Youth Leadership Camps Canada

Stu-Pendous Blog - Leadership

These are the thoughts of speaker, author and camp director Stu Saunders.
For Stu’s original blog, you may still access his archives here.

• New Day!

  Jan 4, 2010

  There’s a great quote I read today and posted on Twitter…

  Today never occurred before, it will never be repeated. At midnight it will end, quietly, totally, forever. The hours between are full of possibilities.

  It’s a new year, a chance to start over, to create new, to evaluate what has and what could happen.

  I am not a fan of New Years resolutions. I am not a fan of the idea of January 1st being some whimsical day that has such significance that it can change our lives. It can’t. The day is irrelevant. It’s just a day. There are 12 firsts every year. There are 52 monday’s and of course we have 365 midnights. Each of these could be starting point… couldn’t it?

  Here’s my theory, it’s just mine, it doesn’t mean it’s right.

  Every minute of every day is a chance to start over. To create new habits, ideas, choices, friends. You can make January 5th a “New Year”... if you want. Please don’t get discouraged if you already have slipped on your 2010 resolutions, it really doesn’t matter. You can start again tomorrow. It’s brilliant, isn’t it? You have control of you, not Dick Clark, not some stat holiday, not some app on your iPhone… YOU! Chew on it, it’s a new way of looking at making resolutions of making change.

  Happy New Year!

  Follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/ylccstu

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership on Jan 4, 2010 at 1:01 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (2)

• because of you

  Dec 2, 2009

  I am not a “writer”. I have never published a novel. Poetry is not my thing. I am not that eloquent. I love to “spell check”.

  I am not the owner of multiple degrees. My awards shelf is small and the accolades are yet to arrive.

  I write though. I write to express my thoughts. I write to share ideas. I write for me and I guess in the end I am writing for you.

  There’s something about have someone else read my thoughts. It is even better out loud. It’s like a second chance at thinking it through.

  Sometimes when I hear my BLOG read, I hear the words I wanted to say but somehow didn’t.

  Imagine if you had someone else in your head to read your words back to you before you spoke them. Before you hurt someone with careless comments. Before you said “hate”. Maybe you wouldn’t be so quick to say no or even yes.

  Maybe if I could of had you read me my thoughts when I was making all those poor choices… maybe I would have done things differently or not at all. Perhaps I wouldn’t have said some of the things I said or acted the way I did.

  Perhaps though, I would not have lived this life at all. There is something about hearing my thoughts with such eloquence and clarity that makes me sound smarter.

  Here’s the reality though. Most of us don’t have our thoughts read back to us. We have to trust ourselves. Sometimes that person is a scary person to trust. Maybe, just maybe we’re not supposed to have that angel on our shoulder. In the end the universe might just want us to learn from our own mistakes and have no filter at all. Really isn’t that what life is all about?

  I think we actually get this opportunity given to us everyday. It may be the role of a mom or dad, teacher, sister, brother, uncle, coach, doctor, friend, partner, the speaker in the assembly or stranger you meet only once. What if they are telling us that we need to rethink our choices, decisions or path. We choose not to listen though because we don’t need to be “told”. We already know.

  I think we are supposed to listen but we don’t. It takes forever for us to learn. Hey, maybe it’s this blog?

  In the end I still like it when you read my BLOGS back to me.

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership Family Life Learning and Growing on Dec 2, 2009 at 10:38 am | Permanent Link | Comments (1)

• Mistakes

  Nov 30, 2009

  I remember growing up in the eighties and listening to Billy Joel. He was pretty popular back then. I saw the “Storm Front” tour at Maple Leaf Gardens. There is line from a Billy Joel song that says “You learn more falling flat on your face then you ever will in school.” That line has stuck with me for 25 years.

  Yesterday was the annual Grey Cup football game in Canada. The Montreal Alouettes won the game on a last second field goal. They also lost the game on a last second field goal. You see the other team, the Roughriders, had sent out too many men and were called for a penalty just as the first kick missed the uprights and the Roughriders won. Then didn’t win. Montreal got a second chance and didn’t miss. Now they won!

  The look of sadness was so clear on the losing players faces. They just thought they had won, they jumped, screamed and celebrated. Then they cried, yes some were in tears.

  I know it’s just a game. For these players though, it could have been a moment that they won’t ever have again. After it was all over they interviewed the coach responsible for the mistake. He said something that really resonated with me.

  “It was a mistake, I take full responsibility for it. If I have the chance to be in this situation, it won’t happen again.”

  Incredible response, such poise. He admitted he made a mistake, took full responsibility and learned from it! That’s great. You can’t teach mistakes in school, the real life hard lessons are so powerful. It’s how you deal with them that matters. Yes they hurt sometimes, but, if you pick yourself up, dust off the dirt and pain, you learn.

  Be a leader, learn from your mistakes! It’s never too late to start.

