Dare to Dream: A Women’s Guide to Courage and Confidence

Dare to Dream: A Women’s Guide to Courage and Confidence

Wendy Dodds:
I just knew that I was meant for something more. I knew I could do the job, all of that

Kate Beere:
kind of stuff, but I was meant for something more. Figure out what you want to do truly. When I say design a life, design your life. It’s your life.

Wendy Dodds:
All of the roles that we play, somewhere along the line, we forget about us and what matters to us and just allowing ourselves to dream.

Kate Beere:
Where do you wanna be? Where do you wanna go? Write it down. I’m super passionate about that, but write it down, and and

Wendy Dodds:
dream big, it’s about how do you find that courage. Welcome back to the Living Rich Lee podcast. We are super happy to have you back. It’s been a week, And we’re ready to dive into another topic, and this is, one that Kate and I are super passionate about, daring to dream and the challenges Yeah. That we face around it, not just women, but men. So let’s just kick it off and talk a little bit about our

Kate Beere:
Our female journey. Our female journey. Yeah, I think, you know, when we’re talking dare to dream, we’re talking a lot about, sort of our recent career changes. Recent, that’s a big word. But I I know for me, it’s recent.

Wendy Dodds:
That’s one of the word. Yeah.

Kate Beere:
But my journey to dare to dream and really, like, carve out and pave a path and start, you know, designing the life I love. Part of that starts with career. Right? So that’s a a huge part of what we do every day. And for me, you know, most recently, I was at a job and I had been there for a while, and I loved my my team. I loved the organization I worked for. But career wise, I really plateaued. Like, I got to this place where there was no movement. Yep.

Kate Beere:
And so I started to not feel great when I go into the office, and then I started to really ask myself some questions about, you know, what did I want? And what I ended up, you know, discovering what I wanted was to be closer too creative, I’m in marketing. I miss the, like, creative process that went with it. So I ended up jumping ship and going to another organization that was in the in the US in a role that I thought would be that, and it turned out that that role wasn’t what I had expected it to be. And then really quickly when I got clear on this is not what I thought I was gonna be, bold lip, where I am now started to come into my life. So and now I’m working for an organization. We’re a creative agency. It’s a, you know, there’s 5 of us. It’s super small.

Kate Beere:
I’m super close to the creative and the production. I work with phenomenal women. But that journey for me, right, started here. I ended up here Right. Which wasn’t where I thought it’d be. 9 months later, I left that job. So that was a hard decision for me the 1st time, let alone the 2nd time, to then jump ship into a much smaller company with less benefits, you know, it’s not a US owned conglomerate with, you know, benefits and bonuses and all of the all of the the perks that come with that. So sort of navigating that journey has been really, really difficult for me.

Kate Beere:
And we’re gonna talk about some of that ins and outs, but I can tell you it wouldn’t change it for the world.

Wendy Dodds:
But I love that you use that first initial jump almost as like a stepping stone and you didn’t view it as failure. No. Because a lot of times when we make those Jumps, we feel like if I jump, if I don’t land right the first time, then why did I even bother or I shouldn’t have done this? But I love that you just took that almost like a little detour.

Kate Beere:
Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
It’s like looking at a road map when you’re you’re going on a road trip somewhere. There’s probably 5, 6, 7, 10 ways to get somewhere Yep. Everybody’s gonna go a different way, and there’s no wrong way because you’re gonna get to your destination some point and so I love that you use that as a stepping stone. Yeah. I think that kind of morphs into when I, so I spent the bulk of my career in the HR space for 17 years, I was suddenly laid off because we had gone through a restructuring from a US organization into a Canadian merger, so very different just culturally, but also a duplication of efforts. So hence the, the restructuring. And, I was offered another job, comparable to my level and my salary, but I turned it down. And it was a hard decision to turn down.

Wendy Dodds:
So I opted for the severance instead of the offer, knowing that a severance only lasts so long, and I still remember to this day, I had people say, you are fucking crazy because you have 17 years in this company. You’ve built so much. You’ve got all your benefits, all of your, you know, your RSP, all your all that kind of stuff, which was gonna be transferred over. But I I just knew that I was meant for something more. I knew I could do the job, all of that kind of stuff, but I was meant for something more. And that’s when then I jumped into what I’m doing right now, the coaching, moved into the fitness space. But that came with huge risk on literally chopped my income, not just in half, but, like, down to 3 quarters, just bought a brand new house. I was laid off 2 weeks after we had signed papers, but I was able to build out what I love to do now.

Wendy Dodds:
Not without the bumps, but so worth it. Well, and

Kate Beere:
the bumps are like, the bumps are gonna happen. They happen in lights. They happen everywhere. I can I can say, you know, when I was looking at transitioning into this role, it came with all of that? Those financial woes and that, like, oh my god. How am I gonna do this? And then I you know what? I carved out what I wanted. I was able to build get to mindset in my coaching business while I’m working for Bold Lip. I have the best of both worlds. I work 4 days for bold lip, and then I work the rest for myself.

Kate Beere:
We get to do this on Fridays and record. And so really starting to take those steps, but I know for a lot of women, it’s hard. So what what holds women back? What is that?

