Q1 CWIM Live Q&A with the Author: “Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain and Other Big Ideas” Featuring Alexi Pappas

February 2nd, 2023 Event Recap

By Cindy McLaughlin, MBA

Speaker: Alexi Pappas - Olympic Athlete, Filmmaker and Author of "Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas"

Moderator: Regina Gaysina, CWIM Co-Founder, Director, RBC Capital Markets

**The text below is a summary of the moderated conversation, not a transcript**

The Collaborative WIM group came together on February 2nd on Zoom for an unprecedented opportunity with the On the Same Page: Live Q&A With the Author series. Olympian, writer, and director Alexi Passas joined us to discuss her book "Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain and Other Big Ideas".

After speaker introductions, event attendees began networking in breakout rooms where individual goals were discussed to kick off the event. Of the variety of topics covered, the diversity of CWIM was highlighted and reflected in the goals discussed. These goals ranged from writing a novel about vampires to getting an unruly dog certified for therapy work. Many attendees agreed that "Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas" was not only helpful and relevant, but also served as a nice change from reading about financial markets and investment developments. Our excitement was built up for the Q&A session with Alexi.

To many of us, Olympians seem mythical representing the pinnacle of athleticism and human capacity. With that image, we likely first think of Alexi as an elite athlete, but she is also a gifted writer and director. She reflected on how her films and her book are vessels with each telling a different story. Timing can be everything. When she wrote Bravey, she had been in a reflection period, and this was the best time to do it as opposed to waiting until later. Her advice is to do something when you feel you can best do it and not wait until later. This nugget is also emphasized in her book where she talks about giving up scholarship opportunities to pursue an MFA degree. At that time in her life, she was at the best place to pursue her Olympic running dream.

Olympians have the tendency to be perfectionists which is something common in our industry as well. Alexi gave us ideas for stepping out of that perfectionist trap. Trying your best may look different day to day. Focusing on the journey and what you can control will help keep the dream you are chasing in perspective. She mentioned the rule of thirds. One third of the time you will feel good about your goal, one third you will feel OK and the other third you will feel bad. If you feel too good all the time, you won’t improve. Finally, everything becomes imperfect the moment you finish.

Other ways to really focus on goals is to budget your willpower. This will allow you to preserve needed energy and emotional resources for that most important thing. She told us that learning to shift when you make a mistake and always believing you are a winner and are deserving will help your narrative when something doesn’t go your way. Hopefully the next time our CWIM group meets, we will all be able to share how this inspiration has helped us with our goals.

A very special thanks to CFA Societies of Winnipeg and Stamford for hosting this amazing event.