Youth Leadership Camps Canada

Stu-Pendous Blog - YLCC

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

• The flower between the rocks

  Aug 27, 2008

  I am taking some time to unwind and reflect on my wonderful summer. I am trying to get back into my routines that exist for the ten months of the year that I don’t work at our leadership camp. I am so positive about the future of our programs and where we are going as an organization. I believe we have gathered the best team we have ever had and I try and celebrate them every day. In fact today we will have our annual end of summer celebration at my cottage in Georgian Bay.

  I was talking with a friend of mine who is planning a huge conference in Quebec City. I am one of the speakers and couldn’t be more excited. While we chatted she was concerned about the slow arrival of registrations. We were also talking about a dear friend who is battling cancer and doing it with a very positive attitude. As we were ending the call she said that her challenge didn’t seem so bad compared to cancer.

  I hung up the phone and looked out into the Bay and noticed a lone daisy rising up from the rocky shore. It stood strong in the wind, the waves lapping against the rocks. Got me thinking, we need to put our life in perspective more often. Not dismissing our challenges and failures but celebrating the 1% actions we take towards our goals, the good stuff that we have done.

  That flower represents to me the strength of the positive, the perseverance of the human spirit, the light of a true leader. So grow where you are planted, learn from your mistakes and remember that someone else is watching how you handle your challenges. Is it with grace or negativity?

  Here is today’s question… Read it, write it, answer it and share your thoughts here on the STUpendous BLOG!
  
  How do you celebrate your challenges? What have you learned from your failures? How could you handle the next road block differently?
  

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Goal Setting Learning and Growing Motivation YLCC on Aug 27, 2008 at 12:32 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (6)

• The right reasons

  Aug 25, 2008

  15 years ago after the first summer of YLCC, by summer I mean 3 days, I decided that I wanted to make it part of my life. I wanted to expand the camp program from 3 days to a week. We did that, then it was two weeks, then three and four. We grew as big as we could then made the big switch to a new camp site and added two more weeks. For a long time we felt that six may be the longest. Then 2008 rolled around… Eight weeks later, all I can say is wow! It was a resounding success. I couldn’t be happier.

  I took last night to decompress and reflect. I tried to figure out why it was so good, so stress free. I figured it out, the team. We created a fantastic team this year. There was no drama, no stress, no real challenges. Was it 100% perfect? No, but that’s fine because we learned. The other big component to our fantastic summer was my Senior Staff, simply the finest total group of people I have ever had the privilege to work with. In years previous I had held onto people, or allowed people to stay at camp because of sentimental reason. I had hired those that had “great resumes”, I had struggled with trying to always show them I was proud in the past. It was hard.

  This year we put together a dream team that work for the RIGHT REASONS, the camp and the campers. Their soul goal was making YLCC world class. They did it.

  So thank you for a summer that camp directors and owners can only dream of. Thank you to the wonderful, young and dedicated group of counsellors that made that pure leadership impact on every camper. Thank you to Wakonda, thanks to all of our parents for trusting us and most importantly thank you to the campers for making deposits.

  BSE

  Here is today’s question… Please read it, write it in your journal, answer it and share your thoughts on the STUpendous BLOG by adding a comment.

  What are you truly thankful for today?

  
  WHAT A GREAT BUNCH OF LEADERS! - Thank you!

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership Motivation Team Work YLCC on Aug 25, 2008 at 8:12 am | Permanent Link | Comments (8)

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