Wendy Dodds:
So I think confidence Yeah. Is is a big thing. I think Huge. And I know that there’s lots of, you know, studies and whatnot out there, but historically, women tend to lack confidence Yeah. Versus men, specifically around career changes, specifically around finances, is specifically around, making leaps, in life. And, you know, when we talk about career, since we are talking about career, historically, men are typically promoted faster than women. And and, you know, that that just opens up a whole new realm of, so what are the struggles? Like, why do we Yeah. Why do we struggle with that?

Kate Beere:
I would add that men are also often promoted, it’s backed by research. They’re promoted based off their leadership potential.

Wendy Dodds:
Yeah.

Kate Beere:
And women are promoted off of their performance. So that messes with women and their confidence.

Wendy Dodds:
Yeah.

Kate Beere:
I watched something really, interesting. It was Jay Shetty and Mel Robbins. I I think I don’t know whose podcast it was, but it was one of their podcast. And they and, Jay asked the, the question to Mel about confidence in girls. She was talking about her daughter, one of her daughters. And he’s like, well, where do you think it stems from? And she’s like, why my own theory. And it was really interesting. So she she brought it back to her girls in puberty Yeah.

Kate Beere:
Going to that state where when men, boys hit puberty, we almost like it’s like we we honor it. Right? Your voice is deepening. You’re becoming, you know, more of a man. You’re growing. It’s all these things we associate, and we don’t really talk about it a lot. But boys, everyone really interested in when a girl gets hurt, period. It is, like, newsworthy apparently. Right? And you think about it.

Kate Beere:
Like, we talk about it. So all of a sudden, they’re like, oh my god. And now, like, I’m covering up because I you know, I’m physically developing. I don’t feel good on my own skin. Everyone’s judging me based off this thing, and so that confidence level starts. And it’s a really interesting perspective to think how early it starts for women where we start to feel small.

Wendy Dodds:
Then you throw social media on top

Kate Beere:
of it Right.

Wendy Dodds:
Which you and I didn’t have when we were growing up. Thank god. I mean, we’re still very young and everything. Right? Of course. About you, Wendy.

Kate Beere:
I grew up. I was on there on Snapchat.

Wendy Dodds:
Snapchat. I’m too old for Snapchat. You’re never old for Snapchat. For TikTok? TikTok. But but now we see, you know, as we’re raising teenagers, kids comparing their selves, specifically girls, to a free app like Instagram, like TikTok, and comparing ourselves which starts to chip away, at their confidence. So, you know, people will often say to us in passing, like, I wanna try to build my confidence, like

Kate Beere:
Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
How do how do I do it? If we were to identify, say, 2 or 3 things on, like, maybe the biggest topics on what we feel contributes to Yeah. Lack of confidence, I think What would we say?

Kate Beere:
Well, there’s lots. I think, if I was gonna my top one is and I witnessed it being in corporate land for a long time, was just women not having a strong voice around the table. So in a meeting, women tend to hold back. And that’s that’s like I understand that’s an overarching statement, but it’s it’s data proven, and we’ll add in the show notes so you guys can read it. But it is women don’t tend to have a voice at the table. And I speak from experience where I know and I hate, like and hate’s a strong word, but I do hate this that subconsciously, if I’m in a room and there’s a female and a male leader, I will trust the male leader over the female leader because it’s innate. It’s how I was raised. I was raised with only men in leadership roles.

Kate Beere:
Men had the voice. And so I and I’m all for celebrating women. It’s Yep. I celebrate women in business. I’m all about women empowerment, but I realize how deeply rooted it is in my subconscious that I will listen to or trust a male in that setting, in the work setting more. Versus a female. And so I think what happens for women is we feel like we just we don’t our voice isn’t as strong or as powerful. I think it’s shifting as more women get into leadership roles.

Kate Beere:
But if you look at the data in the States, there are more CEOs named John in the US than there are female CEOs. Wow. So the stats are still there. So I think the dynamic is shifting. I do believe our kids and our our our our youth, that’s shifting. But I know for me, for someone who I feel enlightened and I’m I I wanna celebrate women, I still have this, like, unconscious thing that happens to me Right. In a room.

Wendy Dodds:
Yeah. That’s a that that’s a huge one. Yeah. I think another one is and we do this at work, but we also do this with ourselves is discounting positive feedback. How many times have we been complimented on something like, oh, I love that shirt. And our first response is Mhmm. Oh, this old thing or, oh, like, we tend to justify or twist the comment around so that we’re not like, we can’t just say, oh, thank you. And it’s something I’ve really had to try to work hard on.

Wendy Dodds:
Like, even in the, even in the workspace, even in my personal life, just when somebody is giving me positive feedback Yeah. Or a compliment she really just embrace that and accept that without feeling the need to add a rebuttal to it or justify it. And because of that, it just becomes a habit. And it’s almost like retraining your brain to learn how to say thank you. And I pick up on it very quickly when I’m coaching people or if I’m in the fitness space where I’ll congratulate somebody or I’ll recognize somebody. And, and it just happened this morning actually. And and there was 1 woman I went up to, and I congratulated her on what she was doing in the gym. And I kinda got, like, a a little eye roll, and I was like, no.

