reflection

RESET – Creating Your New Normal

July 6, 2020 by Alicia Curtis

What an opportunity 2020 has been to truly reflect on what’s important in our personal lives and collective society. Have you taken the time to reflect on how the global pandemic has impacted your life? To start to make sense of it and to ask what it is teaching you?

The interruptions to how we live and work has given us a chance to experiment with our habits. Habits you may have intentionally developed for your life as well as the habits that emerge without you knowing. You know, habits like checking your social media first thing in the morning, staying up too late, eating too much fast food or checking email or news at all times of the day. These habits are not who you are or who you want to be.

I spoke to one CEO recently who said they were not looking forward to returning back to normal and had really enjoyed the slower pace rather than racing from meeting to meeting. They reflected the pandemic had given them more time and space to think, to move more and connect with family.

If we can take away anything from this experience, it’s the opportunity to reset. Now is the time to think about what this lockdown has given us and what we’ve missed too. This is the time to make changes to your daily life. To raise questions at work about how you work best! This is the time to start carving those new grooves and living in a way that aligns more with your purpose and values.

Look at your Life

It starts by asking some of the big questions in life. What is important to me? What values do I hold dear? How do I want to show up in the world? Maybe you’ve done some of this thinking before and maybe you haven’t. Either way – it’s a good time!

Author, Brian Johnson suggests starting with three key domains in your life – energy, work and love to align your purpose and values to the everyday actions in your life.

Energy: Without your health, you can’t show up fully for your work or life so your energy is foundational to living your best life.
Work: Happy people have meaningful work serving a purpose greater than themselves.
Love: Cultivating connection with family, friends and community has been shown time and time again to create enduring wellbeing in life.

So let’s look at those in-depth…

Domain 1: Energy – lighting you up!

The pandemic has caused a fair amount of physical and mental stress. It’s important to acknowledge this as it takes a hit on our energy levels. Research has found people with high energy are happier people.

So how do you increase your energy? There are two key ways we can create energy in your life – physiologically and psychologically.

Physiological – Creating energy physiologically means the basics of life – how you move, eat and sleep. How would you rate on the basics? It wasn’t a surprise when the lockdown first hit, many people were extolling the importance of eating well, moving your body and getting enough sleep. That’s because it protects us from physical and mental illness!

But it’s so easy to see these things as getting in the way of what we really want to do in your life. They become a chores that need to be done. Dr Michelle Segar, in her book No Sweat, suggests we reframe these chores to instead seeing them as a gifts.

How?

Dr Segar suggests connecting exercise (or eating healthily or sleeping enough) with the short term benefits it brings to your life. That’s right, forget about vague promises that it’s good for your health and think about how it makes you feel today.

She also suggests focusing on the smallest improvements. For example, instead of trying to fit in our hour of rigorous exercise, she says make it a game to find OTM – Opportunities To Move throughout your day. She says – everything counts!

You may think that your day is crammed so full that you can’t fit in one more thing, but believe me: It’s not true. If you’ve got one minute, you’ve got time.”
Dr Michelle Segar, Author, No Sweat

Like finding a parking spot furtherest away from the supermarket, train station or workplace rather than the closest (you’ll be spoilt for choice!). Taking the stairs rather than the lift (easy way to avoid the crowds!). Taking a walk during your lunch break or while the kids are taking their music class or when meeting with a colleague. How many opportunities to move do you have in your day?

Psychological – You can also create energy psychologically too. I’m sure you’ve had the up and down of negative thoughts and emotions over the last few months. Recognising the emotions you are feeling, acknowledging them in the moment and realising they will pass are vital skills to manage the stress.

There are a number of scientifically validated mental tools to get you in the right frame of mind too, training your mental resilience through focus training, gratitude, confidence building and hope.

It starts by spending small moments thinking, talking or reflecting about what you are grateful for, what goals you have for the future, reframing mistakes and acting in integrity with your values. Setting habits to review what you are grateful for, your purpose, goals and values can help cultivate your mental strength and resilience to weather the highs and lows in life.

The more you move away from our values, the more you feel stressed and anxious in your life. Instead, aim for coherence between your purpose, values and goals and your everyday actions.

Domain 2: Work – serving the planet with your greatest strengths

What conditions help you to do your greatest work? Think about where prefer to work? What time do you have the greatest energy? What cues help you to focus? What gets you in the zone? This is what top companies obsess about – helping their people do their greatest work. What did you learn about this during lockdown?

Did you learn you work best from five to seven in the morning?
Did you learn you were most productive with less distractions around you?
Did you learn what triggers you into your most productive work?

What percentage of your work allows you to use your greatest strengths? Psychologist, Martin Seligman found using your strengths makes you more productive, happier and engaged at work! Are you making the best use of your greatest strengths?

The challenge becomes creating space and time to focus on your strengths deeply within your diary. In Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work, he suggests your ability to focus deeply at work is becoming increasing uncommon. Think – notifications, open plan working, back to back meetings or 24/7 email. Yet, this deep work is becoming more and more valuable in our economy.

