Your boss is toxic. The politics are ridiculous. You’re doing too much—and you cannot stop thinking about work. Get personal help handling what is happening now and deciding what you actually want next.
You do not have to quit tomorrow. But you cannot keep feeling like this every day.
Together, we work through the boss, coworker, workload, conversation, or decision that is making work feel awful. You’ll learn how to handle difficult people without losing your mind, leave work at work, and feel confident about whether to stay, leave, or change how you deal with it.
You spend the day dealing with a toxic boss, office politics, difficult coworkers, or more work than one person can reasonably do. Then you go home and keep thinking about it. You know something has to change, but you are not sure what—or whether you should stay or leave.
Bring the real boss, email, meeting, boundary, workload, or decision. That is what we work on.
You do not need to wait until you quit in frustration or completely burn out. You can get help while you still have choices.
You are smart, capable, and self-aware. You can usually explain exactly what you should do differently. But when the pressure hits, your brain goes back to what it already knows: overthink, overwork, avoid the conversation, keep everyone happy, and get through the next thing.
Coaching helps you see the default thoughts you cannot see while you’re inside them.
“I should be able to figure this out on my own.”
You have figured out hard things your entire life. But it is difficult to see the thoughts running on default while you are inside them. A coach helps you slow the moment down, see what your brain is offering you, and choose instead of automatically reacting.
“I already know what I need to do. I just need to do it.”
Knowing something when you are calm is different from accessing it when your boss sends the email, your coworker pushes back, or guilt shows up. Coaching helps you practice using the part of your brain that can think, plan, and choose—even when your default reaction is loud.
“I’ll feel better when this next thing is over.”
When the kids are in school. When the company finally has a strategy. When the layoffs are over. When this project is done. But your default brain keeps finding the next problem to solve. If relief always lives on the other side of the next challenge, you never get to feel better now.
“I just need to manage my time—and my life—better.”
A better calendar cannot fix the automatic urgency, guilt, people-pleasing, or belief that everything depends on you. You do not need a more efficient way to carry too much. You need to see why you keep picking it all up.
“I’m afraid to spend this much money on myself.”
You may spend money more easily on your children, your home, your career, or anyone you love—then question whether support for you is necessary. That fear deserves an honest financial decision. Private coaching should be a responsible yes, not a pressured one. But your needs belong in the decision too.
“Maybe this is not the right time.”
Your default brain likes familiar—even when familiar feels terrible. It can always find a sensible reason to wait for work or life to calm down. You do not need to manufacture urgency. Just notice whether “later” has become the way you avoid choosing what you already know you want.
Together, we create enough space for you to notice the fear, urgency, guilt, and old thoughts your primitive brain offers before they run the day. That awareness gives your prefrontal cortex—the part of your brain that can plan, solve, and choose—a chance to lead. This is how you move from reacting to your day to creating it.
You are capable. You solve hard problems every day. It makes sense that paying someone to help with your boss, your job, or your own reactions might feel unnecessary—or uncomfortable. You are smart, capable, and self-aware. You can usually explain exactly what you should do differently. But when the pressure hits, your brain goes back to what it already knows: overthink, overwork, avoid the conversation, keep everyone happy, and get through the next thing.
You do not need to talk yourself into coaching. You need enough information to decide whether it would actually help. Coaching helps you see the default thoughts you cannot see while you’re inside them.
“I should be able to figure this out on my own.”
You probably have been trying—thinking about it at night, replaying conversations, and asking everyone you trust what they would do. Getting another perspective does not make you less capable. It helps you stop going in circles inside the same problem. You have figured out hard things your entire life. But it is difficult to see the thoughts running on default while you are inside them. A coach helps you slow the moment down, see what your brain is offering you, and choose instead of automatically reacting.
“My boss is the problem. Coaching can’t change them.”
“I already know what I need to do. I just need to do it.”
That may be completely true. Coaching is not about pretending their behavior is acceptable. It helps you decide how to respond, what boundary to set, what to document, and whether you want to stay. Knowing something when you are calm is different from accessing it when your boss sends the email, your coworker pushes back, or guilt shows up. Coaching helps you practice using the part of your brain that can think, plan, and choose—even when your default reaction is loud.
“Maybe I’m just overreacting.”
“I’ll feel better when this next thing is over.”