Wendy Dodds:
No. No. Celebrate that. Oh, yeah. Okay. Right. But we pick up on it, but I still find myself, Discounting it Yeah. On my own.

Kate Beere:
I I just I just did it. Yep. Eric said, oh, I like your shirt. I’m like, oh, yeah. I found this in the back of my I actually just did it on the way in. I’m like, I never wear this.

Wendy Dodds:
Like and I’m like Yeah. Yeah. It’s funny. Instead of just saying thank you.

Kate Beere:
Yeah. Instead of just saying, thanks, babe. Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
So I think that starts to chip away a lot at our confidence. And then I think, especially for women is the judgment of others.

Kate Beere:
Oh my so judgment from others, fear of failure, feel of what will they think, feel of the pressure. I mean, we just talked about social media pressure, but the pressure for women is like, it’s astronomical. We’re supposed to show up as, you know, perfectly in our career. We’re supposed to show up as the perfect mom, as the perfect, partner. Right? We’re supposed to, look a certain way. God forbid we age. We’re not supposed to have an opinion. I go to, I haven’t seen the Barbie movie yet, but I have seen that clip.

Kate Beere:
I don’t know if you’ve seen it where where she talks it’s just I and I’m forgetting the actress’s name, but she go she’s talking about it’s all about, I’m gonna send it to you because you’re gonna love it. But it’s all about the ways that, women are supposed to show up. Like, I’m supposed to, be thin, but not too thin. And I’m not supposed to talk about wanting to be thin. I’m supposed to talk about wanting to be healthy because that’s how it is. I suppose my job, I’m responsible to make men comfortable in a room. That’s my responsibility. I’m supposed to have a voice, but not too loud of a voice, and it goes down this whole and it’s all, I think, what women struggle with a lot, which is these expectations and this comparison to those around us, and social media is just amplify

Wendy Dodds:
that. Yep. 100%. Like, through

Kate Beere:
the roof.

Wendy Dodds:
And then over time, right, that starts to chip away. Oh, does it So then it’s about how do you find that courage? So, you know, with our topic being daring to dream, we talked about confidence and how that slowly chips away. Totally. How do we then, find that courage to take whatever leap. I have so many people. I know you do too. Yeah. We talked about this, where people will kinda look my journey of going through where I’ve been through with my career Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
My separation, my divorce, how you know, rebuilding that relationship with my girls, all of that kind of stuff. And people will say, like, I wanna make a change in x, y, and zed in my life. I just don’t have the courage. I don’t know where to start. So how do we find that courage?

Kate Beere:
Yeah. Great question. I think I believe the courage comes from within. I I think we talk so much on the show about community, and I think community matters. 100%. However, I think you have to be really careful when you’re starting, this sort of leap of faith or change, who you surround yourself with. Because if you get the negative nilly’s in your ear, everyone’s gonna have an opinion. Right? Family in particular, they wanna keep you safe.

Kate Beere:
Even your friends sometimes wanna protect you, and they’re coming from a great place, but they’re not coming from. Usually. Yeah. Usually. That’s really good. You hope. Yeah. You hope.

Kate Beere:
But I think you have to the courage is within. So I think you have to get really clear. I always say this like dream. Figure out what you want to do, truly. When I say design a life, design your life. It’s

Wendy Dodds:
your life. Where do you

Kate Beere:
wanna be? Where do design your life. It’s your life. Where do you wanna be? Where do you wanna go? Write it down.

Wendy Dodds:
How do you wanna feel?

Kate Beere:
How do you wanna feel? That’s a great one. Right? And what what does that look like for you, and that’s for you. That’s not for anyone else. That’s for you. And then I think as you start to get confident in what you want, you have to start mapping out how you wanna get there. So what does that change look like? If you identify you love photography, okay, well, maybe you start taking some photography classes. Like, the courage doesn’t flick. It’s not like one day I’m feel I’m gonna go.

Kate Beere:
Like, I no. It’s just it’s a slow build up. Yeah. And then I think courage gets supported by the right community when you’re making that shift. Yeah. You need people around you who might not agree with what you’re doing, but who will fundamentally support you Yep. On that journey. So right away Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
Because I love analogies. Yeah. What? Right away What? Right away when you said that, I thought like, when you were saying just it doesn’t happen right away, I thought right away of a farmer. He plants his seeds. Yeah. He doesn’t spectrum to that the crop to overflow with abundance in, you know, a couple of weeks. But that’s exactly the same thing. You’re putting you’re planting seeds in your, field field of dreams.

Wendy Dodds:
Oh, field of dreams, the movie.

Kate Beere:
Your movie.

Wendy Dodds:
Oh, that was that was gosh. Well done, Wendy.

Kate Beere:
Look at that analogy.

Wendy Dodds:
Look at that analogy. Look at me celebrating myself. Congratulations. Fantastic. But as you’re as you’re planting your seeds, you we don’t know what’s happening underneath. Right? But we know that magic is about to happen. Then when you find your right community, you find that community that’s gonna help you water those Right? Doesn’t that isn’t Yeah. I love it.

