Self unLimited - Stories of the Brave
Published by Questo
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Stories from brave people changing their own workscape by becoming Self unLimited. Hear individuals share their story with Helen Palmer, creator Self unLimited and Founder of Questo. A limited series of episodes released when we discover someone with a great story to tell.
Available episodes
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4 days ago
Eps 50: Ali Farajala and Helen Palmer workshop a workscape policy on kindness
Ali (SU Ambassador) and Helen (SU Founder) celebrate the 50th episode of the series with a special session. They explore what is means to each of them to be intentionally kind and do acts of kindness in their workscapes. They muse about and unpack what kindness could mean in a work context as they seek a meaningful definition as the basis for writing a personal workscape policy on kindness.
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Oct 30, 2023
Eps 49: Niko French on following his automotive passions and making podcasts
Niko gives us a peek into how he created his diverse workscape where he creates marketing content in the automotive industry. He loves cars - they are his passion! His active involvement in various racing activities, draws attention and showcases his talents ... and readiness to walk through doors that open. One of those doors was hosting a podcast series called Car Talk - The YTG Podcast (found on all good podcast channels). It is an ideal way for him to share and fuel his passion alongside his own business Niko French media. Find more of his work at https://nikofrench.com/
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Sep 28, 2023
Eps 48: Samantha Garrett (again) on doing something for herself while being an employee
Samantha shares her journey of self-discovery and employee empowerment. She's a self-starter and a content creator and this attracted a potential employer. Her content creation activity enables her to express her creative self and to help people through her passion for productivity with Google apps - which she didn’t want to lose in being an employee. In exploring the new employment opportunity, she navigated the complexities of potential conflicts of interest and preserving her rights to her intellectual property. She has insights to share about how she achieved a harmonious blend of self-fulfilment and professional commitment.
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Aug 30, 2023
Eps 47: Stuart French on learning journeys and personal knowledge management
Stuart riffs with Helen about taking a personal approach to knowledge management in their workscapes. There are shared stories about gaining knowledge from the experiences and interactions with others, and the value of sharing knowledge to learn. And some interesting tangents taken in curiosity, including emotional aspects of knowing, learning, creating and sharing.
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Jul 27, 2023
Eps 46: Elisa Dominique Rivera about creative writing alongside a very different day job
Elisa Dominique Rivera shares how her creative writing fuels her day-job and her day-job fuels her creative writing in symbiotic relationship even though they are not strongly related. Her writing is an important part of her voice and well-being so she's made it an intentional part of her broader workscape. She shares about what that involves and how she makes it work.
Read one of her published stories here: https://www.writersplaygroundllc.com/free-range
Elisa recommends these places for creative writing support: https://writershq.co.uk and https://www.writerscentre.com.au
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Jun 28, 2023
Eps 45: Rhys Paddick on a mission shared with a creative collaborator
Rhys Paddick is a man with a mission - mixing being an educator, artist and entrepreneur on business ventures with a creative collaborator. He's using his talents to stimulate conversations (aka yarns), and new customs at the intersection of culture and organisations in Australia. He shares with Helen about how he's not been following a plan - his path has been organic as he follows what he loves and where he believes he can have a positive impact.
To learn more about the Acknowledge This! training, visit https://www.acknowledgethis.com.au
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May 30, 2023
Eps 44: Kate Harvey on treating her workscape as a series of experiments
Kate decided to shift to the perspective of her workscape … her career, being a series of experiments. This liberated her from an unhelpful perspective of failing, to give more room to her emotions and to expressing a more authentic self. She shares with Helen about her year of fun and the learnings that had unexpected flows in and through her workscape.
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Apr 26, 2023
Eps 43: Will Snow about employment law for individuals shaping their workscape
Will Snow, an employment lawyer, provides an enlightening perspective on employment law and employee-employer relations. He explains how employment law plays a role in shaping an individual's workscape, and what you can do to influence your workscape experience for mutual benefit. He also shares useful thoughts about the nuanced aspects of shaping a workscape, that benefit from an approach that isn't always legally-driven or legally-led.
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Mar 27, 2023
Eps 42: Rebecca Gordon on limitations and gaining new perspectives
Rebecca's workscape included tangling with a major medical situation. This had her reflecting on limitations and directions. With such a challenge, she found herself using techniques learnt at work to nimbly navigate a way forward without having all the answers to her questions. She shares with Helen wisdom gained across her whole (and long) workscape.
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Jan 31, 2023
Eps 41: Theresa Moulton shares advice for people joining entreprenuerial ventures
Theresa is a serial entrepreneur. She's had the opportunity to recruit and work with many people in her entrepreneurial ventures. She's observed and learnt about the mindsets and skills that are necessary for people to thrive when working in a start-up. She talks with Helen about these things so budding entrepreneurs can prepare and check for themselves about whether this is a path they might want to take.