The Deep Work Hypothesis: The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.”
Cal Newport, Author, Deep Work

Your deep work is your life’s work. It’s building a body of work that makes you proud. We tend to overestimate what we can achieve in a day and underestimate what we can achieve in a year. So what is the focus for your next 12 months and how are you breaking that down and working towards it little by little every single day?

You can’t do eight hours of deep work every day though so Brian Johnson suggests you match your the energy levels to the type of work you want to do. You want to create rhythms to do your best (deep) work when you have your greatest energy and the oscillate your deep work time blocks with time with your team (team work) and then the monkey work (email, admin and so on) as well as some time to rest (don’t forget this too)!

Domain 3: Love – cultivating moments of connection

The pandemic has given many of us a huge wake up call about how much time we are spending with our loved ones. A recent newspaper article shared how many leaders had been able to reset during the lockdown, realising that events every night of the week was not only burning them out energy wise but slowly disconnecting them from their partner and children.

Clayton Christensen, Harvard professor and author of How will your Measure your Life? suggests we live in a culture that over invests in work and under invests in our close personal relationships.

The relationships you have with family and close friends are going to be the most important sources of happiness in your life. But you have to be careful. When it seems like everything at home is going well, you will be lulled into believing that you can put your investments in these relationships on the back burner. That would be an enormous mistake. By the time serious problems arise in those relationships, it often is too late to repair them.”
Clayton Christensen, Author, How Will you Measure your Life?

I’m not saying don’t focus on your work I’m saying actively take the time to cultivate the love in your life too! Career or business success can be super important, for sure, but it is not the only ‘capital’ you want to build in your life

Are you building a life which allows you to be the healthiest version of you?
Are you building a life which allows you to connect with your partner and children?
Are you building a life which allows you to be an active member in your community?

Time to RESET?

Undoubtedly, this pandemic has had immeasurable effects to our global world. This, on top of insane environmental, social, political and cultural challenges, has left many of feeling off kilter.

This is the gift of 2020. Not the year many of us might of imagined but a gift no less. Any opportunity to reset. An opportunity to re-imagine. An opportunity to reconnect. Are you making the most of this opportunity?

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New Workplace Keynote and Workshop – RESET

If this article has resonated with you, you might enjoy Alyceum’s new RESET keynote (1 hour) or workshop (4 or 7 hours) in your workplace.

These sessions guide employees through making meaning of these tough times and creating practical strategies to thrive.

Contact Alicia at alicia@alyceum.com.au for more information.

Finding your Purpose in a Noisy and Distracted World

January 13, 2020 by Alicia Curtis

Want to carve out time and space for thinking and reflection in 2020? Join me once a month online for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Our next gathering is on the 28 January and you can use the coupon bemyguest to try it for free for the first time. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

“All change, even very large and powerful change, begins when a few people start talking with one another about something they care about.” – Margaret Wheatley

Finding and living your purpose is more important than ever in a world that can lack meaning and connection. But how often do we truly focus our attention on what’s important to us?

Do you feel a little lost at times? What about turning up the volume on your inner voice and work on a purpose that resonates with you.

I’m going to be honest, it’s not easy. Like any type of self reflection work, it is work! The answers won’t all come immediately. You do have to work at it and it will take time. You can continue to evolve it too, it will become your life’s work. But it is nice to think about the body of work you want to create in the world.

Before you jump into the three powerful activities below, I have a few smaller recommendations to get you started:

• Get out into nature more. Less screens and walls means you can breathe more deeply, get more oxygen into your bloodstream and connect back with you. Research says that nature helps our heads as well as our bodies stay healthy. You know the feeling you get after a walk or hike in the bush, a stroll on the beach or a day at the river. Diarise nature time to clear your head.
• Insights and understanding come with time. Set up a habit to reflect often. Just like any other skill or habit, it will take time to get into your reflection flow. The great news is those who take the time to reflect are better learners, happier people and more productive. Join me at the next Alyceum Live online gathering for reflection, inspiration and connection on the 28 January using the coupon bemyguest (First time user only).
• Move your body. The insights can come when we move, that’s what our bodies were made to do! It gets the blood pumping and gives you inspiration. Exercise is not only crucial to physical health, but it’s good for your head too.

Purpose Activity 1: Identify and Utilise your Signature Strengths

Living your strengths each and every day can be one of the most powerful strategies you have to creating a life of meaning, happiness and personal success.

Martin Seligman, Professor and founder of the University of Penn’s Positive Psychology Centre, has invested in a huge amount of research into the benefits of identifying and living your strengths as a way of living a flourishing life. They have developed an online (free) survey to identify your top 5 character strengths. (Head to Questionnaires and check out the VIA Character Strengths Survey).

These researchers found 6 universal virtues, which can be broken down into 24 core strengths. Here’s a look at the 24:

Courage: Bravery, Perseverance, Honesty and Zest
Wisdom: Creativity, Curiosity, Critical thinking, love of learning and perspective
Humanity: Love, Kindness and Social intelligence
Justice: Teamwork, Fairness and Leadership
Temperance: Appreciation of Beauty, Gratitude, Hope, Humour and Spirituality

Personally, I’ve gained much over the years by reflecting on my key strengths and incorporating them more and more into my life. It makes me happy when I get to use my strengths and it brings me a sense of purpose. Understanding my key strengths has given me an awareness of my leadership superpowers too. My strengths (and my unique mix of strengths) as my leadership brand and people get to know me for my strengths.