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership on Nov 30, 2009 at 2:30 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (0)

• Family Time?

  Nov 18, 2009

  Every night as a child without question we came home and my family ate together. It was just the way it was. We all talked at dinner, sometimes we fought, sometimes we just sat together and celebrated our disfunction. This continued well after my parents separated. My mom would make dinner for my brother and I. Even when she was a single mom, working full time and struggling to make ends meet.

  As the generations changed, the idea of nightly dinners disappeared. There became Sunday night dinners. One night a week that you would try to eat as a family. Now, in 2009 we fall to the quick fix, microwave, boil in the bag, throw in the oven for 20 minutes type meals. The real crime is that a family dinner has become “eating out”. I am guilty of this as well. I am a single dad that struggles with eating at home, making a dinner, creating a meal that everyone likes. It is MUCH easier to just order off a menu and let someone else cook and clean.

  It doesn’t make it right though.

  I was just in Michigan, having dinner at a very expensive chain restaurant, on a Tuesday, in an area that is the hardest hit in America due to the current economic “crisis”.

  Not a seat open in the house. 15-20 minute wait. I look over at a family of four, drinking pop, eating a tower of onion rings, one of the boys standing on his chair while eating, the oldest daughter texting, the middle daughter playing her Nintendo DS, the mother reading an email on her Blackberry, the father was oblivious to it all.

  I asked my waitress how much they spent on their dinner… “about $200…”

  I was so saddened. I was sad for that family because they won’t have the experience that I had. My family was and is far from perfect, but I cherish those dinners more then ever. I am making a commitment this weekend to my family, we will eat at home, I will cook and we will all talk, laugh and argue together. That’s a family, I hope it’s not too late to save that old idea.

  What’s for dinner tonight?

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership Family Life on Nov 18, 2009 at 6:42 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (1)

• Commit

  Nov 16, 2009

  Leaders are people that can commit to something, anything, all things. There are two keys to being a success at this skill. One, is not to over commit. The other key is to simply follow through with what it is you say your going to do. It’s that simple if you say “I will do that.” then you should do it. If you are having a hard time with following through you should go back to whomever you committed to and say, “I need more time.” or “I may have over extended myself.”.

  If the person you are working with is not irrational then they should, I hope understand. Just don’t leave it to late so it can’t be fixed.

  The other and just as important type of commitments you make are the one you make to yourself. If you say you are going to drink two litres of water a day, do it. If you say you are going to stay in shape and walk everyday, walk every day. It’s true there may not be anyone to call you on it, but you will know and your confidence will be damaged.

  ALWAYS under promise and OVER deliver. That’s my commitment!

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership on Nov 16, 2009 at 4:32 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (1)

• Oink, Oink

  Nov 3, 2009

  Here are my thoughts on the current H1N1 flu. I was reading today on the “Facebook” and saw some 22,000 plus people had joined a group called close schools because of the swine flu. I had to join and I had to read the wisdom behind this suggestion. Well there is none. They do have a fancy, very scary logo though.

  Here’s my take.

  The Logo is dumb, the hype is dumb, the billions of dollars being made off this “pandemic” is dumb, the whole thing is dumb! Thousands die every year from the flu… and car accidents, cancer, aids, being hit by busses… why not put all of the students, teachers, hyper reactive parents in a padded room and let them live out their days being fed a liquid diet so they don’t choke! This is the most asinine over-blown media driven event ever (except SARS, Bird Flu, Mad Cow, Y2K and soon 2012). God help us if we have a real global crisis. It’s sad that people get sick and die… but this is not the global emergency that we have spread. If schools wanted to do something of value then make a massive effort to ban smoking within 2 km’s of your school. Way more people will die from lung cancer then will ever die from the swine flu.

  I was in mexico at the height of the scare last spring and came back with sure enough… H1N1. I survived, I stayed home for a couple of days and now I am living to type this BLOG. Please people, parents (that’s me too), media, school’s and school boards take a deep breath (somewhere away from anyone who might be coughing) and calm down. We will be ok.

  Wash your hands, drink liquids, take natural vitamin C and don’t share your pepsi…. you (the VAST, VAST majority) will live!

  PS the drug companies are about to make over 4 billion dollars… hmmm

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership on Nov 3, 2009 at 1:30 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (1)

• Moments of Clarity

  Oct 23, 2009

  Have you had them? Do you ever find yourself say… “Yes! That’s it.”?

  When you do, you need to jump on those moments. You need to embrace those moments. I am searching for one right now. The winter is coming, blah, it’s a time that I always start to question my future. What do I want to do with the next 20 years. I am approaching my 20th anniversary of what I do. Working in and with schools. 20 years, 2 decades that is a long time. I am truly blessed to have a good team and a wonderful support system. We have amazing clients and even more amazing staff. This year we worked with thousands and thousands of young leaders. It’s amazing what we do. I wonder if it’s what I want to do for the next 20 years.

