Sheena Jeffers | The Grit and Grace Project

10 Ways to Stay Focused When You Work From Home

You wake up, take an overindulgent stretch, rub the sleepy from your eyes, wiggle your toes. Flip on the coffee and take a luxurious look around. It’s time for work! When you work from home, there is a lengthy list of wonderful attributes and it can be equally challenging not to fall into the slump of crinkled sweatpants, unwashed hair, and endless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Working from home can be an empowering and more flexible situation that increases your creativity and lessens your stress, but how can you balance the productivity of a successful mission filled day with the call of the midday nap? 1. Set a schedule that works for you. This is one of the most wonderful perks […]

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Why You Need to Support Other Women and 5 Ways to Start

By Sheena Jeffers / Relationships

She sat across from me on the floor, on a multi-colored pillow. We were in a room full of women who were there for one reason: to replenish one another. This may seem odd or unfamiliar. It was to me at first. I had grown accustomed to petty competition that seeps into the pores of women, holding us back, keeping us on edge. What started in elementary school as girl-on-girl crime developed, blossomed, and bloomed into women throw-down tear-downs in the adult world. How did this happen? Gossip. Betrayal. Envy. Language. In our world, women compete for partners, jobs, best in motherhood, in sexiness, in meal preparation, in parties, in got-it-all-togetherness. Within this competition you’ll find eye-rolling, cutting other women down with words, whispers,

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Dear Small Business Owner, This One’s for You

By Sheena Jeffers / Work & Money

I created a recent email, as entrepreneurs often do, announcing a new way to be involved with my services. A “new deal,” “a special”; it could even be called a “sale.” I work for myself in a job that I am passionate about, which creates a thin veil (more like a permeable membrane), that separates my identity of “self” from my “work.” Artists and small business owners know the feeling: It’s hard when your work is your passion because it’s a vulnerable place to stand. I worked hard to cultivate and maintain that list in my email, and on the day the email went out to inboxes, I was nervous but excited. What if people hate it? No, think positive. What if

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Here’s How to Answer That Awkward Question With Grace

By Sheena Jeffers / Relationships

Unless you plan on spending your life in baggy sweatpants with your hair tied in a knot by a velvet scrunchie from the 80s (be honest, that sounds amazing)—you’re going to eventually walk outside and be around other people. Lines are still open for a family member or friend to call on a phone or send a message through one of the many social media options. While not impossible, it’s difficult to avoid interacting with other human beings, and with those interactions come questions. No matter how much we love or respect our family members, friends or colleagues, you’ll eventually be faced with a question that you’d rather not discuss in a public forum. How do you respond to these awkward life questions with

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This Is What Every Business Owner Should Know

By Sheena Jeffers / Work & Money

When I left to begin my world travels, I knew I’d be bringing my small business along with me. I packed my laptop, its charger, and…me! That’s the moment I became scared. As I sat on our sailboat bobbing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, it hit me: I have to depend on me, my skillset, my work ethic, my organization, me! There was no paycheck pending, no work in the pipeline, no one to tell me what project to prioritize. I would have to do that for myself. Popping my laptop open, I established some entrepreneurial goals. Below are a few practical ways I’m able to boost my output and success. Perhaps they will work for you, too! Create a schedule

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10 Ways to Boost Your Confidence

By Sheena Jeffers / Health & Beauty, Purpose

The word “confidence” dates back to the early 15th century. A direct descendent of the Latin word confidentia meaning “firmly trusting, bold” and confidere meaning “to have full trust or reliance.” When I try to trace the roots of confidence in my own life it leads me to questions: When did I first hear of this concept? When did I first feel it? Who taught it to me? How did they first present it to me? How did I integrate that into my daily being? When contemplating confidence, there are many areas to think of: The root of it, the implementation of it, and the strengthening and maintaining of it. But spending time to think about how confidence works in your own

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10 Behaviors Found in the Inspired Woman

By Sheena Jeffers / Purpose

You cannot mistake an inspired woman. Right away there is something enchanting about her. But what exactly is it? Why is it so hard to put your finger on what makes her so? Here’s the thing: many of us are raised to believe that women are ethereal, dainty, delicate, gone at the poof of a strong wind. All of these images fall in line with the historically inspired woman. We immediately conjure images of a woman with long, flowy hair, beautiful bosoms, eyes closed in meditation while breastfeeding an almost-asleep, happy babe. As I’ve grown, however, my image of an inspired woman has become far more complex, developed, real, and tangible. When I run into an inspired woman, I want to high-five her!

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Life on My Sailboat Taught Me 10 Things About Being a Woman

By Sheena Jeffers / Health & Beauty

I am a woman who enjoys comfortable things: a cozy couch to lounge on with a good book, nestled between fluffy pillows and a fuzzy blanket. I enjoy tea, wifi, and Netflix surrounded by cute, matching things like rugs, coffee tables, and bookcases full of books tucked into corners. I tell you all of this to say, I never thought I would be a woman living on a sailboat. The move onto the sailboat took a lot of soul-searching which required a lot of in-the-moment learning about myself and my capabilities. I jotted them down in a notebook to share with you. Here are 10 lessons I learned from living life on a sailboat: 1. I don’t need multiples of clothing. As I

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5 Things to Do When You Don’t Recognize Yourself

By Sheena Jeffers / Health & Beauty, Purpose

We occasionally run into moments in our lives where we don’t recognize ourselves. Some days, these times are courageous, daring, bold! You did something you never knew you could do. You realized you have something in you that you never knew before. You found your gumption, your strength, your assertiveness. Some days, these moments are lonely, sad, and confusing and the same rules apply: you did something you never knew you could do. You realized you have something in you that you never knew before. You found your base level, your deep character flaws, your underbelly. What do you do in those moments, good or bad, when you don’t recognize yourself? 1. Take note of the moment. Time is fleeting. It spends itself without us

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