Ryan Niemiec and Robert McGrath, authors of the bok, The Power of Character Strengths shared that there are telltale signs to know what is a signature strength of yours. There are three tell tale signs: Essential (It’s a core part of who you are as a person), Effortless (It feels natural and evokes a sense of flow when you’re using it) and Energising (It lifts you up and makes you feel happy).

For those playing along at home, my top strengths are hope, zest, gratitude, leadership and creativity. What’s yours?

A note to beware– after mentoring many people to focus on their strengths, the catch is that people see their strengths as so easy or commonplace that they dismiss their power. You might think – how is this my superpower? Isn’t everyone good at this? This is nothing special. The simple answer is NO! Not everyone has this strength. How can you deepen your mastery of this strength, practice it deliberately and enhance its use in your life?

Purpose Activity 2: Understand your Hedgehog

This concept was highlighted in Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great, and is based on the ancient Greek parable about the hedgehog and the fox. The story goes, despite all the tactics of the fox, the hedgehog always wins because it knows how to do one thing really well and that’s defend itself (think roll in a ball of spikes!).

So this model asks you to think about the intersection of three questions:

1. What are you great at? These are your strength areas! Focus on them, practice them, improve them and know them! What can you be best in the world at?
2. What does the world need? What will people pay for? Or what does the world need and are willing to pay for?
3. What are you deeply passionate about? What makes you curious? What do you love or brings you joy? What’s important to you?

Now spend a bit of time to consider these questions individually – think of them as three circles in a venn diagram. Then the interesting part is finding something that intersects all three of these. According to Jim Collins’s book, organisations that have focused on one thing (the intersection of these three questions) and done it really well, outperform all their competitors and stand the test of time.

What’s in the intersection for you?

Purpose Activity 3: Focus on the Intrinsic Motivators

In life, you can easily get caught up with, as author Brian Johnson would call it, ‘society’s candy’. Which is when there is an over-emphasis on our extrinsic motivators – namely fame, fortune and how you look. It’s okay to focus a little on these things but an over-emphasis can actually, at worst, make you depressed. Yes, that’s right. If you are living the rat race where you are continually focused on material wealth, chasing fame and focusing on what you look for appearance sake – you are in danger of having poorer mental health because of it.

Instead, it’s best to reorient yourself to focus on areas that intrinsically motivate us – fostering strong relationships,

learning and growth, and contributing to a community. It’s been found that people who are motivated by these intrinsic motivators are more likely to be healthy and have higher self esteem.

When you look at your goals this year and in life, what is driving them? Is it about status, power, money or comparison?

Or is it about how you can learn and grow as a person, or the people who mean the most to you, or how you can give back to a greater purpose in life? It is so interesting to use this filter when you come across advertising. You start to see the extrinsic motivators that advertisers use to try and get you to buy their product. Where does your focus truly lie?

Last word

My last word is this – no one is going to do this important work for you. It’s up to you to take responsibility for clarifying your purpose in life and living a more meaningful existence.

We live in a really lucky time (and place) in the world where we can focus on meaning and purpose in our life. Don’t underestimate the power of these simple reflection activities. Join me on social media and share your purpose!

10 questions to plan for 2020

December 30, 2019 by Alicia Curtis

Want to join my Reflection Revolution in 2020? You, me, the Alyceum Community, once a month for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Join us here for a free taster (FIRST TIME GUESTS ONLY) on the 28 January using the coupon bemyguest. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

A fresh new year to dream, visualise and plan. But how do you get started? Journalling is a great tool to develop our insight, connect with our inner voice and start to develop clarity about the life you want to lead.

I think we can under-estimate what can be achieved in a year but we have to take the time to contemplate what we will actually want to achieve and break it down into your first bite sized piece of this. So what do you want to be different in a year’s time?

In December I posted 10 Questions to Fuel Your Reflection of 2019. Because we have to look back first!

It’s a great practice to….

reflect back over the whole year (it gives you a sense of what can be achieved in a year),
visualise what you did with your time (consider the projects you worked on and how you spent your time), and
really consider on the key learnings you have taken from the year – seriously, what did you learn?

Most often, we sleep walk through life without taking the time to reflect, grow and stretch into the future. Just as useful as it is to look back, now it’s time to look forward.

10 Questions to help your planning in 2020

So where to start!

Take these 10 journaling questions to planning for 2020. They are simple questions but they will take some time to consider. Put yourself first – before work, Netflix or social media, and make it a priority to immerse yourself in these questions.

1. How will you step into the highest version of yourself this year?

If you practiced all the habits you wanted, lived your core strengths and you were totally aligned with values – this would be your highest version of you. Visualise who and what this person would look like, what choices they would make, how they would talk and interact with others and what they would focus on in life. The game is – how do you edge closer and closer to this person every moment. Think small steps.