You do not have to choose between blaming yourself and blaming everyone else. We can look honestly at what is happening, why it affects you so deeply, and what is actually within your control. When the kids are in school. When the company finally has a strategy. When the layoffs are over. When this project is done. But your default brain keeps finding the next problem to solve. If relief always lives on the other side of the next challenge, you never get to feel better now.
“Maybe I should just quit and find another job.”
“I just need to manage my time—and my life—better.”
Leaving may be exactly right. Coaching is not designed to convince you to stay. It helps you make the decision from clarity instead of making it because you need the pain to stop immediately. A better calendar cannot fix the automatic urgency, guilt, people-pleasing, or belief that everything depends on you. You do not need a more efficient way to carry too much. You need to see why you keep picking it all up.
“I’m not sure I can justify spending this much on myself.”
“I’m afraid to spend this much money on myself.”
That is a real decision, not a mindset problem. Look at the investment, your priorities, and what continuing in the current situation is costing you. Private coaching should be a responsible yes for you—not a pressured one. You may spend money more easily on your children, your home, your career, or anyone you love—then question whether support for you is necessary. That fear deserves an honest financial decision. Private coaching should be a responsible yes, not a pressured one. But your needs belong in the decision too.
“What if I pay for coaching and nothing changes?”
“Maybe this is not the right time.”
No coach can promise that your boss, company, or circumstances will change. The work is helping you change what you can control: how you respond, communicate, make decisions, and take action on what you want. Your default brain likes familiar—even when familiar feels terrible. It can always find a sensible reason to wait for work or life to calm down. You do not need to manufacture urgency. Just notice whether “later” has become the way you avoid choosing what you already know you want.
The application conversation is a chance to talk honestly about what is happening, what you want help with, and whether working together makes sense. A clear no is better than a pressured yes. Together, we create enough space for you to notice the fear, urgency, guilt, and old thoughts your primitive brain offers before they run the day. That awareness gives your prefrontal cortex—the part of your brain that can plan, solve, and choose—a chance to lead. This is how you move from reacting to your day to creating it.
Your boss. The meeting you keep replaying. The boundary you need to set. The workload that is swallowing your life. The question of whether to stay or leave. You do not need a perfect agenda—you bring the real problem, and we work from there.
Meet privately with Liz for thirteen one-hour sessions over approximately six months.
Sessions are generally every other week and can be moved when life happens. Your coaching period can extend up to seven months.
No polished agenda or perfect homework. Bring what happened, what feels awful, or what you cannot stop thinking about.
Say what you really think without protecting your boss, managing anyone’s reaction, or pretending you have it handled.
Join the weekly teaching and coaching calls, community, and monthly deeper-dive work at no additional cost while we work together.
There is no preset problem to solve. We focus on what is making work and life hard for you right now—and what you want instead.
The first step is a short, low-pressure way to tell Liz what is going on and find out whether private coaching fits what you need.
Tell Liz what is happening, what you have tried, and what you want help changing. Honest, imperfect answers are enough.
She looks at what you need and whether her approach appears to be the right kind of support for your situation.
You will get a clear next step. Applying does not obligate you to enroll, and you do not need to have your decision made first.
The application is not an audition or a test. It is simply a way to tell Liz what is happening before you both decide whether working together makes sense.
Their bosses, coworkers, pressure, and responsibilities did not magically disappear. What changed was their ability to see what their default brain was telling them, pause before reacting, and choose what to do next.
“I would leave meetings thinking, ‘He thinks I’m awful. I must be awful. He thinks I’m stupid. I must be stupid.’ I was totally internalizing his words, and I would leave meetings in tears.”
“I learned to pause and think, ‘He’s saying words. This person is just saying words. I don’t have to make it mean anything about me.’”
“I thought he changed. But really, I changed. I was able to see the story I was telling myself, shut it down, and respond in a much more grounded and confident way.”
“My brain kept saying, ‘You’re not good enough. You’re not smart enough. Just try harder. Put more time in.’ There was no real strategy. I was just trying harder and burning myself out.”
“I started seeing what was real and true versus the story I was making up in my head. I could tell that unconscious part of my brain, ‘That’s unrealistic. Stop. This is the reality.’”
“I don’t leave meetings crying anymore. I don’t feel like a total failure all the time. I feel like I can really contribute and that I’m worth something, despite my flaws.”
“I would come home with no energy left for my kids or my husband, and then the guilt was extreme. In my marriage, I would hear words and make them mean things they may not have meant.”
“I learned I could hold space. I could listen, hear it, and accept it without immediately reacting. I could feel the emotion and not let it run the whole interaction.”
