Youth Leadership Camps Canada

STU-Pendous Blog

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

• Fresh obsessed

  Sep 2, 2008

  Isn’t the first day of school grand!! Isn’t it the best day of the year for all students and teachers at every level? I think so! I spoke today to a group of freshman students at a local college. Had a great time, fun group. Before the presentation I was chatting with the Vice-President of the college and noticed a few students skipping out to do… well to go… they were on their way to…. well actually that’s the point. They probably went to wander around, sit somewhere, go to the coffee shop. One guy said he was going back to bed!

  I couldn’t help but think, they don’t get it. They are missing out. I know as a fact then when you are in school it seems like it will last forever. But trust me as someone who left college almost 20 years ago, it doesn’t last forever, not even close. After the presentation as 57 year old man walked over to me and thanked me. I asked if he was a teacher at the college? His response was brilliant…

  “Nope, I am making up for a lot of lost time, pissed away my youth doing pretty much nothing. I am going to get some of that time back. It’s a privilege to learn!”

  Why does it take us all so long to realize the good things. So, as you start another school year today commit to fun and make sure you also commit to celebrating every day the opportunity you have to learn! Be obsessed with the learning opportunities you have in front of you! It’s a chance for a FRESH start!

  Here’s today’s question… Read it, write it, answer it and SHARE your answer here on the STUpendous BLOG!

  “How will you take advantage of your NEW school year? What will you different to learn and grow?

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership on Sep 2, 2008 at 1:50 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (8)

• 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 (5)

• 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)

• Failure = Success

  Aug 13, 2008

  Speaking at a conference on entrepreneurship in Ottawa and spending some time with a lot of amazing people. Young and old. I asked the group what they have learned being a creator of business, what would they tell someone who is only considering being self-employed?

  Here is what one amazing 21 year old artist told me…

  “If you believe in what you are doing, don’t worry about the failures and the detractors. If you work hard and never give up, you will succeed.”

  How many of us give up at the first sign of diversity? The first wrong turn, or the first put down? The answer is too many!

  So take some and recommit to the dreams and goals you have. I believe in you. Remember the only true failure is one you don’t learn from.

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership on Aug 13, 2008 at 1:48 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (1)

• Dream - Dare - Do

  Aug 5, 2008

  Had a great few weeks. I apologize for being away the past couple of weeks. Camp is so busy! So full! So fun! I truly love it. In fact the more I get into the summer the more I realize that it’s almost over and I need to cherish these last few weeks. It is a long 10 month “off season”!!

  One of the highlights of the past few weeks happened last Monday. We were blessed to have two amazing individuals visit us at camp! Steph and Matt are two West Coasters running around North America for the environment. Each of them running their own marathon every day, 42 kms each… 26 miles. They have a DREAM… Run around North America, raise awareness and one million dollars to help the environment. They are DARED themselves to do it… After thinking of the idea they got the people needed to believe in them and put it together. They had more then enough people tell them they were crazy (that will happen with any big dream you may have). Then they actually got themselves to DO it! They took what we teach each day at our camp and in our leadership programs… To Dream, Dare and DO!

  Is it easy? NO! Does it make life harder? YES! That’s the beauty of truly living isn’t it? You can spend your life as the passenger in the back seat of life or you can be the driver! The very real possibility of failure exists everywhere and with everything we try that’s new! We need to understand and accept this. If we don’t we will simply become the rock that gathers moss not the rock that is carved into the beautiful statue! It’s ok to be afraid, just don’t let that fear stop you. If I had you wouldn’t be reading this BLOG right now on this website and I wouldn’t have ever met Steph and Matt!

  
  
  This is me running with Matt and Steph for the Run For One Planet DREAM!

  For more information PLEASE check out their website and see how you can help!

  What is your DREAM? I DARE you to DO it!

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Goal Setting Leadership Learning and Growing Motivation on Aug 5, 2008 at 11:49 am | Permanent Link | Comments (10)

• A vision

  Jul 22, 2008

  Can you trust me on this one? Can you stand outside of reality for just a few moments and pretend that you have boundless possibilities in front of you? You could grab them, any of them, anything you want is right there… waiting for you. Isn’t that a brilliant idea? I know, it’s hard, in fact I bet when I asked you to do it, many of you laughed at your own ideas and dreams. It’s the way we are brought up, most of us anyway.

  “Be realistic!’

  “Don’t be silly”

  “Stop dreaming!”

  “Come back to reality.”

  “That’s a dumb idea!”

  If I could get a dollar for every time I was told that I would be able to vacation for a few weeks in an exotic place… I truly believe that you can do anything you put your mind to. If you push out the voices of doubt, yours and those around you, whatever you conceive can become reality.

  I heard a great story yesterday about former US President, Bill Clinton. When he was a young teenager he toured the White House and told the then President “I’m going to have your job someday!” I am sure thousands of children have said that, many have truly believed it but then most come back to “reality” and move on.

  Last summer I was driving through Algonquin Park and saw a legendary camp… Tamakwa. If you have ever seen the movie “Indian Summer” you may recognize the name. It’s been around for a long time. Many famous people have attended the camp. There is a sign at the boat dock that is made out of Birch that simply says, “Tamakwa”. You have to drive through it to get to the camp. I love that sign. When I drove past the camp last summer I stopped and got a picture of myself just underneath it. It was kind of cool.