Your highest version of you can be your greatest mentor, guide and inspiration – ask her for advice as life’s challenges arise. Tap into the inner wisdom you possess. The clearer your highest version is to you, the better she can guide you through life’s ups and downs.

2. Describe your ideal day, week and year?

How you live your days is how you live your life!

It’s a big statement but it’s true. Our daily habits form the foundations for how you live your life. What is one habit you want to focus on this year and one habit you want to let go of?

Take some time to craft your ideal day, week and year. What does an ideal 24 hours look like to you? Take into consideration all the realities of life and craft what it could look like.

What about a week? What do the ultimate 7 days look like? Break the rules, and see what you come up with. What energises you? Who do you want to spend time with? What goals do you want to dedicate your life to?

3. How will you use your strengths?

Want to enjoy life to the fullest? Put your strengths to work!

Professor Martin Seligman, Director of the University of Penn Positive Psychology Centre found that a key part of flourishing in life and work is using your strengths. So first you have to know them – do you know them? Inside out and back to front? How much of your day do you get to use your strengths currently?

How can you increase the dial on this and use them more and more in your life. Again, you can be creative with this, perhaps you haven’t come across ways that you could be using them more and more in your life.

4. How will you take care of yourself? What’s your health and wellbeing plan?

Without your health it’s very hard to achieve anything of significance over the long term. Think physical, mental and spiritual. This means you have to actively plan for sleep, rest, nutrition, movement, mental clarity and fun! How could you step up your health? How can you make it fun?

I read an article this year that so aptly described self care as not a day in the day spa but the everyday looking after yourself – cooking healthy meals, moving your body and doing something that enriches your spirit – this is real self care.

Don’t wait until your health is threatened to make health a priority. Do it now.

5. What is holding you back?

Otto Scharmer, author of the books Theory U and Leading from the Emerging Future talks about the three voices that hold you back…

the voice of judgement (shutting down your open mind instead of being inquiring and curious),
the voice of cynicism (shutting down your open heart instead of connecting and relating) and
the voice of fear (shutting down your open will instead of letting go).

How powerful!

Do you ever listen to the stories you tell yourself or others about what’s happening in your life? I often try to listen in to what I say automatically to friends and colleagues about what’s happening in my life.

Journalling is another great opportunity to tap into your stories.

These stories are your beliefs – but you know what, you don’t have to believe them? What? Yes, your beliefs can hold you back and sometimes you need to actively change them.

What beliefs do you need to say goodbye to and what beliefs will you try out in 2020?

6. How will you give back to the community? And how can you be of service to others?

If you know me at all, you know I see this as an integral piece in life. Life is energised by using our greatest strengths in service to the world. If you haven’t felt this through your giving before, you probably haven’t tapped into the right giving for you yet.

How can you focus on giving to others this year? Often this can provide great energy in our lives. If you were to focus on one area to give back in, what’s it going to be this year? Commit as deeply to this as the other areas in your life.

Maybe it could be to join a Not-For-Profit board?

7. What do you want to learn?

The most extraordinary leaders I know are people who never stop learning. They are humble and understand the world is changing at an extraordinary pace.

First define the what. Where do you want to grow, stretch and learn this year? If you could develop your own learning curriculum this year, what would it be?

Then think about the how. How will you learn what you want to learn? What books can you read? Are there any courses you can take? What conferences can you learn from? Which key skills do you want to learn and foster this year?

Get excited about what you can learn and how you can grow as a person and leader.

8. What relationships do you want to foster?

Relationships feed you – they can lift you up, inspire you, challenge you and support you. Yet, we are increasingly living in a lonely world. In today’s world, we’ve forgotten how to foster friendships with others.

Lately I’ve become really intentional about the relationships I’ve wanted to foster. Which ones energise me? Provide great insights? Challenge me? Nurture me?

Think about who makes up your community? Family, friends, networks, work colleagues and neighbours.

Be focused on the key relationships you would like to develop this year. Who can help you be the person you want to be? Will you reach out to a new mentor, create a mastermind group, attend a new conference to expand your networks. Foster your friendships?

This will take time. Devote time, energy, ideas and resources to develop these friendships. Make them fun. Make them meaningful. And they will create a life worth living.

9. How will you be inspired?

Inspire – the original latin definition means to breathe into. How do you breathe life into your existence?

What are the inspiration sources that help you stay energised and refreshed for the ups and downs for the year. How can you operationalise your inspiration sources so you can perform at an optimal level?

Inspiration is required on a consistent basis so think about the sources that energise you in life. What gives you energy and what drains your energy?

10. What amazing life adventures do you want to do this year?

Ok – now it’s time for a bit of fun.

Forget work, think about what is going to bring you joy and fun into your life. What life adventures could you have this year?

Think about what you’ve never done before! What’s something you could do for the very first time? It could be a new place to visit, a new hobby, a new friendship to cultivate?

Think about your fears – what are you avoiding? What gets the heart rate going? Life adventures can be a mental challenge as well as a physical one. What is one fear to conquer this year? What training and preparation could you do? Who could you enlist to help you? Give yourself a challenge.

Think about what brings you joy!

Let’s continue the conversation here. I’d love to know what 2020 will bring you!

