Client Stories & Testimonials: Claudia Frere-Anderson

Before working with Curt

Before working with Curt, Claudia had been feeling stuck and uninspired in her work. She had been successful in her career so far, but felt caught in an endless loop of trying to figure out where she was going next.

Along with the uncertainty of direction, the life had gone out of one of her prime motivators – making a difference. “I want to make the world a better place, but something was missing.” She was “so caught in the day-to-day details” of her work that she had lost that sense of meaning.

Part of that was the result of an unsustainable approach to work (and life), with a hyper-focus on filling every moment with doing. There was almost an addictive quality to it, and time for self-care took a back seat.

Benefit summary

After working with Curt, Claudia feels more focused and inspired in her career, and more energized in both her work and life overall. She has recaptured a sense of meaning in her work. Not only does she feel calmer and less reactive, she also experiences less worry, a greater sense of spaciousness, and more trust in the process, all of which contribute to more confidence and less need to try to control things.

In a nutshell, Claudia says she now feels more equipped to “play my best game.” And that in turn has a direct impact on the difference she is able to make.

After working with Curt

Bringing her best game

While Claudia’s initial motivation to work with Curt was a need for more career-direction clarity, the work they did ultimately ended up being about how to bring her best game to the difference she wants to make in the world, and how to do it in a way that’s sustainable for the long-term.

As she describes it, “Quality, and being effective, and being a badass is important to me. So how do I show up at my best? Well, it’s when I feel good. And when do I feel good? When I’m clear, and I’ve got a direction, and organization, and peace, and harmony, and I’m getting enough sleep. So it was this major aha moment of, “Oh! There’s a direct link there!’” She realized the inner game was a vital piece of the puzzle.

Claudia discovered several key components to bringing her best game to her work.

Focus and direction: Understanding what energizes her and using that as a guide for both her long-term direction and her day-to-day work.

Self-alignment: Consciously bringing more of how she’s naturally wired into the work she does and the difference she makes.

Story management: Recognizing and working with the stories that shape and influence her perceptions, choices, and actions.

Letting go: Taking a more relaxed, fluid, and less controlling approach.

Creating space: Stepping back from non-stop doing and creating space for “non-doing” and creativity.

Self-care: Recognizing that self-care is key to bringing her best self to her efforts.

Focus and direction

Bringing her best game starts with clarity about what makes her come alive, which she has been able to apply directly to both her current work and her plans for the future.

It began with an exploration of her “passion factors,” the underlying themes that emerged as she explored why she loves what she loves.

“That’s Curt’s secret ingredient in how to get people to show up at their best. And it worked! I had so much going on, and this was like defragmenting it all and thinking about what mattered. ‘OK, I’m interested in this, but really, what is it that gives me energy? What is it that fuels me?’”

It gave her a new way of thinking about career planning – one where the goal is to identify opportunities to experience those sources of energy in her work. “It changed the way I saw my approach and what’s available to me. And that changed the way I felt. It made me feel more empowered.”

She was able to share her passion factor insights with her boss at a time when things were evolving and changing, which helped her shape her role based on what energizes her. As Claudia describes it, “The work Curt and I did helped me be in a position to catch the wave.”

Having that clarity has also applied at a day-to-day level. “Understanding what energizes me gave me a way to prioritize where I want to spend my time. The process we went through has given me a methodology and a thought process to apply.”

Self-alignment

Having a more complete picture of what makes her feel most alive changed the way Claudia related to the work she does and the difference she makes.

“The biggest shift was that my impact was more theoretical before. Very cerebral. Now, there is a personal connection to it. I’m putting more of me into making a difference, so it has my flavor. And that is super empowering. It’s like when you do something good and you just feel like, ‘Oh yeah! I did that!’”

In their work together, Claudia says, she started to see “how much of the work that I’ve done has been on a creative path. My mindset before was always like, ‘planner, organizer.’” And while that tendency towards order and organization is one of her strengths, she realized that there was also a strong creative component she hadn’t been acknowledging or consciously tapping into. “It allowed me to see where my natural inclination is. There’s more of a natural rhythm now.”

Story management

In the course of working with Curt, Claudia saw how some of the stories she was telling herself had a stressful and limiting effect. Once she started seeing more clearly when she was getting caught in a negative story loop (e.g., unproductive worry), she was able to break the cycle.

“Noticing and questioning my stories helped me feel less anxious, because I could let go more. I have less attachment to the stories now. I can notice when they come up and step back and get some distance from them. I’m more the one in control, rather than the stories. And I apply that even to my non-work life.”

It also helped her in her role as a manager, helping her be more present and less reactive, and prioritize things more effectively.

“Story management lets me detach from the situation and look at it for what it is. It’s a helpful filter, letting me be more present. That helps me be more calm.” And the improved perspective it gave on what was important and urgent and what wasn’t helped her prioritize better.

Letting go

Claudia also discovered how much letting go adds to both her own experience and her role as a manager.

“I stopped feeling like I had to be responsible for everything. Even though I’m leading the meeting, or it’s my program, I’m able to take a step back and actually let people contribute more. I stopped worrying so much.”

Her approach to meetings and projects changed. “It became much more fluid when I let go of expectations and started being more participatory in the process versus anticipating an outcome. Not being in control felt like a bit of a risk for me, but it has actually given me a lot more confidence. Just being OK with getting messy. It’s not so tight-fisted every step of the way.”

That rippled out into her whole life and opened the door to even more inspiration. “It shows up even in my personal relationships. I like getting inspired. That’s what makes me feel alive. And I when I’m not looking for the unicorn or some holy grail, I see inspiration in so many things, every day. That’s where I made my biggest shift, I think.”

Creating space

During her time working with Curt, Claudia discovered the importance of creating space for herself in her schedule.

Between her tendency to focus on doing and a desire to be a supportive manager that led her to be available at all times, she had no space in her day. She realized that the lack of space was actually hurting her performance.

Rather than packing every minute, she discovered that intentionally creating space for just being, rather than packing every second with doing, helped her both do her best work and be more effective and enjoyable to be around as a manager.

Self-care

Self-care went from something she squeezed in around the edges of her doing to a main priority.

Much of the reason for that was a shift in perspective on the importance of self-care. “One of the important lessons I took from our sessions was the mantra of ‘Self-care is service.’” The idea that self-care enables you to bring more of your best to helping and serving and making a difference took it out of a self-indulgent nice-to-have to a key piece of the puzzle. “That’s a practice I continue to do intentionally. I’m making it more of a top of mind goal. I’m frequently asking myself, what am I doing to take care of myself? Even during the work day. It’s having a recognition of me as a priority.”

Recommendation

When asked what she would say to someone thinking about working with Curt, Claudia said, “Do it!”

“Do you care about your work product and your quality? Talk to Curt! Think of it as a professional career effectiveness assessment. Are you still delivering your best? Doing this work is so worth it!

There’s value in speaking to someone who understands the social impact landscape, and getting feedback on both how you’re showing up at your best and how you’re getting in your own way.

Bottom line, this should be Curt’s tagline: Are you showing up at your best? Playing your best game? Just do it. Clean the cobwebs out. Fresh vision, fresh eyes.

I think as changemakers, we tend to think, oh, we know everything. We’re saving the world. We can get a little bit heady. And there’s so much value in just finding that personal connection with what we’re doing, and invoking some of the personal meaning.”