Hi, I’m Cory Chadwick — a dad of two boys, a husband, and the Founder of Lyceum. 

When I was 21 years old, I lost my mom to mental illness and suicide. Beyond the pain of losing her, I was scared. What if her condition was genetic? Could I end up struggling the same way? That fear wasn’t only about my mom. My dad — my biggest role model growing up and a fantastic father — went through a devastating spiral of drug and alcohol addiction that cost him so much of what was good in his life. I was afraid of ending up like him too.

I realized pretty quickly that crossing my fingers and hoping for the best wasn’t a strategy. I wanted to be proactive about my mental wellbeing rather than waiting until something was wrong, while also learning how to keep growing as a person and leader and better navigate the inevitable challenges of life.

With a background in psychology, I began developing and practicing a process that started as a way to protect my mental wellbeing and evolved into a broader approach to how we live, lead, perform, and navigate life.

Things are going to happen that we don’t expect, choose, or control, and the pace of change around us continues to accelerate. Our wellbeing, our leadership and performance, and how we show up as people — at work, at home, in our communities, and in life — can’t depend on everything going according to plan.

The birth of my first son eventually inspired me to share what I had developed with others. As I began working with hundreds of intelligent, thoughtful, aspirational people, I saw something important. These weren’t people who were failing. Many were highly successful. But they still experienced a gap between how they were showing up and how they wanted to show up — when life was going well, and especially when it became stressful, unpredictable, or hard.

What was missing wasn’t more information. It was a consistent place to proactively work on their mental fitness and grow as a whole person — before a crisis, not only because of one — and to practice how they wanted to show up until it became part of who they were.

During an intense physical workout one day, the idea became obvious to me: we have gyms where we consistently train our bodies. Why wasn’t there a place where we could consistently train ourselves?
 

A mental gym. That idea became Lyceum.
 

At the heart of Lyceum is a simple belief: there will always be things we can’t control. But we can intentionally strengthen our mental wellbeing, continue to grow, and prepare ourselves for whatever comes next.
 

Your personal 10 is how you want to show up when life is going well, when it’s hard, and through everything in between.
 

And when more people do that, the impact extends far beyond them. That’s the ripple effect I want Lyceum to create.