Our Annual Review for Alyceum in 2019

December 9, 2019 by Alicia Curtis

Want to join my Reflection Revolution in 2020? You, me, the Alyceum Community, once a month for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Join us here for a free taster on the 18 December using the coupon bemyguest. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

2019 is my 17th year in business. My inspiration was (and still is) reading Anita Roddick’s revolutionary book, Business as Unusual. I remember reading it in the gardens of the University of Western Australia when I should have been studying.

I was so taken by her words.

We can no longer afford false divisions between work and community, between ethics and economics. But how can we change from a system which values endless increasing profit and materialism to one in which the core values are community, caring for the environment, creating, growing things and personal development? We empower people. There aren’t many motivating forces more potent than giving your staff an opportunity to exercise and express their idealism.

After being so involved in the community as a volunteer in my teen years, I saw the potential of using business as a vehicle of social change. As a 19 year old in 2002, this was in a time before all the business accelerators, incubators and entrepreneurial hubs of today. I remember heading to the small business centre to talk about my business idea inspiring people to develop their leadership skills through giving back to society. They told me it wasn’t a strong business idea!

Well, that was like a red flag to a bull!

That was when I started talking regularly to school and community groups about leadership and giving back.

First Among Equals Finalist (Top 4) in the 2019 Business News 40under40 Awards

From these very humble beginnings to reaching the top 4 in the 2019 Business News 40under40’s this year in Western Australia, I was able to reflect on the 25 year+ journey that has got me to this point.

Running your own small business for social change and impact is hardly the easy road. You are solely responsible for generating the income that comes through the doors – both in winning the work, supplying the work and ensuring it’s a the high standard. You have to believe in your ideas so strongly, because everyone will pick them apart. There will be wins and losses along the way, you can’t lose enthusiasm.

It was great to talk about this beginnings at the Business News Food for Thought event this year too. I’ve always juggled my business with my community endeavours. It was one of the main reasons I started my business. I’ve wanted to work on business projects that have a community benefit, that strengthens the social fabrics of our society – and gee, do we need this at the moment!? So let’s explore some of the business projects for this year.

Our Online Offering Grows

The Board Ignition course continues to grow in its cohort and impact.

The feedback from participants makes the hard work all worth it…

“I just wanted to say a big thank you for the advice and support provided via Board Ignition. Amongst other things, it really helped me to identify what I was looking for from a board and to how seek out such opportunities and…… I am now a proud board member of an international NFP board! I know it’s a great fit as I am so excited about their vision and mission and can’t wait to see what will we achieve together over coming months. Thanks again.” – Penny Dowd

“Thank you Alicia for taking the time to create such a thorough, well thought-out, engaging, and relevant course for young people to access. It is practical, and welcoming. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this process, and am grateful to be connected with the broader board ignition cohort.” – Ria Ferris

“Being able to watch Board Director interviews, hear about their journeys and taking the time to consider the reflection questions to enhance my understanding of what I have learnt from each interview. Really enjoyed contributing to the Facebook group.” – Gemma Malatesta

This year, I also:
• softly launched my second online course, Purpose Masterclass,
• created the Aspiring Community Board Directors Toolkit and
• updated my 15 ways to find a community board position resource into a beautiful flipbook.

Read below too about the new monthly mentoring sessions – Alyceum Live – I’m offering in 2020.

New Formats and Familiar Themes

This year was a lot of experimentation too. I trialed a few new formats. I always love to hear your feedback.

Alyceum Leaders Facebook group – this group grows from strength to strength. We have nearly 1000 purpose driven leaders and change makers on this year. This is a free group – so if you haven’t joined, what are you waiting for? Weekly journal prompts, leadership learnings, read and reflects and more! Join us here!

Ask Me Anything sessions – These were a lot of fun, often people want to pick my brains and unfortunately there are too many to have coffee with individually. But I do love helping people out where I can, so I put together this coffee series where people could register in a small group and fire away questions and conversations!

Alyceum Salons – This year I held a few Alyceum Salons over lunch to gather small groups to chat about what was on their mind – their goals and their challenges. Brilliant groups of people and energising conversations.

Alyceum Live – Just last month, we also started a monthly online gathering focused on reflection, inspiration and connection. The first one in November was a huge success, with a fabulous group of people and great engagement. December’s theme is legacy and it’s really challenging me to step up again as a guide, curator and facilitator of spaces to support people’s personal leadership transformations. I really can’t wait to host these each month.

Fabulous events, workshops and clients

Emotional intelligence, self awareness and reflection have all rated highly as topics required by clients this year. It’s been wonderful to work with a range of clients such as Southcare, St Vincent de Paul Society WA Inc, Public Sector Commission, Water Corporation, Linkwest and LIWA.

The 7th Engaging Young Leaders on Aged Care and Community Boards program brought together the most beautiful group of aspiring board directors and change makers. It’s a privilege to work with the extraordinary, Dr Nicky Howe and lead this program in the Not For Profit sector. Each year, we learn the nuances of social change, leadership and the power of community.

It was great to talk to James Lush and Mike Drysdale on the super new Dear Storyteller Podcast this year. What an incredible podcast series.