Wendy Dodds:
See where I’m going. I can’t. I can just paint the picture. All joking aside though Yeah. I think a 100%. Right? You’ve gotta find those people that are gonna help water your seeds to help your crop flourish, and not the people that are gonna packing away or, you know, digging your seeds up, but all of that comes with practice. That can also morph into not leading the someday life. Someday Yes.

Wendy Dodds:
I will research photography courses. Yeah. Someday, I will, you know, start to really look at the Pinterest board that I created to start to plan some ideas. Someday, I will, you know, join that new gym. Someday, all of that. So living that someday life is something that we just habitually do over and over, but then recognizing someday might not be any day, because, you know and and I have somebody in my life right now that is going through a really hard time with health issues. And I look at this person and I think, gosh, those some days might not be any days because of what they’re struggling with. So when your faith in what you want and what keeps you up at night, like, when you lie in bed at night, now sometimes I’m thinking, like, did I actually take The laundry out of the washing machine and put it in the dryer.

Kate Beere:
I never do that.

Wendy Dodds:
Of course, you don’t. So that the mildew doesn’t sit

Kate Beere:
in. Right. And then I’m like, oh, I’m not gonna wash it again for the 3rd time

Wendy Dodds:
because I keep forgetting. Slick the laundry?

Kate Beere:
Never happened.

Wendy Dodds:
But when you’re thinking about those things that keep you up at night, when your faith outweighs your fear, when you keep thinking about the same things over and over, that’s the first sign that you know that you’re ready to make a change. And now it’s about executing it. Because the hope the hope that you have and what you envision, that whisper in your head of your mind saying, maybe you can. Maybe, yes, you can, when the whole world is shouting out, that’s impossible. Nobody’s done that before, or you’re different than everybody’s than everybody else. When when you start paying more attention to those whispers Yeah. And really listening to your gut and your heart, that’s when you’ll know this is the path I’m supposed to be on, and you’ll be able to decide which voice matters most. Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
Those external factors or that voice that’s whispering to you every night.

Kate Beere:
I totally agree. And I think it’s so important. Like, I I think we know intuitively when things are off. Like, I think we know. Gotcha. Yeah. I call it, like, it’s the it’s icky. I feel icky, and I don’t like, that’s my medical term.

Kate Beere:
Yeah. I feel icky, but I don’t feel good. I don’t feel good in my skin. Not like I’m it doesn’t sit well with me. I you know, I’m going into the office and I’m unhappy, and I don’t wanna be here. When when pay attention and and give that room. Give it some attention. In Yep.

Kate Beere:
You don’t have to dwell in it, but be aware of what’s happening in those moments. Because if you’re feeling this way, that’s now I I I know when my body’s off. Like, I can I physically don’t wanna do something? My body almost is, like, pulling in the opposite direction. We just we don’t pay enough attention to it. We don’t. We’re so worried about like, oh, I just don’t wanna go to work today. It’s like, well, no. Get present to that.

Kate Beere:
Get present of that feeling and that emotion. Yep. It’s oftentimes when you get present about that change will happen. And it doesn’t always have to be this massive change. It could be like a small career shift. Doesn’t you know, you and I took pretty big leaps. Not every leap is massive in its in its size. Right? But change as we am I pretty sure we did an episode on change, but change can be hard for a lot of people.

Kate Beere:
And it’s it’s it’s just get present to that feeling in your body Yep. Physically.

Wendy Dodds:
The episode that we did a couple weeks ago with Janine Yeah. Sharon on, she speaks specifically about the icky feeling. Ick. And when she opened up her 2nd fitness studio

Kate Beere:
Right.

Wendy Dodds:
And she said exactly that. She’s like, I felt it in my stomach. It was a yucky feeling. I didn’t listen to it, still went ahead and opened it. And and so and then she speaks specifically about learning how to connect to that feeling of your gut Yep. And and almost like that’s your I was just thinking of a of a word, but I lost it. But almost like your pulse check Yeah. One of the yuckiest feelings, and I and I remember this from years ago, a friend and I would call it the Sunday night yuckies.

Wendy Dodds:
Yeah. Because Sunday night Sunday night is the night 8 o’clock is the night where everybody hates their life. Yep. Because the weekend’s over. They gotta go to a work or go to go to a job that maybe they don’t like. Yep. They gotta do all the things that they don’t wanna do. Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
And paying attention to that gut feel on, well, why do I feel like this? Am I gonna feel like this for 52 weeks every year?

Kate Beere:
That’s a whole lot of time to be feeling Yeah. Not well. I can tell you since, moving to a 4 day work week, the shift for me has been massive. There there is just not this feeling of of dread, also I love what I’m doing right now, but I don’t have this dread of going into the office on Monday. I feel really you know and my Fridays are, like, busy. Don’t get me wrong. I’m, like, catching up on the week. I’m doing all kinds of stuff.

Kate Beere:
Right? Podcasting. Podcasting, which I love, which, like, fills my cup immensely, but I do notice a big difference. So when you start to carve out for some people, maybe they wanna work, you know, 5 days a week and that’s great. But for me, that 4 day work week has really helped for me. So what I do know though for a lot of people, what’s holding them back is there’s fear. Right? So maybe we can talk a little bit about what are some of the fears that keep people back.

