that was exhausting, but it was nothing compared to the crushing effects of the depression that seemed to creep in unannounced.

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Career Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Career Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

How to Promote Yourself with Powerful Peer Support

Shatter the Glass Ceiling Together with Lean In Circles

I sat across the table from the man who would determine my future. It was now or never.

My palms sweaty and my heart racing, I began to list all my achievements from the past three years. Finally, the words, burning on my tongue since the moment I walked in the room, slipped out and formed the sentence, “I’d like a promotion.”

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Life Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler Life Coaching Jessica Dowches-Wheeler

3 Things You Can Do Today To Be More Obsessed With Your Life

Imagine a world where we wake up every morning and say, “Wow, I just can’t get enough of my life!”

Imagine being so in love with what we do and who we are that we feel genuinely happy every day and share our happiness with those around us.

Imagine always knowing the right decisions to make so that all of our dreams fall willingly into place.

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  • Learn how to leverage your strengths, skills, and career experience to start a business that aligns with who you are

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