Exploring the world

I traveled to Singapore twice this year. Once with my family to celebrate my sister in law’s 50th birthday and the second time for the Singapore Institute of Director’s Annual Conference.

It was a brilliant time in Singapore, firstly to explore the culture, food and infrastructure and secondly talking about boards, leadership, diversity and social impact! It was great to chat with new and old friends, who all made me feel so welcome.

I can’t wait until I can come back again! I love the different perspective that travel gives you on life, business and leadership. What travel or conferences have made a difference in your perspective?

Growth, Gratitude and Great People

I was again invited to the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Perth where I was kindly awarded the EY Social Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) award for the western region in 2018, profiling the success we’ve achieved with 100 Women.

This year, I got to sit back and reflect on just how far we have come in the last year with 100 Women. I got to meet the most incredible people through these awards, including these two amazing leaders Sarah Bagshaw and Wayne Peel (EY EOY WA winner), who now proudly join me on the 100 Women Trustee Board (how lucky are we?!). The 100 Women Gala (our 6th Gala) was incredible too. When everyone gives a little, we can achieve a lot. Congratulations to our 2019 grant recipients doing phenomenal work helping women in Perth, regional WA, Uganda & Nepal!

Projects supported in 2019 included…

• Ishar Multicultural Women’s Health Services – educating young girls from diverse cultural backgrounds in Perth with respectful relationships, physical/mental/sexual health & wellbeing information.

• Yiyili Community Indigenous Corporation – supporting 50 women and girls across three generations by creating opportunities locally to earn an income whilst maintaining and strengthening Gooniyandi culture for future generations.

• Love Mercy Foundation – empowering communities in Northern Uganda to overcome poverty caused by years of civil war by empowering them with financial support.

• Pollinate Energy – scaling a women’s empowerment model linking some of the poorest women in Nepal to clean energy markets & empower them with business skills. HUGE thanks to our members, volunteers, sponsors, supporter, board and everyone who came last night!

Kickstart your giving power with 100 Women today and join us here.

The Juggle is Real

We always hear about the juggle and it’s never been more ever present in my life than this year. Personally – my family is well, daughter learnt to roller skate, read and revelled in her friendships. My son had a huge year of learning too. He struggled with leaving me and my husband whether it was at daycare or at the end of the day at bedtime but towards the end of 2019, he is really coming into his own (even if he does wake us at 5am every morning!). His passion for dinosaur adventures is evident in all of our lives and his zest for life is incredible. My sister had a baby on the other side of the world which was so hard not to be there to support and snuggle, but watching her grow from afar is a joy (especially when your talented sister makes gorgeous family videos).

My Grandma has not been so well this year (this is a photo of her with my daughter a few years ago now) and so being there to support her and my mum has been important to me. It’s in these tough moments, which all of us go through, you tend to ask those existential questions – what’s the purpose of my life?, how will I measure the success of my life when I’m laying on my deathbed?, what happens after life? and what’s important to me?.

It’s in these times that you heavily rely on the strength of your relationships with friends and family. To keep talking, connecting, relating and reflecting. It’s a privilege to support my Grandma in her final stages of her life, to remember how special she has been to me and to remind me of what’s important in life. Thank you Grandma.

So on the whole…

I have to be so grateful for the people and opportunities around me. The life I get to live and experiences still ahead to devour! 2020 is looking pretty exciting!

What’s your take on 2019?

10 key questions to fuel your reflection in 2019

December 2, 2019 by Alicia Curtis

It’s so easy to get caught up in the consumerism of Christmas with the social pressures of presents, parties and more but I have a challenge for you to change and reframe what the last month of the year is about! Instead of December passing you by in a blur, let’s make it a time of review and reflection, meaning-making and connection! Isn’t that what the festive season is really supposed to be about?

* Want to join my Reflection Revolution in 2020? You, me, the Alyceum Community, once a month for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Join us here for a free taster on the 18 December using the coupon bemyguest. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.*

Connection and Reflection

Rather than making December a month of overindulgence of food and drink, why not gather an intimate group of your family, friends and colleagues together to make time for personal reflection and then share your reflections with each other. You could couple this with an early morning walk along the beach, an evening yoga session or a fun game of tennis! I’ve made it simple for you and created a list of questions you can send to your friends below. Or better yet, make up your own list of questions to explore!

Reflection can be a powerful learning tool to ignite your self awareness, relationships and leadership. Better yet, it’s absolutely free to do and your reflections get better with practice.

A Magic Carpet Ride

Think of it as a magic carpet ride through the events, activities and experiences that occurred in 2019. Fly through your year from January to now, think about the moments of pure joy as well as the challenges that have made you stronger. I find it can be worthwhile to flick through your diary and note the events, milestones, projects or family moments that made an impact this year.

Step back and reflect – what did these moments mean for you? What have you learnt? By standing back and looking at it from a distance, you can elicit the learning and the meaning. There has been multiple research studies that have shown the benefits of regular reflection. It helps our performance and also makes us happier. Think of it as the debrief after the game, consider each move made, think about how strategies panned out, reflect on winning moves and ones to improve on next time.

