Chaplains Chat 

On Monday this week, we had the pleasure of taking 18 of our grade 6 leaders to attend the National Young Leadership Day at the Melbourne Convention Centre.  This was made possible through a generous donation from Wandin Inner Wheel Group.  Our school has been very fortunate to have the partnership of Inner Wheel who have sponsored this event for each year that we have attended.

I believe that attending this event is important for our young leaders because it provides an opportunity to inspire and influence a generation of young people to lead themselves and others well.  To be at an event where there were close to 3,000 student leaders is amazing. And to be able to listen to the stories of 5 key presenters about their challenges and journey towards striving to reach their goals, can be a great encouragement.

The five key presenters were: Lachie Smart (explorer), Jordan Lewis (Sports) , Jimmy Rees, (The Arts) Josh Pyke, (The Arts)  and Michelle Young (Community Service).  As I reflect on each of their unique and individual stories, I’m reminded of some common threads in each story that can really help young students in pursuit of their goals.   A theme that I would like to focus on in this article is finding the mental tools to overcome fear and possible barriers.

People are usually quick to blame themselves for failure.  But not doing something because you’re afraid to get started, isn’t going to help you grow and develop.  Here are five strategies to help you get over the hump. 

Start by redefining what failure means to you. If you define failure as the difference between what you hope to achieve and what you might achieve, you can choose to focus on what you learned from the experience.  This will help with future challenges. Having a growth mindset.

• It is also important to set goals rather than avoid goals.  Focus on what you want to achieve rather than what you want to avoid.
• Creating a “fear list” can also help.  This is a list of what may not happen as a result of your fear -  the cost of inaction.
• Focus on learning. The cards aren’t always going to fall where you want them to – but if you expect that reality going into an event, you can be prepared to wring the most value out of whatever outcome results.
• Break things down into manageable levels.

Each student who attended was given the Halogen Pin. The shiny pin is based on the image of a halogen light.  A halogen light shines brightly because multiple layers of halogen gas cause a chemical reaction.  Halogen Australia seeks to provide the right conditions for producing a generation of leaders who will burn bright on behalf of those they lead.

Falling short of your goals is never a failure. Difficulties and challenges will arise, but you must find the courage to recover and get back up and try again.  It is all about the recovery process – to find the grace and humility to get you across the line.

Teaching our children that it ok to not get it all right the first time, is an  important life skill. We must not only say this, but model it as well. Having a healthy growth mindset means,  that regardless of the outcome, there is always something to learn.

And remember, ‘Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.’