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Igniting Leaders, Inspiring Revolutions

Archives for October 2018

Watch my TEDx talk on how we can all be philanthropists!

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I’m very excited to share my recent TEDxPerth talk with you here!

As many of you know, I’m a huge believer in community involvement. I’m very proud to be a co-founder of 100 Women.

100 Women is a giving circle focused on empowering women, both as philanthropists and through the receipt of our grants. It’s a powerfully practical way that women (and men) can involve themselves by positively contributing to their community.

2018 is our fifth year of giving. In those five years, we granted nearly $400,000 to over a dozen causes supporting women and children. In turn, we have supported whole communities across Australia and in three other countries around the world.

And if you’re asking… Yes, yes, yes…

  • Your donation is tax deductible for Australians!
  • You do have the option to donate monthly or annually
  • 100% of your donation goes towards the grants
  • Anyone, both men and women are welcome to join
  • You can live anywhere around the world and donate to 100 Women
  • We are not limited to only 100 members – the more, the merrier!

 You can join 100 Women and become a member here.

This is our latest grants:

Earbus Foundation of WA

receives $30,000 towards a pilot to provide 30 female Aboriginal Health Workers with training. This training will develop their theoretical experience with ear health treatment and management. It also includes more practical, clinical training. These workers are now empowered to diagnose and manage ear health disease in the Aboriginal communities in which they live. And it also gives them the resources to reduce the problems associated with ear disease for Aboriginal children.

Youth Futures WA

receives $27,500 for its program, The NEST. This program has been designed to help teenage mothers who are homeless or living in unsuitable conditions. Due to these circumstances, they are consequently at risk of losing custody of their child. The funds aim to support the expansion of the Outreach Service. This is a preventative strategy against homelessness that aims to stabilize the lives of the teenage mothers. In tandem, it supports them to develop their parenting, financial, and independent living skills.

An Outreach Support Worker assists clients to seek appropriate accommodation. The support worker also advocates on their behalf with the Department of Child Protection. All the while, the young mum is counseled on their baby’s development and personal issues.

Bower Reuse and Repair Centre Cooperative

receives $30,000 for the ‘From House to Home’ program. This program provides around 100 women and their children with free access to quality household goods. Many of these women were victims of domestic violence. Once the women are ready to move on from temporary accommodation to new homes, they are in desperate need of household goods. The Bower will work with service organisations to allow them to visit a Bower retail outlet and shop against an agreed line of credit.

World Relief Australia in partnership with Human and Hope

receives $9,300 towards a sewing program. This program aims to break the cycle of poverty for Cambodian women. Each woman will learn how to sew and advanced students can access microfinance loans to start their own sewing business. In addition to sewing skills, students receive education in small business, life skills, health, sustainable farming and domestic violence training, focusing on their rights in marriage.

The Process – These projects were very carefully chosen from over 60 applications through a grants assessment and member voting process. It was a dynamic, inspiring and insightful process for all. If you aren’t involved in 100 Women yet, here are 15 reasons to get involved in our fifth year.

Why join 100 Women?

Joining together

1. Meet, gather and network with like-minded people. Now more than ever, we need connections with people who energise our spirit and remind us of the good in the world. 100 Women does this! We are building a diverse community that’s doing their part to change the world for the better.

2. Choose projects to fund collaboratively using the 100 Women grants process. Learn skills to assess grant projects. Come together as a team to share your insights. Or if you don’t have time for that, just vote for your favourite project at the end of the process!

Impacting women

3. Are women’s issues important? One of our Ambassadors, Rabia Siddique, poses three important questions at the Grants Ceremony, two of which she borrows from Emma Watson’s #heforshe launch speech: Do women’s issues matter? If not you, than who? And if not now, than when?

4. Learn about women’s issues and why gender based giving makes sense. When you invest in women, the whole community wins. Through our members and grantees, we can learn what the issues are and what projects make the most impact.

5. 100 Women gives to local, national and international projects and organisations.  Your donation will benefit both women in your local community and women around the world!

