2008 Young Leaders conference

Matthew was invited to attend the 2008 Young Leaders conference at the Brisbane convention centre with 9 classmates from his school. There was a total of 1400 young people in attendance and 5 amazing guest speakers.

I had to have him in the city at 8.30am this morning and had planned the day for myself, to wander around the city and do some shopping. His teacher invited me and another parent to join the conference instead and although I had to pay my own way, I jumped at the opportunity.

It was wonderful to be re-inspired by some amazing speakers and to realise just how relevant this information was to me as I shift my focus in life. I am at a crossroads, like many of the young people attending. I am deciding on my journey forward and want to give to the world in a positive and powerful way. So I learnt some amazing and inspirational things today.

I loved a couple of special comments:

The first was: " A dream is an idea abut the future that differs from the current reality."

A quote from Joseph Campbell, "Follow your bliss" find what makes you happy and follow it. Along this line don't pursue your goal so hard that you destroy the joy, work at it and pursue it, but enjoy the journey.

"Flow is when you love something so much that time disappears!" Then you know you are following your bliss.

Natalie Cook the Gold medal Australian Volleyball player was an amazing speaker. She talked about the 3 'ships' of a great leader. 1 - Leadership; Followship; and Relationship. All three are essential for success. You cannot have one without the other two.

She also said that good leaders find a win/win situation, look at other people's viewpoint and that it is essential to write down your goals.
Walk around obstacles in life, don't give up or turn back, just change direction and move around them..

Finally choose and then commit 100%!

There was also the message of "Life is made up not of 'what if' but 'what is'? Real champions don't make excuses they make choices. We choose to follow a path and then need to do the hard work.

So today as a 44 year old Mother, I have walked away from a conference for the young leaders of our future and looked at my own life, believing that I am on the path that I choose, am going to commit 100%. I am going 'Risk big to win big!' rather than risk nothing and win nothing! I am grateful for this amazing day.