As Margaret Wheatley said “We are, always, poets, exploring possibilities of meaning in a world which is also all the time exploring possibilities.”

Let me prompt you…

I get it… reflection can be hard if it’s a muscle you haven’t used in awhile. So let me take some of the pain away but giving you some prompts to help with your thinking. Here are 10 questions to get you thinking about the year that’s been!

1. What has made you proud this year?

Tap into the experiences and achievements that made you feel happy, satisfied and alive!

Sometimes our reflections can be dogged by what went wrong and how do you improve. Instead, I want you to focus on the activities that made you the proudest this year!

What activities can you credit to your hard work, initiative or creativity? Sink into these feelings – perhaps it was something you achieved or something someone close to you achieved. Perhaps it was something you overcame this year or a lesson you learned. It could be anything – relationships, goals, hard work or your attitude

2. What inspired you this year?

inspiration: the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

Re-energising is so important. Pinpoint what it was for you.

What were your sources of inspiration this year? People, environments, conferences or videos (like TED videos), movies, events, books – anything! See if you can pin point it – what or who inspired you to be your best?

What were the catalysts to enhance your knowledge, confidence, skills or work? Was it a new podcast, a key event or an important mentor? Share this list with others to combine your inspiration avenues!

3. What are your three key learnings from this year?

What’s been your major learning curves this year?

Instead of sailing into the new year without fully gaining the benefit of all your experiences this year, consider the three main things that you’ve learnt. What did you set out to learn and improve on during the year? Where can you see you improved from last year?

Where have you grown the most as a person, leader, family member or friend? Were these intended learning curves or a by product of circumstance? Either way, we can take each experience to the next level by reflecting on what we learnt.

4. What habits have served you well?

Aristotle said we are what we repeatedly do. It’s quite enlightening to realise that what you do day in, day out makes you the person you are! Maybe it’s a little scary too!

It’s so simple, but it can also mean the discipline of constructing your day to be the person you want to be. What habits did you intentionally practice this year and which ones have slipped in – good or bad? Which habits have you added this year? Which ones did you drop? How did it make a difference to your year?

5. What were your key relationships this year and how have they affected you?

Family and friends, business colleagues and community – relationships can play a key part of your happiness and also your success.

Which relationships made you feel strong and empowered? How did you intentionally foster the relationships in your life? Are you hanging around the right people? Are they lifting you up to be your best? How has your presence positively impacted on the people around you too?

6. How did you utilise your strengths this year?

Your strengths are your superpowers. How do you use them in service to the world? Do you know what your key strengths are? If not, perhaps it’s time to get clear about the strengths that you are or can contribute to the world.

How did you put your strengths to work this year? Are you using your strengths on a daily, weekly and monthly basis? How does it make you feel when you can work in your zone of genius, as Gay Hendricks would call it.

7. How did you focus on what’s fundamentally important to you this year?

It is so easy to get caught up in what everyone else wants you to do. Your email can end of being a huge list of other people’s to do actions! Your family, friends, work or even society in general can dictate what gets done.

Think about when you get into work everyday, do you reflect on your key priorities and set in for some deep, deliberative work or do you check your email and focus on what others want of you? Did you get to focus on what was important to you this year or did you get pulled in different directions?

What is fundamentally important to you and how do you ensure it stays the priority for you?

8. What are you grateful for this year?

Time to evoke a little gratitude. Make a list and check it twice!

Gratitude has immeasurable benefits to your physical health, mental health, improves your relationships, increases your resilience, helps you sleep better, improves your self esteem, not to mention, it makes you happier!

From the huge big things to the tiniest little things. What are you grateful for? If it involved people around you, this might be a nice way to reconnect with people during December and tell them what made you grateful too!

9. What have been the obstacles, hard times or challenges you’ve experienced and how have you grown from the experiences?

Yes there are going to be ups and downs in the year. Times where it didn’t always go to plan. Experiences you didn’t expect. What were your biggest challenges this year?

Revisit these tough times and bring some reframing to it – how has it made you a better person, how did you grow and what did you learn? If it’s still tough to revisit, perhaps it’s time for gather a new meaning about the experience.

10. How would I summarise the year that I’ve had?

Use your creative juices to summarise the year in a creative way.

It’s quite in vogue these days to come up with a word at the start of the year, but I want you to do this retrospectively. How would you summarise it?

What would be the theme, mantra or symbol that characterises the year that you had? How would you draw a picture to reflect on the past year? Time to get out of your head and instead into your heart and body. What colours would you use? What shapes or images represent this year?

Take some time this December…

Grab your favourite drink, put on some encouraging music and sit in your favourite chair or go outside into nature and answer these questions for yourself!? Then come together with friends and share your reflections from the year.

Look out the blog in the coming weeks for 10 Questions to Plan for the New Year.

Have you registered for the Alyceum Live online gathering below?

As our Christmas gift to you, you can register for FREE using the coupon code bemyguest by clicking on the image below.