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Dec 4, 2022
Eps 40: Ket Patel about shaping a workscape with things outside employment
Ket Patel loves cultivating communities. It's this desire to connect people and possibilities that led him to behave entrepreneurially - to create value for others regardless of whether he was employed to do so. The way he thinks and acts is very Self unLimited and he was doing this long before he heard of Self unLimited. His workscape is rich with stories of what he's done, and dreams for what he'll do next as he leads himself while being an employee.
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Oct 31, 2022
Eps 39: Jasmine Malki about activating strengths through a portfolio career
Jasmine Malki doesn't have a singular career path, she's mixing it up in a portfolio career where she's consciously attending to and activating her strengths. She's on an ongoing journey to test out possibilities, explore the nuances of what gives her joy and fulfillment in work, and live her life to align with these. This gives her great energy and enables her to be effective, productive and valuable wherever she contributes her talent and experience. It just so happens she once did that working part-time in two different disciplinary areas in two different organisations. She's an example of what's possible when there's open eyes and open conversations with your employers.
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Sep 30, 2022
Eps 38: Jen Holder about how value exchange influenced her employment decision making
Jen Holder was re-evaluating what was happening in her workscape, and what she wanted to do about it. She choose to use the Value Exchange Ledger activity to help her figure out what questions to explore, and what answers made sense. She was literally e-valu-ating what value was important and getting attention. She started with herself, and expanded this evaluation to hold important conversations with two organisations in her workscape. It was a game-changer for her.
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Sep 1, 2022
Eps 37: Michelle Fotheringham explains about Werkling for the gig economy
Michelle Fotheringham 'escaped' from corporate life to work in the professional gig economy. She also created the means for others to join together in doing such work, providing an alternative pathway for organisations to access great talent. She explains about her creation, Werkling and shares advice for individuals who might take their own path to becoming a Werkling. It's a very Self unLimited way of working!
Learn more about Werkling here: https://www.werkling.com/
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Jul 28, 2022
Eps 36: Jacqui Williamson about an intentional break in her workscape
Jacqui Williamson took an intentional break as she finished one gig in her workscape, and contemplated what next. She explains why she did this, what she did and what steps she's taken previously in her workscape to make such break-taking possible. She challenges the status quo about having 'empty' spaces in her 'resume'.
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Jun 2, 2022
Eps 35: Neville Christie shares how at 80 he's getting ready for a new future of work
Neville Christie is 80 years young, and he's not retired. He's currently on a sabbatical as he readies himself for the next chapter in his workscape in a radically evolving future of work. He proposes bold ideas and predicts big changes for his workscape and yours. Listen out for the seven sources of income, and great advice for the young starting out and the brave ready to reset.
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Apr 21, 2022
Eps 34: Michael Amsoms about how his craft of pottery intersects with his working life
Michael Amsoms has added pottery making into his workscape. It is enriching his day-to-day job with insights about craft, mistakes and creativity. He shares with Helen how this came about and what he's been learning about himself as he crafts pottery artefacts and his professional practice.
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Mar 27, 2022
Eps 33: Vincenzo & Bronte on having a supportive cell of professional friends
Vincenzo Danilo Esposito and Bronté Jackson are special colleagues-from-another-organisation of Helen's. During the pandemic, they created a space (virtual, social, temporal) to support each other through challenges in their individual workscapes. The nature and purpose of this space emerged over time. It gave them all some 'wind beneath our wings' to explore thoughts, feelings and potential resolutions. They reflect on how it came about and what it meant to each of them. (Hear first from Vincenzo; then from Bronté.)
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Jan 26, 2022
Eps 32: Anetta Pizag about smart choices for your workscape
Anetta Pizag has been shaping her workscape with conscious decisions about when, where and how she works so that she can be productive and work smarter not harder. With her experience and insights, fuelled by a healthy dose of research, she's collated practical advice for 35 Smart Choices in her new book, so others can be their best self each day by developing their unique work style. She guides Helen in addressing four genuine challenges in Helen's workscape.
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Nov 30, 2021
Eps 31: Cassie Goodman about self-fidelity and being true to self
Helen talks with Cassie Goodman about self-fidelity and what it means to her. She's been on a journey to explore and shape a practice of being true to self, and restore faith in the very best version of self. It's an idea that stands out in a world when there are many voices that attempt to influence who we are or who we should be. Cassie advocates for clarifying one's own strengths and recommends starting with the VIA tool: https://www.viacharacter.org/
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Oct 25, 2021
Eps 30: Dani Sirotic about creativity and how it's different for each person
Helen and Dani Sirotic muse about creativity and what it means to them. They explore ideas of showing up, trying things, keeping eyes open to find new connections, placing self in different situations both to restore self and to find new things. In their everyday lives there are different things they do that are creative.