“I feel a lot more grounded in my marriage and more present at home. I can put down the things that don’t matter—like doing the dishes right now—and focus on the things that do, like playing with my kids.”
Liz Jolley, founder of The School of Courage™
For years, I lived inside the tension so many high-achieving women carry. I was successful on the outside—leading people, solving difficult problems, navigating high-stakes corporate environments, and holding a great deal for everyone around me.
But inside, I was overwhelmed and reactive. I could handle enormous responsibility, yet still get hooked by a conversation, second-guess a decision, or feel as though I was failing at work and at home.
I did not need more pressure to handle everything better. I needed a different way of seeing, thinking, and responding.
I learned how to make the unconscious conscious—to recognize the thoughts, stories, and emotional patterns driving my reactions before they took over. That work helped me create space between what happened and what I did next.
I became more grounded in the meetings, relationships, decisions, and difficult moments that once pulled me away from myself. That transformation became the foundation of the work I now bring to other women.
I bring both lived experience and a deeply practical understanding of how capable women think under pressure. I help you see what is underneath the overwhelm—not so you can judge yourself for it, but so you can finally change it.
Coaching with me is not about performing, pretending, or being told to “think positive.” It is a place to be met honestly, compassionately, and directly while you learn to trust yourself, respond differently, and become your Grounded Self™ in real life.
If your boss, the politics, the workload, or the constant pressure is taking over your days—and following you home—1:1 coaching gives you a private place to work through what is happening and decide what to do next.
You do not need to know whether you should stay or leave before you begin.
Use the short application to tell Liz what is making work feel so hard, what you have already tried, and what you want help changing. Liz will personally review it and send you the next step if private coaching appears to fit what you need.
Short, honest answers are enough. Applying does not obligate you to enroll or require you to have your decision made first.
1:1 coaching is a meaningful investment of your time, energy, and money. You deserve clear answers before deciding whether it is right for you.
The membership offers weekly teaching, group coaching, and tools you can use across your life. 1:1 coaching gives you private time focused entirely on your boss, workload, relationships, reactions, and decisions. It is the better fit when you want Liz to know the full context and help you apply the work directly to your life. Membership is included while you are a private client.
Bring the real problem: a toxic boss, office politics, an impossible workload, a difficult coworker, a conversation you are avoiding, or the question of whether to stay or leave. You can also bring what work is doing to the rest of your life—snapping at home, replaying meetings all night, or feeling like you never have anything left for yourself.
Yes. We separate the job itself from the immediate need for relief. You may want to leave, change roles, set different boundaries, or stay while you build a deliberate path out. The goal is not to convince you to stay or leave. It is to help you make a decision you trust instead of making one because Tuesday was awful.
Yes. We slow down what happens before, during, and after the conversation so you can see the thought driving the reaction. Then we prepare what you need to say and how you want to say it. You do not have to be perfectly calm. You learn to make room for the emotion without letting it run the conversation.
Yes—but coaching will not pretend their behavior is acceptable or promise to change them. We look honestly at what is happening and focus on what you can control: how you respond, what boundary you set, what you document, what conversation you have, and whether you choose to stay.
You bring what happened or what you cannot stop thinking about. Liz helps you slow it down, identify what your default brain is telling you, and separate facts from the meaning your brain added. Then you decide what you want to think, say, or do next. You leave with clarity you can use in the actual situation—not a generic lesson.
No. Coaching is not therapy, mental-health treatment, diagnosis, or crisis support. It is a forward-focused process for seeing your thinking and behavioral patterns, making conscious decisions, and practicing new responses in real situations. If your needs fall outside the scope of coaching, Liz will encourage you to seek support from an appropriately licensed professional.
It makes sense to think carefully about a significant investment. Look honestly at your finances, priorities, and what continuing in the current situation is costing you. Coaching should be a responsible yes—not a pressured one. Your needs are allowed to be part of that decision too.
Your individual coaching sessions are confidential. You can talk honestly about your boss, company, relationships, reactions, and decisions without needing to protect anyone or perform competence. Liz will explain the coaching agreement and any limits to confidentiality before you begin.
Liz personally reviews your short application and follows up with the next step if 1:1 coaching appears to fit what you need. Applying does not obligate you to enroll, and you do not need to know whether you are ready before you tell her what is going on.
You do not need to know exactly what needs to change—or whether you should stay or leave—before reaching out. Start by telling Liz what is going on.