Power of Philanthropy

6. Amplify your donation by joining together with others. This is an exciting part of joining a giving circle. Your individual donation can only go so far, but your donation coupled with everyone else’s becomes a grant that funds a women’s project!

7. Learn about philanthropy and how to make your giving count. Our purpose is to ignite women philanthropists into the world! Learn how to increase the impact of your personal giving and giving through 100 Women.

8. Change the perception that philanthropy is just for the rich and famous! Everyone can be a philanthropist and contribute to the greater good.

9. Involve yourself in one of the fast trends in philanthropy – Giving Circles! Giving circles are an exciting new, collaborative form of philanthropy.

Get Involved!

10. Join us in 100 Women. There are many ways to be involved in 100 Women as currently we are completely run by volunteers. Join as a full member, join as a mini circle or join our email database. Contribute your skills and expertise to one of our four sub-committees – Membership and Events, Operations and Finance, Marketing and Communications, and Grants.

11. Learn skills to involve yourself in the community more broadly. Our members say they learn skills and gain confidence to involve themselves in other community organisations such as becoming a Board member, mentor or volunteer.

Be inspired and be inspiring

12. Become a role model in your family and community by being part of the 100 Women movement. This is bigger than just you and me, it’s about a community of women coming together and helping other women who don’t have the same advantages that we do.

13. Feel proud to involve yourself. Members tell me all the time how proud they feel to involve themselves in such a wonderful, inspiring cause. When was the last time you felt proud?

14. Step up! For the majority of our members, $1200 is a step up in their philanthropy.  Now we also have options of $300 and $600 if you are just starting out.  100 Women aims to provide large, high-impact grants to projects and organisations. Our intention is to build a strong, sustainable source of funding for women’s projects. Remember it’s a tax deduction and 100% of your donation goes to the grants too!

15. We created this! Together we’ve started our own funding source. The grants I mention above are funded by people power. This is incredibly inspiring and exciting. Feeling inspired? Come join the fun and spread the word!

You can join 100 Women and become a member here.

Emotional Intelligence: How to perform at your best

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Are you willing to challenge yourself to develop as a leader?

Most people are committed to developing their technical expertise to maximise potential (think about the years spent at university!) But do you put the same level of commitment into developing your skills to connect, communicate and empower other people as well?

Emotional intelligence is critical to exceptional leadership. It leads to better work performance, better leadership and more happiness in life. Who doesn’t want that?

What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence has become a buzzword ever since Daniel Goleman wrote the book called Emotional Intelligence! But many people can have trouble actually describing what it is.

At its core, emotional intelligence is about monitoring and understanding your own and other’s feelings and emotions and using this knowledge to guide your thinking and actions.

A recent Australian report on leadership found that current leaders rated themselves as performing highest on their work ethic and track record of success. Only trouble is – what people really wanted from their leaders was team building and outstanding interpersonal and communication skills. And these were some of the skills that they performed most poorly at.

Eek!

Emotional intelligence is key to building strong teams and communicating with others. Here are five practical behaviours that emotionally intelligent leaders practice.

Ready to step into your full leadership potential?

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15 WAYS TO FIND AN NFP BOARD POSITION
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5 EQ Behaviours

1. Building Self Awareness

I find leaders either really overrate their abilities or really underrate them. I know, that’s quite a spectrum.  On one side, people often don’t see the immense value they can offer. Yet on the other hand, others can self assess themselves as highly competent without any basis. One strategy to overcoming this phenomenon is seeking high quality feedback from others on your behaviour and performance. Blind spots are hard to overcome without the help of others.

2. Compassion and Respect

How you treat others is important. Do you listen to others? Or encourage equal participation rather than dominate discussions? Do you treat people as legitimate human beings with feelings? Do you care about your team?   

Dehumanising others in the workplace is an increasingly challenging issue. The more we move into positions of power and feel experienced at what we do, the more we can become more concerned about our own needs and less concerned about the needs of others. Everyone deserves to be treated with compassion and respect. This is the essence of a good human being. Don’t underestimate it!