Wendy Dodds:
Yep. Right? I’m gonna call it out. What? Money. Money.

Kate Beere:
What? No.

Wendy Dodds:
But I love that you mentioned the 4 day workweek. Yeah. Because there’s people probably listening right now that are like, well, that’s great that you guys can work 4 day work weeks. I can’t do that, or I’m gonna take a hit on it might, Yeah. Might whatever. So I think money and financial concerns are a huge thing for people. And what I love most about this is you and I are like open books Yeah. Because we’ve absolutely both gone through that.

Kate Beere:
Yep. Yep. The rebuild. So, yeah, money. The rebuild. Money Love that. Is a big one. So I can I can speak for me, like, it took me 8 years to rebuild myself financially after the divorce, and I was finally in a really good spot when I decided to make all of these career changes? And so you better believe that money was at the forefront of that.

Kate Beere:
I’m I’m a single mom. I, you know, I purchased a home. Like, I have responsibilities. And so when I looked at the 1st jump, it was a US company. It was great salary, great benefits, great bonus. Money was great. When I got there, I was not in a good head space. And moving over where I was now, it was, like, like, pay decrease, it was the benefits were there, but very small.

Kate Beere:
Like, it’s a small company. And it was a big reality check for me to be like, can I do this? What matters more to me? And I can tell you the money mattered. I have to be able to pay my bills. I have to be like, that’s I I don’t encourage anyone to take a leap of faith without being financially responsible. I don’t. But it was a real struggle for me to be like, okay, what matters more? Is it money? Like, financial security or my mental health and well-being. Yep. And so as long for me like, I’m whatever.

Kate Beere:
I’m, like, crazy spreadsheet girl. So I map everything out to the last so that I know exactly what’s coming in and what’s going out, I made an educated decision knowing that there would be some sacrifices this is in quite a few, and I was okay with that. My what was important to me, my kids’ life or their experience in my home, what they’re used to, would not shift. So I would sacrifice for me, but what their experience had been finally after 8 years of getting us to a good spot again, I didn’t want them to feel any change, and they haven’t. But they’re it’s not like it’s not like of this magic thing. It’s stressful and it’s hard. And Yep. At some point, you do have to make it work, but you also kinda have to trust a little bit that your mental health and your well-being here will will lead to more financial gain down the road.

Kate Beere:
Yep. Right? And that’s that’s the journey part, and that’s the fear that holds so many people back.

Wendy Dodds:
So many people back. And I think that you mentioning Kate being financially responsible Yeah. That is a huge difference than being financially stable. Right. I think. I agree. Because people can have different versions of stability. When I make this amount of money, then I’ll do this.

Wendy Dodds:
When I make and that kinda goes to leading the someday life. Right. Being financially responsible is so much bigger and so it ties so much more into your personal life, supporting your kids, your mental health, all of that kind of stuff versus financial stability. Now the 2 can probably be tied in, right, because you wanna be able to pay your bills and all that kind of stuff. But there’s a difference between being responsible with how you’re spending your money and where you’re choosing to put that money when you are raising kids as a single mom, same experience for me. Yeah. Being laid off from a very good job Yep. To, yes, the choice I made, and I have had a couple people say in my life, well, that’s the choice you made to go into a, a career or a work environment Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
Where I trade time for money. Yeah. When I don’t teach, when I don’t coach. Yeah. I don’t get paid. Right. If a class is canceled or a client can’t I don’t get paid. Right.

Wendy Dodds:
So I’ve given up that steady, paycheck every 2 weeks Yes. To be able to do what I love. Yep. But we are, like so 8 year yeah. Our journey I keep forgetting that our journeys are exactly the same in terms of timing, but it’s taken me 8 years, and I’m still climbing

Kate Beere:
Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
And trying to rebuild, then after separation, divorce. Right? We all kinda know what that involves.

Kate Beere:
Yep.

Wendy Dodds:
And then buying a new house later in life. And and one of our listeners actually has talked about that before around feeling a little different from other people because of starting over, but learning to appreciate the journey and not wanting to change it for anything. So so who cares if I still have not who cares? Sorry. I shouldn’t say that. Nobody wants to have a mortgage. Right? We all wanna have, like, more money, but not being able to trade where she is right now for where she was before.

Kate Beere:
I wouldn’t trade. And I know so many women that the rebuild as I call it. But the rebuild was a journey, and it was an experience, and it was they wouldn’t change it for the world. It was hard.

Wendy Dodds:
Supposed to be hard. Right? Yeah.

Kate Beere:
It was hard. Not an easy road, but where they are today is exactly where they wanna be. They couldn’t be happier and more fulfilled. And I think the fear of of money, if that’s what’s really holding you back, map it out, figure it out because I believe there’s always a way, and that comes with it doesn’t mean you don’t sacrifice some things, you might be now, you know, sacrificing things that you’ve finally got back to, but it’s a choice. So my choice on a 4 day work week came with the ability to build, get you mindset on the side. So it’s allowing me to build a business. Bold lip then is now like a full. All of us work 4 days a week.

