“Who am I to start a business?”

“There are already thousands of coaches/consultants/business owners out there – what makes me so special?”

“Who would want to work with me?”

Do any of those questions seem familiar?

We often doubt our uniqueness, especially when we see so many people doing what we want to do.

You might also downplay your strengths, assuming everyone can do the same things you can do.

That couldn’t be farther from the truth!

Your strengths are part of your unique blueprint – they’re the skills, thoughts and behaviors that come most naturally to you.

And you can leverage this uniqueness to stand out in your business, attract your dream clients, and make the impact you long to make in the world.

Are you owning or renting your strengths?

That might seem like an odd question to ask, but many of us don’t realize our true potential because we have no idea what our strengths are.

And, even if you do know your strengths, you may not always own them.

You don’t want to sound braggy or arrogant when talking about yourself, so you downplay your strengths and diminish your accomplishments.

Instead of taking responsibility for their own insecurity, people may criticize or judge you for your strengths. If that happens, you might think your greatest strengths are actually a weakness or something you should hide.

It’s time to really own your strengths!

You have a unique blueprint of strengths that make you who you are. In fact, according to Gallup, the chances of someone else having the same strengths as you in the same order is 1 in 33 million.

So you are literally one in a million!

When you own your strengths and continue to build them, you can achieve your biggest goals and dreams.

Have you ever dreamed of starting your own business?

Women make up about 36% of business owners around the world, and the number of women-owned businesses have increased by 114% over the last 20 years.

With so many small businesses out there, especially in the coaching, health and wellness, and consulting industries, it’s important to set yourself apart.

Starting a business that’s aligned with your strengths and passions is one way to stand out from the crowd and attract your dream clients.

Using your unique blueprint, you can start a business that works for you, instead of trying to fit yourself into someone else’s mold.

You have big dreams.

You want to help people and change the world, but you’re not sure where to start.

One of the best ways to contribute to serving the world is to find your life purpose.

Your purpose is who you are at your core. It’s your reason for getting out of bed in the morning and the reason you feel a sense of satisfaction when you go to sleep at night.

Living your purpose brings meaning to your life. It helps guide your decisions, influence your life goals, and create a sense of fulfillment.

Showing up as the fullest, boldest, most authentic you is what will change the world. Shrinking does nothing to improve the lives of others, and it will keep you stuck playing small.

And you can show up as the most authentic version of you when you find and live your purpose.

Gender inequality in the workplace is not only a social issue; it’s an economic one.

A recent McKinsey Global Institute report found that closing the gender pay gap and improving equity for women in the workplace could add $12 trillion to the global GDP by 2025.

That’s important because women make up more than half of the world’s working-age population and make the majority of financial decisions in their households.

Women have also been negatively impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic, and women of color, who are more likely to be laid off or furloughed during the crisis, have been hit especially hard.

Burnout is on the rise, as working mothers take on virtual schoolwork and the feeling of always being “on” at work and at home.

As a result, the 2020 Women in the Workplace Report found that 1 in 4 women are considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce.

This has major implications on companies who are struggling to hire qualified candidates, make values-driven decisions around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and navigate uncertainty alongside their clients and customers.

And despite the gains we’ve made globally to close the gender pay gap, a new study suggests that due to the pandemic, women’s wages might not recover until 2040.

Three years ago, I wrote a blog about how to close the gender pay gap.

In that article, I shared that, based on current progress, gender parity was more than 200 years away.

I’m happy to share this year that we’ve made progress! Gender parity is now just 99.5 years away, according to the WEF’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Report.

And while I’m thrilled to know that many countries have made huge strides in advancing women in leadership and politics, we still have a long way to go.

I still want to see parity in my lifetime, and that means focusing not only on the advancement of white women, who make 79 cents for every white male dollar, but of Black women, who make 62 cents per dollar, and Latinx women, who make just 55 cents per dollar.

In this two-part series, I’ll share my thoughts on how both women+ as individuals and companies can each do their part to close the gender pay gap.

The value that drives much of my mission and purpose is Justice.

I started my company, Bright Space Coaching, in 2016 because I was frustrated with the lack of women leaders in my workplaces. I was enraged that men consistently make more money than women, even with comparable education and experience. And I was determined to make a difference. I wanted justice for women everywhere.

Only back then, I didn’t include Black women. Sure, Black women attended my small group workshops and were part of my Lean In Circle, and Black women were represented in the photos on my website.

But if I’m honest with myself, I didn’t always think about how Black women’s experience of leadership in the workplace differed from mine.

The thing I love most about my coaching business is the connections I've made with incredible women around the world.

Whether I've coached them, mentored them, learned from them, or grew spiritually because of them, I wouldn't be where I am today without them.

They've all contributed to helping me live my purpose, and I couldn't be more grateful for them.

A few of these women have had some incredible success recently, and I'm taking this opportunity to brag about them :)

Because when one woman wins, we all win.

At this point in your journey to finding and living your purpose, you may start to notice that some folks don't understand what you're doing.

It could be your family questioning your new path or your friends who haven't found their purpose criticizing your work.