3.  Motivation and Self Management

Do you notice the feelings you are feeling? Awareness is the first step to managing them appropriately. But it’s amazing how many people can go from meeting to meeting in a bad mood without being aware of it or acknowledging it. Get good at identifying your feelings, honestly connecting the underlying cause of your feeling and taking action to correct it, if need be.

4. Vulnerability

Exceptional leaders acknowledge that they don’t know it all. This vulnerability allows them to connect at a deeper level with their team. Displaying an attitude of curiosity about team members’ points of view shows that everyone has something to contribute and everyone has something to learn from others.

5.  Maintaining Equanimity

Life is not going to go right 100% of the time. Failures happen, people get sick, projects go askew and as leaders – we need to keep our composure. A mindfulness meditation practice can support us to lead with equanimity. It helps us practice lengthening the time between what happens to us and how we react to it.

What’s important?

All in all, our emotional intelligence makes us better human beings. If you want to be the best leader you can be, let’s start with who you are and how you treat others.

Now over to you: how do you practice emotional intelligence as a leader? Do you have any experiences with leaders that particularly impressed you with their emotional intelligence? I’d love to hear!

Break out of your comfort zone to improve your confidence

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Have you ever done something that has surprised you? Perhaps you met with a mentor that you’d been hoping to talk to. Or presented a speech for the first time. Maybe you took on a project that’s a bit out of your job description? And you realized that you pushed the boundaries and moved out of your comfort zone?

Ahh comfort zones – they are warm and cushy. And as creatures of comfort, we love sitting in these pockets. But does it challenge us, help us grow, and improve our confidence? Short answer, no. One of the most effective ways to improve your self-confidence is to regularly push yourself out of your comfort zone.

In the book, The Tools, psychotherapists Phil Stutz and Barry Michels share research-backed strategies for people to overcome the internal barriers holding them back from success. These practical steps allow anyone to reach their full potential.

Tool #1 – Reversal of desire

The first tool in the book is the Reversal of Desire. It explains that your areas of growth lie just outside of your comfort zone. Yes that’s right, just outside of your comfort zone!

Your comfort zone feels great because it’s a state where your brain perceives very little risk. You’re in a familiar, safe situation. Changing habits, learning new skills, trying new things, and other self-improvement activities are all unfamiliar. You have to get out of your comfort zone to do them.

Stepping outside your comfort zone is stressful, but research shows that our brains need to feel slight to moderate anxiety to improve. Psychologists refer to this as “optimal anxiety” — the level of stress that compels you to take action.

Deadlines are helpful for understanding this. If you’re like most people and you’re given six weeks to do a project, initially you’re not worried at all. You feel like you have a ton of time and don’t push yourself to be optimally productive for the first couple of weeks. However, once you’re a week or two away, the stress of potentially not meeting the deadline becomes a weight on your shoulders that pushes you to excel despite tiredness and any other barriers you face.

Be strategic about your comfort zone!

The key is to be strategic about how and when you step outside your comfort zone, ensuring that your anxiety does not overwhelm you. For example, if you’re terrified of public speaking, don’t start by volunteering to speak at a big community event. Instead, start with small groups to build your confidence and work your way up.

It’s like a muscle. The more you push your boundaries, the easier the optimal anxiety will feel to you. It’s like you will broaden the boundaries of your own comfort zone.

This feeling of nervousness brings on our sense of flow. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a psychologist who wrote the book, Flow. He describes ‘flow’ as a mental state of complete absorption in the current experience. When we are fully engaged and challenged by a task.

“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”

– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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15 WAYS TO FIND AN NFP BOARD POSITION
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Here’s a challenge (or two) for you

Write down 10 things that challenge you or make you feel fearful. Public speaking? Getting feedback? Introducing yourself to new people? Choose one of these areas to focus on. Brainstorm a range of activities to step out of your comfort zone and practice them in small but consistent ways. Remember your areas of growth lie just outside of your comfort zone! Try ten ways to practice this challenge – yes, not just once, but ten!  Repetition is the only way you’re going to move outside your comfort zone to take on these challenging activities,

Moving out of your comfort zone doesn’t always have to be work related either – you could listen to unfamiliar music, read a magazine that you would never normally pick up, try a different hobby with a friend, go to a different restaurant. Get into the habit of pushing your areas of comfort. Reflect on what you learn about yourself in the process.