Kate Beere:
That was a company wide decision. We’re an agency where people, you know, make their annual salary and work 4 days a week. I I know when people are like, well, it must be nice. You get to work 4 days a week. And it’s like, no. I chose that.

Wendy Dodds:
Yep.

Kate Beere:
And I I set an intention, and I built my life around it Yep. And I think it’s really easy for us to look at other people’s lives and be like, oh, it must be nice. And it’s like, okay. Yeah. It’s it’s I’m designing a life, but there are sacrifices that happen for me to get where going.

Wendy Dodds:
And not everybody sees that. Right? Like, for a lot of people, women especially Yeah. We will build in silence. We I have caught. Right. But we can build quietly where it’s very easy to see, and I still have people say, like, wow. Like, not so yeah. So the one comment that gives me a rash and makes me go batshit crazy is you’re so lucky.

Wendy Dodds:
Fuck luck. This is not it’s not about luck. Right. Steve smiling. Steve, are you there? Hey. Hey. He’s laughing. But in all seriousness, none of this has anything to do with luck.

Wendy Dodds:
Yes, you can be in the right place at the right time and have the right people in your life, but this is all about being intentional. So when you say map things out Yeah. And, you know, right away when I think about that, I think of writing things down. Yeah. We get all of these things, and I say this to my older daughter all the time. Things percolate in our mind, and then our mind starts spinning around like a hamster wheel, and then nothing gets solve when everything is just going around and around. So how do you map it out? How do you write it down? And for the people, women, speaking to you, who have a really hard time asking for help. Not us.

Wendy Dodds:
Never.

Kate Beere:
Winnie and I are great. I got it. Everything’s fine. Everything’s fine.

Wendy Dodds:
But sometimes asking for help is what we need to do. I’m terrible at spreadsheets. I’m terrible at math.

Kate Beere:
I can help you.

Wendy Dodds:
I really get at them. But finding people in your life that you feel comfortable, and and maybe part of it is pride and just kinda putting that you go off to the side and asking people that you know who are good at something that can help you kinda decipher what it is. Have them help you map it out. Have them help you Yeah. Talk it out because a lot of times, just kinda getting that out there is a first step to be able to creating the life that you want.

Kate Beere:
And I love what you say about fuck luck because it it’s so true.

Wendy Dodds:
So true.

Kate Beere:
And when people I I know because I had the same reaction. I’m like I’m like You’re so lucky. Yeah. Well, yeah, I worked my ass off to get where I am, and I I have made choices and I’ve made Yep. That sometimes come a a sacrifice to me. Like, I it’s not this easy. Like, I just created this. It’s this morning, timely talking about choices, driving my daughter to her volleyball practice this morning before school, and she’s late, and we’re in the car, and I’m like, well, you’re late.

Kate Beere:
I’m like, you chose to be late. And she looked at me, and she’s like, I didn’t choose to be late. She’s 13. I didn’t choose to be late. And I’m like, well, you know what your actions are now why you’re late. You chose to spend more time on your hair, or you chose to, like, I don’t know, take 30 minutes to pick an outfit. You chose all those things. And by choosing those things to choose to spend your time on that, you’re now late.

Kate Beere:
And she’s like, right, couldn’t get her head around it.

Wendy Dodds:
And did she roll her eyes so hard that your uterus fell out? That never happens, Wendy. Because mine falls out all the time.

Kate Beere:
I love it. It was one of those. Yeah. It was one of those. And I could but I could see in the back of her head a moment of, like, oh, like, she she Yeah. It resonated, like, for a nanosecond as it does for for a 13 year old, but I could see that she’s like, oh, okay. So by me making this choice, it’s making this. Right? And so

Wendy Dodds:
a teaching moment, though. Yeah, those for them. Right? I’m sorry. That to my oldest all the time. Like, you always have a choice on who you listen to. Right? Because she’s old enough now where, you know, always respect your elders, all that kind of stuff. But you have a choice as to where your energy goes, who you choose to share things with, who what you choose to absorb, how you choose to manage your time.

Kate Beere:
I agree.

Wendy Dodds:
Right? So if you’re scrolling on your phone for an hour and then you’re suddenly late for work, you’re not late because of traffic. You’re not late because you’re late because you chose that. So I love that you kinda use that as that Yeah. We’ll see healthy moment for you. Yeah. We’ll see

Kate Beere:
if it sticks there.

Wendy Dodds:
I’m sure the hair looks great. It did look great.

Kate Beere:
Okay. I have, we talked a bit about being stuck. Yep. Maybe let’s dive into that a bit more because I think you and I both know what it it feels like to feel stuck. We talked about the, but I think sometimes there’s other ways that it it shows up that maybe we can help people, you know, learn from.