Living your purpose is hard. It's uncomfortable.

Some people will love you. Some people will disagree with what you're doing. You're not for them, and that's okay. (Even if it is your family!)

The beautiful thing about the world is that we all have different beliefs and values that guide us.

We can be true and centered in who we are AND learn and grow and evolve.

Growing up in India, which is still a largely patriarchal society and having worked in corporate technology in the United States for 13 years, which is still a largely male-dominated industry, I often wondered what made a woman a power to reckon with, you know, a Fierce woman.

I would come across terms like ‘she is so brave’, ’so dominating’, ‘a total ball-breaker’ when describing a female leader or an emerging bad-ass-babe. And while those terms don’t necessarily equate to being loud, aggressive or unfeminine, there seemed to be an implicit agreement in both the eastern and western cultures I encountered, that these attributes were prerequisite for a woman to be a powerhouse.

And to clarify, I absolutely adore that loud, aggressive and/or unfeminine woman, if that is her true authentic nature. You go girl! Here though, I want to speak to that other woman who may be soft-spoken and erroneously considered a pushover by those around her or even by herself!

Have you ever set a goal for yourself where, for a few weeks, you stick with it, you’re moving forward, you feel great, then suddenly, you realize you’ve gone so far off track that you can’t remember when you stopped?

I always feel that way about exercise! I’ll be plugging along each day on my Peloton, tracking each ride, feeling good about myself, then suddenly – it’s been a month since my last workout. What happened? Where did the time go?

It happens to the best of us.

When you’re on a journey to find and live your life purpose, it’s easy to get off track. Living in devotion to your purpose is not easy. You may not know all the steps you need to take. You won’t always see the path ahead of you.

And in those moments, it’s easy to let self-judgement or fear or self-doubt derail your progress.

The good news is that as easy as it is to get off track, it’s just as simple to recenter and get back in alignment with your goals.

When you think about finding or living your purpose, what thoughts come to mind?

Are you excited at the opportunity to find more joy and fulfillment in your life, or are you overcome with fear, hesitation, or overwhelm?

Do you know exactly the steps you need to take to live your purpose each day? Or, are you like most of us: you know you’re meant for more, but you have no idea what that is or how to get there?

When the future is unclear, fear of the unknown can cause us to think with a scarcity mindset.

A scarcity mindset is the belief that there will never be enough, resulting in feelings of fear, stress, and anxiety.

A scarcity mindset can cause you to limit yourself through your beliefs and actions, preventing you from finding or living your purpose.

Thinking about finding your purpose in life? Wondering what you’re meant to do, but don’t know where to start? Or maybe you think you found your purpose, but you’re not really sure.

If this sounds like you, you’re in good company!

These are the same questions I’m constantly asked by women like you, who are looking for more meaning and fulfillment in their lives.

Finding your purpose can feel like a daunting task. It’s overwhelming to think about the one thing you’re meant to do with your life and how you’re going to get there.

Trust me when I say, it’s not as difficult as it seems to find your life purpose. You might just need some reassurance.

If I had to guess, I'd say the first half of 2020 didn't go exactly as you planned.

Between the Coronavirus pandemic and social uprising in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, this year is certainly one for the history books.

While 2020 brought so much fear, anxiety, heartbreak, stress, overwhelm, loss, uncertainty, pain, and outrage, it also brought us "closer" to family and friends through virtual dinners, coffee chats, and happy hours.

For some of us, it brought life and jobs to a halt to allow us to focus on what's most important to us. For those on the front lines, it brought your purpose to light - serving the world in a way you never dreamed imaginable.

2020 is a collective awakening - some of us are waking up to our role in white supremacy. Some of us are waking up to a career that no longer aligns with what we want. Some of us are waking up to the start of healing generations of trauma. Some of us are waking up to realize the lifestyle we're living is no longer sustainable.

We're all waking up to something. And awakening brings profound change.

Core values are the fundamental beliefs you have about your life.

They guide your behaviors, decisions, and actions. They bring about a sense of purpose and self-worth. They remind you what’s important to you and what you want more of in your life.

When you know what’s important to you, you can live in alignment with those values. This leads to greater fulfillment, clarity and self-awareness.

This self-awareness allows you to discover your purpose.

Your life purpose is who you are at your core. Identifying your core values brings you back to your center.

Values remind you who you are and who you’re meant to be in the world. They’re gentle guide rails to keep us on our path and help us choose actions that are aligned with what we really want.

When we find what we really want, we can truly live our purpose. And if every woman lived her purpose, every need in the world would be met.

Everything in our lives starts with an intention.

The careers we choose, the places we live, the people we surround ourselves with.

Even the food we put into our bodies starts with an intention.

If that’s true, is it possible to use an intention to find our life purpose?

An intention is a guiding principle for how you want to be, live, and show up in the world. It’s not the same as a goal, which typically has an endpoint or an expectation of success.

An intention is a path you aim to align to. It guides our thoughts, actions, and attitudes.

If you consider that your life purpose is who you are at your core, then an intention can help you discover who you’re meant to be, and how you’re meant to show up in the world.

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?

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.