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Sep 15, 2021
Eps 29: Catherine Grenfell about her state of discoverment not retirement
Helen talks with Catherine Grenfell about her recent action to leave the world of 'normal' work and move to a state of retirement. Well, not retiring as you might expect … she says it’s a state of discoverment. She's got many things on the go that tap into and grow her abilities and interests. One project is mixing her love of books and travel in videos published on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/user/CatherineGrenfell/
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Aug 30, 2021
Eps 28: Julien Leyre about unconventional independent work choices
Helen and Julien Leyre talk about unconventional lives and independent work choices. This includes what Julien does, who he works with and what value he seek from his work away from the mainstream. His decisions are partly based on a conscious understanding with his partner about lifestyle choices that connect to work choices. There's a deeper philosophy at play in the reign of Julien unLimited!
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Jul 26, 2021
Eps 27: Natasha Redman about Imposter Syndrome and not having it
Helen and Natasha (Tash) Redman riff on the subject of Imposter Syndrome - something they don't experience. They reflect on what they do experience, choose to do and who they listen to in their workscapes as they step into situations of not knowing, and growing.
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Jul 11, 2021
Eps 26: María Recaman (again) on creating a workscape in a foreign country
Helen talks with María Recaman in a second conversation about the challenges in finding a job and creating a workscape in a foreign country. María moved to Australia from Columbia and navigated general cultural, as well as professional cultural changes.
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Jun 16, 2021
Eps 25: Ali Farajala on what graduates want from working life
Helen talks with Ali Farajala, originally from Sudan, now living and working in Australia. Ali shares key moments in his journey and advice he'd give his younger self. He shares his reflections on what graduates want and how Self unLimited thinking helped him change his perspective on work and working life.
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Jun 9, 2021
Eps 24: Steph Clark on having new experiences to gain new skills
Helen and Steph Clark riff on what is work, and ways to actively create varied opportunities for having new experiences and gaining new skills. They explore being intentional, experimental and taking break periods as part of a contemporary working life.
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May 23, 2021
Eps 23: Joanne Hansen about value and what's valuable in work
Helen talks with Joanne Hansen about value and what's valuable to Joanne personally. It's a mix of enduring, and things that change because of context. Together they riff on different notions of finding value in work, tapping into Joanne's HR perspective.
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May 10, 2021
Eps 22: Blair Morgan on how music enriches his workscape
Helen talks with Blair Morgan about how his interest and skill in music are enriching his workscape, both when he's employed and when he's on a work break. And he's not the only one benefiting from the musical experiences.
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Apr 12, 2021
Eps 21: Wendy Grimston on reflections of a 40 year workscape
Helen talks with Wendy Grimston about how much change she's seen, and the changes she's personally made, as she celebrates 40 years in her workscape. She's had core values as her guiding light through a diversity of opportunities, and commitment to learning.
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Mar 25, 2021
Eps 20: Lizzie Webb on mixing volunteer and paid work
Helen talks with Lizzie Webb who works to improve the lives of those around her, creating a world of which she can be proud. In her very diverse workscape, she's mixing volunteer and paid work where she can align what she does with her values. She has great advice for others ready to contribute through volunteering.
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Mar 8, 2021
Eps 19: Sheillah Bagayana on working in a not-for-profit
Helen talks with Sheillah Bagayana from Uganda to get a view of the current workscape of a young bio-medical engineer working in a NFP (Fre02). Sheillah is passionate about the work she does and has a resilient learning mindset with which she navigates challenges.
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Jan 28, 2021
Eps 18: María Recaman on being in a limbo state seeking work
Helen talks with María Recaman about her experience of being in a 'limbo state' in her workscape. She had moved to a new country and sought to find work. Two things that are challenging under normal circumstances, but she had to also contend with the early phase of the COVID pandemic. She shares about her emotions and strategies for coping and find a way through.
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Nov 5, 2020
Eps 17: Samantha Garrett and Mike Reading on intraprenuerial work
Helen talks with Samantha (Sam)Garrett who's venturing inside her organisation, Using Technology better. She's tapping into her creative energy for personal flow and to create new value for the small enterprise of 20 and its clients. Also in the conversation is Mike Reading, her boss, who's supporting and backing such emergent activity with useful guardrails from strong core values that Mike's set for all team members.
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Sep 23, 2020
Eps 16: Prateek Kapur on relationships and cultivating connections for work
Helen talks with Prateek Kapur about relationships and the nitty gritty in establishing and cultivating connections, with an open mindset to what value might be created. Prateek came to Australia two years ago as a post-grad student from India. So there's a cross-cultural flavour to his relationships too as he shapes a new chapter in his workscape after completing his studies.