Final words

Don’t let your the fears in your head stop you from trying new things and stepping up in your growth. Take the smallest steps forward and you might just surprise yourself!

Now over to you: What was the last thing you did to get out of your comfort zone?

How to follow your purpose when things get tough

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Living according to your purpose, strengths, and values will dramatically improve your life for the better. But it will not be easy. A study from the University of Pennsylvania found that pursuing one’s purpose can trigger anxiety. I know this in my own life to be true – and of many change-makers too. It can be exhausting to follow a greater purpose. You wonder whether you’re making a difference, whether it’s worth it, and whether there is an easier way.

Following your purpose is a process, not a destination

Following one’s purpose makes many people feel like they are not good enough. That where they are in life isn’t good enough. And they feel they may never be good enough to live their purpose. If that is you, you need to understand that following your purpose is a process, not a goal. It is the sense of direction that guides what types of activities and accomplishments you pursue. And your success at those things does not define it!

Purpose requires sacrifice

Another big reason why people do not pursue their purpose, strengths, and values is that it requires sacrifices. In some ways, society makes it easier to just eat junk food, lie on the couch after work, and binge watch the latest tv show. Or to think that the latest gadget or expensive bag will bring you happiness.

Purpose takes sacrifice. To live the life of a revolutionary, you have to make decisions outside the norm. You have to take actions outside the norm and surround yourself with those moving on a similar path.

How to hang in there when following a purpose-driven life gets tough

1. Know the stress coping mechanisms that work best for you. Change is stressful! And stress on top of additional responsibilities can make transitioning to living a purpose-driven lifestyle difficult. What are the activities that get you in flow? Running, dancing, painting, playing with your kids or going for a walk in nature? Get in the flow.

2. Stick to a sleep schedule to prevent exhaustion but also be prepared for some sleep-deprived days. If you are working full-time while acquiring the knowledge and experiences that you need to transition into a position that more closely aligns with your purpose, strengths, and values, some tired days are inevitable. However, you are unlikely to achieve your goals if you are continuously exhausted. Arrange your schedule to ensure you have at least six to eight hours of sleep. Sleep is integral – don’t skip it!

3. Celebrate the small milestones. This is so important! We forget to celebrate along the way. When you make progress by finding your purpose, consistently do something that enhances your strengths, step out of your comfort zone to make a decision that aligns with your values, or achieve any other milestone, acknowledge it. Research shows that celebrating small wins makes you more motivated and happy. It’s the small things – don’t forget it!

Find a Partner

A powerful way to ensure that you stay on track is to find an accountability partner. Think of it as peer coaching.

The American Society of Training and Development found that people who have an accountability partner are 95% more likely to complete goals on time than individuals who try to achieve their goals on their own.

95%! That’s huge!

Your peer coaching partner could be a work colleague, supportive friend, or family member who will not let you make excuses. Or if you want to grow alongside other people who are pursuing big goals, join a mastermind.

Masterminds are groups of people who support one another in their goals. The benefit of being in one is that not only does the group hold you accountable for what you tell them you want to accomplish, seeing the other members of your group do great things can increase your motivation to do the same.

Final Words

Stick with it. As Ryan Holiday would say, the obstacles are the way! Take every challenge and reframe it as a way of learning, a way of improving, and a stepping stone to living the life you want. And remember, a little stress helps us challenge ourselves as we rise to the occasion!

Now over to you: What is holding you back from pursuing your purpose? I’d love to know!

Get this Free Guide: 6 POWERFUL SECRETS TO FIND YOUR HIGHEST PURPOSE IN LIFE

The world needs more purpose-driven people. But where do you start?

This inspiring guide will give you powerful insights to find and refine your own purpose in life.
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