  This is not bad, it is a healthy question. One you need to ask frequently. Am I happy? Nothing is perfect. There are always ways to make it better. You can grow exactly where you are planted. Change can come not from always moving, complaining or quitting but from attitude and approach.

  I like that.

  I think I just a had one of those moments.

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Goal Setting Leadership Learning and Growing Motivation on Oct 23, 2009 at 7:39 am | Permanent Link | Comments (1)

• Thankfulgiving

  Oct 12, 2009

  This is Thanksgiving across Canada. In the US you have to wait until November. Either way this holiday is the least commercial of all. We tend not to give presents to our children, we don’t spend thousands of dollars trying to out do the neighbours in decorating the homestead.

  This is the perfect time of year to live the holiday. Write a list of what you are most thankful for. The people, your home, your job, your family and friends. Make that list and try and make it at least 20 items long. If you can do more (I believe you can do 100 if you stopped and thought about it), do more! We have all heard of the law of attraction, what you give you get. The more thankful you are the more you will see return back to you. I truly believe this.

  Here are my top 20 things that I am thankful for:

  Emily, Matthew, Kristina, Mom, Patrick, Ange, Laura, Trisha, Craig, Arlie, Jack, CJ, Rich, Brenda, Erin, Ian, Iain, Shannon, Johnny, ORNJ, Robin S, Jason A, my home, my camp staff, my drinking water, my country, my health (usually), Rich S, trees, nature, hand written cards, the ability to read and write.

  Thanks way more then 20 but there are actually close to 100 on my list right now. Make a list and be honest about it. Then read it out aloud. Don’t be shy. Share the list with your family and challenge them to do the same.

  Thanks to you the reader of the STUpendous BLOG! I would love to read your list so post it here!

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership on Oct 12, 2009 at 11:58 am | Permanent Link | Comments (4)

• MAXimum leadership

  Sep 21, 2009

  The other night I was at the local fall fair and the kids I were roaming around trying to find some healthy food choices, besides yummy Corn Dogs. We noticed the big show that night was the actual North American Touring cast of Disney’s High School Musical Summer Celebration. Right away the children looked up with their best Puppy Dog eyes… “PLEASE!!!!”

  Tickets were $30 each… four of us would be $120!! I said sorry but no. It’s ok to say no to children (big lesson for some parents and children).

  We continued to wander around when a young child, around 8 years old, tapped us on the shoulder.

  “Excuse me miss, would you like these?”

  Ange my partner, looked down to see this young leader holding out four tickets to that night’s musical production, fifth row!

  “Can we give you anything for them?” asked Ange.

  “No, we can’t go and we want you to have them!”

  Then he and his mom smiled, turned and walked away into the hustle and bustle of the fair!

  Max, this young man, demonstrated selfless leadership. Giving without taking. We must have said thank you 5 times. He just smiled and said “No problem!”

  What do you do on a daily basis to give without receiving. Wouldn’t the world be better with more of that? I think so!

  Side note: Thanks for the comments on the video’s, you are to kind. Here is the link for Day two of the video journal http://bit.ly/3O9tYY

  In leadership,

  STU!

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership on Sep 21, 2009 at 12:31 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (2)

• Goodnight but not goodbye

  Sep 2, 2009

  Hello leaders of the world. I am so sorry about not posting for almost two months. I was away, home every night, gone most days and dreaming deeply each night. I had the opportunity to see the future, to contemplate the past and live gloriously in the present. Yes I was at summer camp!

  This summer over 1000 campers came through the gates of Youth Leadership Camps Canada. They came from a dozen different countries and varied backgrounds. They came to learn, to lead, to laugh and to share themselves with each other.

  It was a banner summer. The best in the 17 years that YLCC has been in operation. There were many tears on Saturday as campers left for their homes and sunday as most of the staff went their separate ways. The rewards that are given to the staff are endless. It’s up to them and the campers to continue to share in the lessons learned.

  I want to thank everyone, the staff, campers and parents that made the camp so successful. A few summers ago a former staff member quit saying the camp wouldn’t be successful without them. They were the reason we were success. Since they left the camp has more then tripled its size and now has two locations. I am not saying anything negative about that person but the one thing I learned this summer is that YLCC is a success because of a larger group of people that work SO hard together to make the magic happen. One person alone can not succeed without the help of others.

  Terry Fox had to have someone drive the van. YLCC doesn’t succeed because it’s located in Oro-Medonte (Orillia). It succeeds because people care.

  We are already planning for the 18th year of summer camp. It will be a success again. It will grow some more. I will have less to do with that success. It will be a family that works together to Dream, to dare and to do and that is the magic that is YLCC!

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership on Sep 2, 2009 at 4:54 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (1)

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