Wendy Dodds:
Yeah. I so I think going back to that feeling of dread, listening to your gut, I know we spoke about that, but I I can’t stress that enough because we are always so go go go. Everything is like, in the world that we live in, it is Yeah. Sensory overload. And the stress that people face today, not that they didn’t face it, you know, 20 or 30 years ago, but it’s so much different because you’ve got environmental stress, oxidative stress, physical stress, mental stress, emotional stress, all that kind of stuff. I’m so stressed. Why? That’s been, you know, the pandemic, you know, 3 years ago, almost 4, actually, which is crazy to think about. All of that kind of stuff.

Wendy Dodds:
And because we’re so used to being on reactive mode versus proactive mode, we just don’t stop Yeah. And listen. Yeah. And it’s very uncomfortable for us to stop and listen. People have a tendency to always wanna kinda talk or feel, you know, the time with either doing something or and and so just learning how to sit and be, even if it’s for a couple of minutes, to really give yourself that gut check. How am I feeling? Yep. And there’s a journal out there, and it’s called the 5 minute journal. I know my oldest daughter uses it.

Wendy Dodds:
And it’s simple, but it gives you kind of those gut checks on what am I doing right now? Yeah. How am I feeling? Yep. You know, rating yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 I

Kate Beere:
love that.

Wendy Dodds:
Just being just very basic, but tuning in with how you are feeling, how that gut is feeling. Yeah. And then not wanting to fall into that trap of doing something intentionally just to make somebody else what is it that makes our happy us happy? Because we are the only ones that get to decide.

Kate Beere:
Yeah. And I think, for women particularly in the workforce, that feeling of stuckness can just be like, I have no other options.

Wendy Dodds:
Like, where do you want me to go? Where else can I go?

Kate Beere:
What can I do? Yep. And it’s so I think it’s important to start dreaming, and I use that word a lot, but it it’s just like A powerful word. Write down what you want because I know you feel like there’s nowhere else to go, but there’s you can do anything you want. Honestly, if you wanna jump out of a plane, jump out of a plane. Like, if you want to move into a leadership position in your organization, there’s nothing holding you back but you, and that’s that confidence piece we talked about earlier. So I think it’s, like, it’s as you’re starting like, if you’re feeling not good, just know you’re not as stuck as you think you are. There’s always an option. There’s always a way forward.

Kate Beere:
Right. And you just you need to get kinda clear about what you want before you can pave that.

Wendy Dodds:
I think that falling into the victim mindset is very easy for people, especially women. And and I don’t say that in a negative way, but it’s very easy to focus on all of the things that we don’t have, all of the things that are holding us back, all of the things that aren’t going right, all of the roadblocks that might be coming up instead of giving yourself that 5 minutes every morning to just sit and dream. Because somewhere along the lines or along the way of life before we became wives, ex wives Yeah. Moms I’m sorry, friends, you know, all of the roles that we play, somewhere along the line, we forget about us and what matters to us and just allowing ourselves to dream.

Kate Beere:
I agree. And it

Wendy Dodds:
sounds so fairy tale like, but it’s so true.

Kate Beere:
I I I know it sounds like that, but it’s not. So how do we help people? You know, what are some tips we can give them to help them kind of muster that courage. Right? So for me, we talked a little bit about that support network and what that looks like.

Wendy Dodds:
Yep.

Kate Beere:
Right? And how important that support network is. I I think if, like, from a career standpoint, if you’re really thinking about as you as you’re growing and you wanna change, go find a mentor or go go talk to someone who’s actually done it

Wendy Dodds:
Yeah.

Kate Beere:
And who has recently advanced in their career or move sideways. I keep saying up. A lot of people just want a change. Right? They wanna just a lateral move in their organization. But talk to those people that have been through it that can give you their experience, but that can also, like, encourage you and lift you up on your journey.

Wendy Dodds:
Yep. And I think to tie into that, giving yourself permission that it’s okay to have different people in your network at different phases in your life. Yeah. So somebody that you had in your life 20 years ago may have been an amazing support system for whatever you were going through in your life at that time. But it’s okay to open up your horizons to other forms of support, other forms of guidance Yeah. Other forms of being a role model. Yeah. I love that.

Wendy Dodds:
Yeah. You talked a lot a little bit about this just in terms of getting it out and writing it down. Yep. And I think learning how to be able to plan and prepare, but not making it it’s so overwhelming where we’re getting ready to get ready. Right?

Kate Beere:
Get into action already. Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
But I agree. I’m gonna and then prepare so okay. So if we talk about get to mindset, the real life Yeah. Both of the businesses that we have

Kate Beere:
Yeah. In

Wendy Dodds:
order to plan that and execute that, we could have spent years. Okay. Well so first, I’ll get my website built. Right. Then I’ll do this. Yeah. Then I’ll do this. I need new pens to match my notepad so then I can start coaching people because I can’t coach them with mismatching things.

Kate Beere:
Oh, and I need to reset up my home office to make sure it’s, like, a real office. Absolutely. Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
And I need, like, great picture, all of the things, then I will start. We always kinda find those excuses as to, well, start when it’s Monday or I’ll start after I do this. So that whole getting ready to get ready, instead of let’s just talk about, like, the basic 3 things that we need to just start, planning. Right? Doesn’t doesn’t need to be like the entire trip, but what’s the first thing you need to do? Get gas, get snacks, and wear comfortable clothes, I’m just kinda throwing that out. Like, just very basic things to start your plan.