  On Friday, while I was away in London, Ontario, the campers and staff did something that I am SO proud of. They built me (the camp) a YLCC entrance just like Tamakwa… but better. I have had many visions of events that will happen in my future. I dreamt once of this happening, I could see it. When I arrived back at camp at midnight I was met buy a bunch of campers, staff and senior staff. They stopped me on the road and asked me to get out of the car. I was then blindfolded and walked down to the entrance. They removed the fabric from my eyes… I was in awe. I was in tears. I was proud. My vision had become reality. I feel good about it, the campers and staff that built it feel good about it and in the end a new piece of the YLCC quilt has been sewn into our story.

  What is your vision of the future… what do you see happening to you? Remember to let go of reality and write a list… you just never know what will happen.

  

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Goal Setting Leadership Learning and Growing Motivation Team Work on Jul 22, 2008 at 11:16 am | Permanent Link | Comments (8)

• Frustrated?

  Jul 14, 2008

  So I got this great new iPhone. I have been excited about this product for about 2 years. I really wanted it. I waited and waited and well… waited. It arrived last week and wow do I love the technology. It is slick and sweet. I was a hit when I arrived back at our camp… everyone wanted to see it, touch it.

  So now that I have had it for about 4 days I am completely frustrated by it. I can’t make my email work, sync my calendar and some of the apps I downloaded simply have disappeared. I have been sitting at my computer for about 2 hours… trying SO hard to figure it all out… no luck. I decided to reset my entire phone and try again. From the beginning.

  At the height of my frustration I got up to take a deep breath and try and relax, I don’t usually get upset about… well… anything, but I was. I took a brief walk around the building I was in and came back to my computer. I am now ready to start over, reboot both figuratively and literally. I will get through this and I need to realize it’s not important, not a big deal.

  Put your problems in perspective, for every issue that seems so horrible there is someone else going through something much worse. This doesn’t mean that your frustration or challenge doesn’t hold validity. It does, it’s just that if you try and put it in perspective you can deal with it better and usually get a BETTER result. That’s a simplification I admit but I do believe that it works!

  Keep breathing, keep leading… come on iPhone work with me.

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership on Jul 14, 2008 at 2:56 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (4)

• Evolution

  Jul 11, 2008

  I love innovation! I was one of the silly ones that got up super early and went to my local Rogers store to buy an iPhone! I was third in line to get my new apple product. I knew there might be some issues with it launching in 22 countries but I went anyway! To say there were some glitches would be an understatement! Rogers computers crashed keeping me in the store for about 2 hours, there were only 6 phones of a designated 16 and then Apple’s web crashed frustrating hundreds of thousands of new users. My friends and I remained calm and about 6 hours later… I am typing this blog on my new iPhone!

  Too often we get so upset about things that we can’t change. It wasn’t the sales clerk in the store that caused the problem and in the grand scheme of things I still have what I wanted and I love it! I hope that we all take a giant lesson from this. When times are tough, take a deep breath and stop. Most times in the end it all works out!

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership on Jul 11, 2008 at 4:26 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (0)

• The Zone

  Jul 8, 2008

  If you have been following my BLOG’s then you know I was working on a 22 day challenge. It was a HUGE succes, then I got busy with camp. Had some friends visit and fell off the challenge. It has been really upsetting me. Then I thought back to a book about a diet called the ZONE. It is one of many books that used to be around my house. The first page shared some brilliant life wisdom. It said something like this…

  “If you fall of the Zone diet, don’t panic because you can get right back on it the next day.”

  That’s the key isn’t it? You need to continue and work hard on the ultimate goal. Don’t beat yourself up. I am back on it again tomorrow. Back in my 22 day zone. I needed to tell you that so that I could remember it for myself. If you believe in what you are doing, keep at it.

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Goal Setting Leadership on Jul 8, 2008 at 12:59 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (6)

• Panda

  Jul 5, 2008

  What a brilliant last seven days! Our first week of YLCC is now done. There were so many amazing moments, too many to mention. There were simply great days of pure summer joy.

  One of my big moments happened on Tuesday. I took my son (happy birthday Matty) and youngest daughter to the movies. We went to see Kung Fu Panda. The movie was full of laughter, adventure and a really great message. Basically, the point was that (I am sorry if this gives anything away) if you believe in yourself you can do anything.

  There was a BIG scene in the movie where the Panda (Jack Black) realizes that he has the power to do what he needs to do. As soon as he said that, my son who is eight today turned to me very proud of his discovery and said…

  “Dad! Do you get it? All he had to was believe in himself, he has the secret power by just believing in himself! Do you get it?”

  I almost yelled out loud… “DID YOU HEAR MY SON!?” I was so proud!

  We all need to find the power with ourselves. It is incredible what I can do, what you can do, what we can do… think about it.

  
  

  Posted by Stu Saunders in Leadership Family Life Learning and Growing on Jul 5, 2008 at 7:22 pm | Permanent Link | Comments (2)

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