Our annual review for Alyceum 2018

December 17, 2018 by Alicia Curtis

Firstly – THANK YOU! I am so grateful to you for reading my blog, sharing in my community and supporting my work. It really means the world to me. I feel incredibly humbled by your support and appreciate the difference you make to my life.

So let’s explore the year…

Board Ignition – Igniting Community Board Directors

Our flagship online course, Board Ignition, is growing and more excitingly it’s succeeding in getting people onto community boards.

Feedback has been sensational…

“The Board Ignition online program provides a solid platform of learning and Board ready strategies. The video interviews with active board members, sharing their experiences is really valuable”
“Well done Alicia. Great energy and engagement”
“Such a good course. Bucket loads of great content. The interviews are great to listen to each week, amazing insights, so diverse and no two are the same. Great interview questions Alicia”
“I’ve been seeing a lot of your lovely face recently as I sat and watched all the Board Ignition webinars again over the weekend, as part of my prep for a Trainee Board Director interview, which I have today! It was soooo helpful to sit and go through the webinars again, so thank you for all your efforts with them.”

And more importantly, graduates are getting onto boards!

In 2019, we are upgrading the course again with new case studies, worksheets and practical challenges. We do have a special offer on the course until the 31st December if you’re keen to do the course in February next year.

Engaging Young Leaders on Boards – 6th Year of Success

Wow – the people we have coming onto the Emerging Leaders in Governance program just get more impressive every year, it’s a joy to work with these outstanding values driven leaders. This program which culminated in May has already seen half of the participants get board or traineeship roles. Thank you to my friend and mentor, Dr Nicky Howe, Southcare and the 42 community organisations that make that program a reality and a success!

Wonderful recognition for Alyceum and 100 Women

The biggest surprise this year has been the awards and recognition that has so gratefully been shared with me this year. I want to really appreciate the people who look the time to nominate me for these awards. I’m incredibly humbled by it and have tried my upmost to share this recognition with the many people who support the projects that I get the pleasure of leading and also use the recognition to further spread the messages of community service and philanthropy.

2018 EY Social Entrepreneur of the Year in the Western Region

This really was an incredible experience. As an entrepreneur though and though, I found it awe-inspiring to be surrounded by such talented entrepreneurs, to connect and share this experience. It was wonderful for the whole 100 Women team to be recognised too for the hard work and impact we’ve created over the last 5 years.

Finalist, Business Category, Western Australian of the Year Awards

A true celebration of the amazing talent in WA, the Western Australian of the Year Awards was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate with my friends and 100 Women team mates with what has been achieved this year. I was humbled to be recognised alongside some truly inspiring business people in Perth.

Wonder Woman of the Year, Momentum Forum Events 2018

Thank you to Barbara and Momentum Forum Events for naming me your Wonder Woman of the Year! What a title! It was wonderful to learn from your events prowess and philanthropic background.

100 Women – 5th Year and $500,0000 in grants given!

This year we celebrated our 5th year at 100 Women. Wow – what a brilliant group of humans! I want to appreciate every single person who has donated to 100 Women over the years, you can all celebrate in this success. I want to appreciate the people behind the scenes that make this organisation happen and a special mention to our outgoing Treasurer, Grace Mugabe for 5 years of book keeping and board reporting. This is an amazing commitment and while you won’t be far from the organisation, your dedication needs to be acknowledged and recognised!

Media

Thank you to everyone who has covered us in the media this year.

– Podcasts – Words from Oz and Good Will Hunters
– Sustainable, Collaborative Giving by Business News
– Opinion piece in the West Australian – WA must embrace its diversity

Thank you to my support team

There are some wonderful people who support my business – thank you to Sarah, Emily and Galia from Sarah Noked. My incredible VA, Josefine, who contributes like she’s been involved in my business for years – you’re a gem!!

I had two wonderful interns join my business for two months from Curtin University – Lizzie and Maddie. Their writing abilities astounded me, they have such bright futures ahead.

Thank you also to Bruno Kongawoin for his incredible headshots – see my headshot in the newspaper article above! I highly recommend his work.

Personally for me

Personally for me there have been highs and lows. Sadly my husband lost his dad this year, way too soon at 72. Ray inspired me with his dedication to his family, community and friends, his wonderful creativity and his character and determination. His beautiful funeral which his son (my husband), daughters and wife created was a celebration of life and everything that’s good in the world. Remembering our mortality forces us to focus on what’s important in life and making every day count.

My beautiful kids turned 2 and 5. They give me extreme pride in the people they are becoming, their care and kindness as well as their commitment and dedication they show. As anyone with kids will attest to, it’s an immense job and always creates a full life!

Thank you to my friends and family who keep me sane amongst the fullness of life, thank you for your care. Thanks to my gorgeous sister, Suzy for taking this beautiful family photo. Your work constantly inspires me.

And what is in store for 2019?

Board Ignition starts in February. Get into it! I’m excited to bring an upgraded Board Ignition – with new videos, worksheets and practical challenges. There is no better place if you want to make your aspiration of being a board director a reality!

I will also be launching a new course in May. I can’t wait to share more about this in the new year.

Now over to you: What have been the highs and lows of your year? Share it on Alyceum’s private Facebook group, Alyceum Leaders.