The Power of Creating Space™
The proprietary four-step framework that helps high-achieving women stop reacting on default and reclaim their internal agency.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Often attributed to Viktor E. Frankl
The Power of Creating Space is Liz Jolley’s methodology for helping successful but overwhelmed women examine the unconscious thoughts—like “too much to do”—that intensify their internal misery. It is a path from reactive exhaustion toward becoming Your Grounded Self.
Stop reacting to everything around you. Start noticing what is happening within you.
Your boss gives you tough feedback. The company announces another round of layoffs. The politics are ridiculous. Your kids are screaming while one more work email lands in your inbox. Before you know it, your mind is racing and your first reaction is running the moment.
Creating Space is the practice of becoming an observer of your thoughts and your default reactions—so you can choose what happens next.
The Power of Creating Space is Liz Jolley’s method for moving from automatic reaction to conscious response. You learn to notice what your mind is offering before you believe it, say it, or act on it. That space helps you become your Grounded Self: calm enough to think clearly even when the world around you is not calm.
Notice the reaction.
“I am triggered. My chest is tight, and I want to fire back.”
Observe the thought.
“My mind is telling me they do not respect me—and that I have to fix this right now.”
Create the pause.
Let the first wave pass before you reply, defend yourself, shut down, or make a decision.
Choose your response.
Decide what would actually help: ask a question, set a boundary, have the conversation, document the issue, or wait.
When everything feels urgent, your first reaction starts running your life.
Your boss sends a message and your stomach drops. A coworker makes a comment and you replay it for the rest of the day. The workload keeps growing, the company feels like a mess, and you arrive home still irritated, distracted, and thinking about work.
Creating Space does not make the situation acceptable. It keeps the situation from deciding who you become in the moment.
One email, comment, or meeting ruins the rest of your day.
You fire back, overexplain, shut down, or agree to something you do not want to do.
You carry work home and keep replaying what happened long after the day is over.
You make decisions from anger, fear, or urgency—and question yourself afterward.
You notice that you are triggered before the reaction takes over.
You observe what your mind is making the moment mean without treating every thought as a fact.
You get clear on the actual problem before deciding what to say or do.
You choose the response, boundary, conversation, or next step that will genuinely help.
The Power of Creating Space is Liz Jolley’s practical method for shifting from automatic reaction to conscious response. It turns the awareness developed through The Power of Conscious Presence into a way to handle difficult people, think more clearly, and become your Grounded Self in real life.
What changes when you stop letting the first reaction take over?
The Power of Creating Space helps you move through difficult moments without losing the rest of your day to them. Its four stages help you catch the reaction, see the problem more clearly, and feel more confident about what to do next.
You do not need to become impossible to trigger. You need a way to catch the reaction before it runs your day.
-
Step 1 · The Emotional Window™
Catch the reaction before it takes over.
One email, comment, or meeting no longer has to ruin your entire day. You recognize that you are triggered before you fire back, overexplain, shut down, or carry it home.
-
Step 2 · Catch the Hook
Understand why the moment feels so awful.
You begin to separate what actually happened from what your mind immediately made it mean. That helps you stop spiraling around thoughts like “They do not respect me,” “I have to fix this,” or “I cannot keep doing this.”
-
Step 3 · The Thought Audit™
See the real problem more clearly.
Instead of going in circles, you get clearer about what genuinely needs attention. The Power Question Framework helps you move from “Everything is terrible” to the specific problem you can address.
-
Step 4 · Create the Shift
Feel confident about what to do next.
You respond as your Grounded Self instead of reacting from the trigger. You can decide whether to reply, wait, ask a question, set a boundary, have the conversation, document the issue, or leave.
Creating Space does not mean pretending your boss, workload, or company is fine. It helps you handle what is happening now without letting it consume you—and gives you more clarity about what needs to happen next.
It is the moment you do not send the email you will regret.
Creating Space happens in the middle of real life—when your boss gives you tough feedback, a coworker crosses a line, another urgent request lands on your desk, or you are still replaying a meeting hours after it ended.
The situation may still be difficult. You are simply no longer letting the first reaction make every decision.
After the triggering email: You wait until you can think clearly before deciding whether to reply, ask a question, or document what happened.
During tough feedback: You listen for what is useful without immediately defending yourself or deciding you are failing.
When someone crosses a line: You stop automatically saying yes and get clear about the boundary or Grounded Conversation you need to have.
At the end of the day: You stop carrying every frustration through the front door and give yourself a chance to be present at home.
Work can still be hard without ruining your whole life.
Creating Space does not make your toxic boss reasonable, eliminate office politics, or remove an overwhelming workload. It changes how much of you those problems get to consume—and helps you deal with them more clearly.
You can feel calmer, think more clearly, and trust yourself—even when work is still messy.
One hard moment stops ruining the entire day.
You recover more quickly after a difficult email, tense meeting, or frustrating decision instead of carrying it into everything that follows.
You respond without losing yourself.
You stop automatically snapping, shutting down, overexplaining, or saying yes. You can decide what boundary, response, or conversation is actually needed.
You leave more of work at work.
You spend less of the evening replaying conversations, drafting imaginary responses, and feeling drained by a day that is already over.
You feel clearer about what to do next.
You can think beyond the immediate frustration and decide whether to address the problem, set a boundary, change how you work, stay, or leave.
The deeper result is becoming your Grounded Self.
Your Grounded Self is the woman who can be surrounded by pressure without letting pressure make every decision. She feels what she feels, sees the problem clearly, and trusts herself to choose what comes next.
Stop letting work take over your whole life.
If your boss gets under your skin, the politics are exhausting, or you cannot stop thinking about work after the day is over, learn how to catch the reaction, get out of the spiral, and feel clearer about what to do next.
Stop Hating Your JobFree weekly webinar