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Jul 27, 2020
Eps 15: Helen Palmer on creating Self unLimited idea
Helen becomes the subject of the podcast, rather than the interviewer! The microphone is turned around so Dani Sirotic, good friend of Self unLimited asks Helen the questions. Dani probes to learn more about Helen's past workscape and what shaped her thinking in creating the Self unLimited idea. Spoiler alert - there's a recurring theme about possibilities!
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May 25, 2020
Eps 14: Máire Ruane about a challenging health situation and work
Helen talks with Máire Ruane about the challenging health situation she experienced and how she found ways to use this experience to help her thrive. She connected to her strengths in relationships, learning and sharing, and has got a buzz from purposeful activity to help others and save lives.
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Apr 29, 2020
Eps 13: Matt Mulrine on adventures in running his own business
Helen Palmer talks with Matt Mulrine about his adventures in passionately choosing to run his own business, and what he's learnt from the challenges in this choice. Mindset is an important part! There are risks and rewards should you decide this is the life style you want.
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Nov 10, 2019
Eps 12: Ruari Wood-Freeman on taking a break from employment to explore
Helen talks with Ruari Wood-Freeman about his decision to create space with a temporary break from employment with a large corporate organisation to creatively explore a different workscape. A bold decision for a young person so early in their working life!
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Oct 20, 2019
Eps 11: Nisha Leena Sinha Roy & Patrik Mihailescu on interconnected work journeys
Helen talks with Nisha Leena Sinha Roy and her husband Patrik Mihailescu about their mutual and interconnected journeys in being Self unLimited. The journey's are not the same, yet they have powerful intersections that have shaped their workscapes and their family life.
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Jun 17, 2019
Eps 10: Eric Chan about making career choices against the status quo
Helen talks with Eric Chan about making career choices that go against the status quo. He shares about the influences, the challenges and the results for his choices. While in his early 30s, he’s got daring advice for people of all ages.
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Apr 8, 2019
Eps 09: Helen Blunden on a creative side-gig to learn not earn
Helen talks with Helen Blunden who shares her inspiring story about a side-gig that’s about fun and learning and not about money. She tells how it came about and what she's getting out of it. A fabulous example of a Scenario 2 workscape in being Self unLimited
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Nov 13, 2018
Eps 08: Eliza Lim on a taking big leap to create her own business
Eliza Lim talks with guest interviewer Dani Sirotic about how she took the big leap to create her own retail business. She knew she was unhappy in the corporate world and had to make a change. She shares openly about the ups and downs of such change.
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Sep 6, 2018
Eps 07: Kim Ballestrin on personal choices negotiated with employer
Helen and Kim Ballestrin talk about the choices Kim makes for herself, and in negotiation with her employer, that enables her to work in a Self unLimited manner.
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Jul 23, 2018
Eps 06: Jason Leong on SU for personal and team development
Helen and Jason Leong talk about how the Self unLimited program was utilised in personal and professional development of Jason's team. Jason reflects on his own Self unLimited journey.
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Jun 28, 2018
Eps 05: Angela Nielson on a simple idea to extend her network
Helen and Angela Nielson, talk about how Angela extends her Relationships to bring diverse people from her network together in an informal Awesome gathering.
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Apr 19, 2018
Eps 04: Nisha Leena Sinha Roy about the shape of her Scenario 2 workscape
Helen talks with Nisha Leena Sinha Roy, about how Nisha unLimited is shaping up. Nisha's workscape is currently Scenario 2 and she's been exploring different ways she does 'extra-curricular' activity. One of those is volunteer work with Girl Guides - she's even got opportunities for other women wanting to expand their talents and experience!
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Mar 25, 2018
Eps 03: Brad Adriaanse on shaping up a personal workscape through wandering
Helen chats with Brad Adriaanse about how Brad unLimited is shaping up. He's been shifting across multiple Self unLimited Scenarios, and has insights and advice for people exploring and wandering like him.
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Feb 21, 2018
Eps 02: Lisa Weber on the evolving shape of Lisa unLimited
Helen chats with Lisa Weber about how Lisa unLimited is shaping up since she attended the first virtual class. She's working SCENARIO 2 (employee with extra-curricular activities) in a large multi-national organisation, and has useful advice for people in a workscape like her.
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Jan 28, 2018
Eps 01: Emma Smart on lessons learnt running her own creative business
Helen chats with Emma Smart about how Emma unLimited is shaping up since we read her story in the Self unLimited book. She shares what lessons she's learning as she runs her own creative business in her early 30s.
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