Kate Beere:
Yeah. Because you can over plan. Right? And I think, what happens along the way is you’re gonna hit bumps. Mhmm. Right? Things are going to go you’re gonna get to a gas station, and it’s closed, for sure. And you’re gonna be really sad because you can’t

Wendy Dodds:
have snacks, Winnie, but it’ll be closed. I love snacks. We know.

Kate Beere:
On your Instagram, I get to see all your snacks all the time. I’m like, oh, wait. Oh, where’d that come from? And then do you just say to Eric, like, Eric, look what they’re looking for snacks.

Wendy Dodds:
Make me use

Kate Beere:
my snacks.

Wendy Dodds:
Snacks is

Kate Beere:
a big topic of conversation. But I think it’s important to know and to to have that growth mindset. Like, things will happen and challenges will happen. You will map out the top 3 things that you need to do. Totally. And in 48 hours, that third one is not there anymore, and there’s 4 more you need to tackle. And that’s okay. There’s gonna be bumps and challenges, but don’t let the fear of, like, it’s well, well, what if it doesn’t work or something goes wrong hold you back from moving forward and actually doing it and getting into action.

Kate Beere:
Jen.

Wendy Dodds:
I say it all the time at the gym, progress, not perfection. Progress, not perfection. So what if you’re not running your fastest mile or you’re not lifting your heaviest weights or you’re you you’ve come back after being off for a while. Progress, not perfection. And it’s the same thing with this. Right? Every little day, doing something small that’s gonna help you get closer to what it is that you want to do, what it is that’s keeping you awake at night, and also tying that into what those financial implications Big time. Can be. Be reasonable and be realistic.

Wendy Dodds:
But, again, going back to your being financially responsible, not necessarily having all of the finances figured out, but enough so that you know, okay, maybe I need to make some tweaks. Maybe I need to take a different detour to be able to do this and this. Maybe I need to wear the same shirt that I’ve had for Exactly. Whatever. Right? That is. So that my kids can still play sport. Whatever the case may be, but start to map out all of those things that are super important to you.

Kate Beere:
Yeah.

Wendy Dodds:
And then I think it’s about embracing A growth mindset. So we’ve got finding your support at work, being able to plan Yeah. And map things out, and then embracing that growth mindset.

Kate Beere:
Being okay when things fall apart because they’re going to.

Wendy Dodds:
Absolutely. Yep. Absolutely. And embracing those setbacks, learning to pick yourself up instead of, Mhmm. Oh, I’ve just messed everything up, so guess this isn’t gonna work now. Exactly. But learning that that’s totally part of Yeah. And I think I use this analogy in another episode.

Wendy Dodds:
Like, you get 1 1 flat tire. Yeah. You don’t say, I suck it and slash the other 3. Yeah. You fix the 1 flat tire. Right? It’s kind of the same here. You Yeah. Continue to just kinda move on.

Wendy Dodds:
Forward. And that’s how you build that confidence in being able to go after your dreams.

Kate Beere:
Okay. So in wrapping up, if there’s one thing that you would encourage people to do to move them 1 step closer to where they wanna be, to take that dare to dream, what would it be?

Wendy Dodds:
I would start off by saying that your mind listens to everything you tell it. Everything you tell it. So when we find that we’re starting to chirp away at, you know, excuses or reasons why things won’t work, reminding yourself that your mind is listening to everything that you tell it. One of my favorite quotes is clip your dead ends. Mhmm. And I’m not talking about your hair. I’m talking about all of the other dead growth that’s in your life that needs to be clipped. So clean out your phone messages, clean out your Instagram, clean out your Facebook, clean out things that are no longer serving you, to allow that energy to be able to open and expand And, bring forth new greatness.

Wendy Dodds:
I love it. New new energy, new flow. Because the only way to allow that new energy to come in is if you start to clean out all of the other stuff that is clogging things up.

Kate Beere:
Yeah. Absolutely. 100%. I think, for me, I’ve said it already, but dare to dream. So where do you wanna be a year from now? Write it down. Pen to paper, I feel I’m as you know, I’m super passionate about that, but write it down. It and dream big. It doesn’t you know, if you wanna live on the moon, that’s big, but dream it.

Kate Beere:
Just dream, write it down, and then start to think about what that looks like. But the first step is a a micro step. You gotta move somewhere. You gotta go somewhere. So write it down and just then start thinking you can read it back, but take that 1st step and at least you gotta know where you’re going. If you don’t know where you’re going

Wendy Dodds:
Yep. You

Kate Beere:
can’t go to the gas station and get snacks on the way. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. It’s been a great episode. Thoroughly enjoyed it. As always, if you took away a tidbit from today’s show, we’d really appreciate it if you’d share it out with your loved ones. Hopefully, they’ve learned something as well along the way. You can also subscribe, like, and share to all of our social channels. And that way, you’ll be sure to get the latest episode of the podcast right to your inbox.

Kate Beere:
And be sure to visit our website at living richly dot me for all of the the show notes from today’s episode, and you can also see some of our previous episodes as well. So until next week, get out there and continue living your best life.