#indigenoussuccess

So.

This is nearly the end. On Dec 16th, my time as AIME’s inaugural Co-CEO comes to a close.

I know the regularity in my posting has been pretty terrible but in the next week or so I’ll be writing a nice big ol’ final goodbye and reflection on the year.

For now! I’ll leave you with the launch of the search for my successor!

Can’t wait to see what the next Co-CEO brings to the table (although I hope it’s tough to reach the height of the bar I’ve set in 2016!)

Firstly, many apologies on not ever getting around to writing about week 4 of Stanford, it turns out life back home wasn’t as instantaneously calm as I expected it to be.

Let’s just say I was very reluctant to get on the plane back home after my last week over in beautiful Northern California. Graduating the program and saying goodbye to some great new friends and the amazing lifestyle that is Stanford student life was pretty damn tough - but it was definitely comforting to know I was coming back to the second half of, what will no doubt continue to be, my craziest year to date.

Secondly, I’ve decided to count the four weeks I spent over there as 28 more days as Co-CEO so we’ll call this, my first day back in the office, day 122!

Admittedly, it was quite a struggle readjusting to my 6am alarm this morning, but the Sydney traffic was at a minimum and the weather’s nothing to complain about so my welcome back to the office has been off to a great start.

I’m slowly but surely getting through my 190 unread emails and upon checking my calendar, there’s plenty of exciting events coming up that I’ve got to prepare for - so I guess you could say I’m straight back into it!

I’d have to say the most beneficial take out from the past 6 weeks was the time I had to genuinely reflect on my experience as Co-CEO so far, what I’ve learnt, what I want to do with said learnings, (i.e I’m currently writing up some light bulb moments I had around AIME’s strategy), and how I feel about what happens once it all wraps up. 

I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I want next year to look like for me, but one thing is for certain, I’ll be going back to university. 

I forgot how much I love studying and after Stanford (although college life is a whole other ball game in comparison to what we do here at home), I’m definitely missing UOW. I need and want to finish my degrees pretty bad and I know I’ll be much better off with what I can offer to the Indigenous space I’m already navigating once I’ve graduated. 

Under no circumstance does this mean I want to cut ties with AIME - so that’s where my dilemma lies, in what capacity can I continue to work whilst studying? I’m hoping that’s a question I can answer in the coming weeks.

I also had my first proper rest since starting this job over this period. I know Mon to Fri classes from 9am to 5pm doesn’t exactly sound like a rest, but a break from Full-Time work and being able to step back in to the study mode I know how to navigate so well, was undeniably a kind of restful change. (The two weeks leave I had on the end of it definitely helped too).

Side note: It’s just occurred to me how obvious it is that I’m a massive nerd through my loving description of getting back to study. When I was 16 one of my aunties bought me a book titled something along the lines of “Why Nerd’s Rule The World” and from that moment I’ve realised it’s not exactly a well kept secret so I’m wearing the label loud and proud. 

And that little gem is what I’ll leave you with.

I’m back to my (mostly) daily updates too! Now I’ve got to get back to writing up a couple of speeches and the rest of those pesky emails!

Eight days to go.

With a long weekend, 3 days of a strategy retreat and a working from home day to ensure I have a moment to pack ahead of leaving - this is my last day in the office for 6 weeks.

It feels weird to basically have nothing left to do work wise, now that I’ve ticked all the pre-Stanford tasks off my list, I can shift to the packing for Stanford list and people I need to catch up with before I go to Stanford list.

Man I love lists.

I guess now is a good time to tell you that I wont be posting as much on here from now on in.

With my crazy busy week next week and the no doubt enormous study load I’ll have while I’m over there, I doubt I’ll have more than one chance a week to write something. I’m thinking I might do weekly wrap ups to keep everyone up to date.

Stay tuned but - I’ll post masses of pictures here and on my instagram, to make sure you all feel like you’re there with me too!

Have a great long weekend!

Peace out

Day 95 - 97: Graduation Speech

Ok, so...

It’s time for me to take a break. 

I’ve been running at severely low levels over the past few weeks, and if I don’t pause and reenergise, the consequences will not be pretty.

My leave for the next week will be effective as of this afternoon.

I think there will be a lot of take outs from this, but it’s definitely time for me to really, truly step away from the AIME world for a moment.

I’ll be back on the 16th of May.

I think I’ve been writing too many essays recently, so here’s an awesome, thought provoking TED Talk around the pedestal we’ve put ‘leadership’ on.

Worth the watch - and it’s worth it to start thinking about the concept of leading in a more accessible light.

Enjoy.

When something horrible like what we’ve seen in Belgium in the past 24 hours occurs, we’re forced to ask why?

Why does this happen? What compels people to seek to commit harm against one and other? How do we fix what is so obviously a universal issue? And, why do I feel like I’ve asked these questions before?

I don’t think I could come close to giving an accurate answer to these, and the array of injustices that exist in our world sometimes feels so vast that focusing too much time on them is simply overwhelming.

But if as many individuals as possible took the time to reflect on some ideas around this ‘why’ - maybe we could finally come up with an answer.

I guess this post is just a bit of a spew of my thoughts.

The video below is pretty thought provoking too.

Day 46 wasn’t a day of Co-CEOing at all. I was off work feeling pretty miserable actually.

It turns out I am human after all. 

I think my body hit a wall over the weekend and decided it was time to hit the pause button.

It decided to be stubborn too, so the only way I could continue functioning at all for the coming week, was if I got a solid eight hours of sleep and spent a considerable amount of time horizontal. 

So that’s what I did today.

That rest really has made a difference though, and as much as I feel frustrated with the fact that I’ve lost a day of productivity, it’s left me thinking about the importance of maintaining my wellbeing.

On a physical and psychological level, it is imperative that I am balanced and stable, so I can maintain a successful and healthy work lifestyle.

So lesson learnt Marlee - listen to your body, get more sleep and more vegetables and switch off every once in a while, okay?

Look after yourselves Lemon Wedges!