Monthly Archives: November 2011

Un-damming a generation – Open the floodgates, release the potential of young people.

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Putting a little bit of a spin on the ‘Damned Generation’ we keep hearing about, rather than condemning the youth of today by labeling them, putting them in a box, sealing the lid and writing ‘Forget this lot’ on the box, what can we actually do to get them (and therefore ourselves and the economy) out of the big pile of **** that we find ourselves in at the moment.

When I see the ‘Damned’ I consistently read it as ‘Dammed’ so rather than the ‘Lost Generation’ I am reading ‘The held back Generation’ ie we are letting them down and preventing them from being the success we need them to be. So what are we going to do about it?

I read this blog ‘Frankie Cocozza + Media = Damned Generation’ this morning by Jamie Dunn from ‘Made by Young People’ and found that there were lots of parallels in his comments around the image we portray with several others that have also commented on the use of positivity recently.

Clare Boyles of ‘Success Matters’, one of the most positive and focused people I am lucky enough to know, has recently written about positive attitude and the need for positive action around it.  http://bit.ly/qFnPEN

Martina Blazkova from ‘MoveNowCoaching’ recently ran an excellent webinar, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDMWSSGHKvA&feature=youtu.be, about all doom and gloom in the news these days and how we can protect ourselves from it and promote the positivity that we see and experience.

And Melody Hossaini from ‘InspirEngage International’, who I have recently started to follow on Twitter after she started to follow me. Melody works with children and young people, helping them to develop as leaders, make positive change and be successful in enterprise. (After typing that last sentence I have realised I really should talk to Melody about Junior Chamber International!). What I see in Melody is energy and passion about something she believes in, we can all learn a lot from this kind of attitude.

To me it all combines into ‘Resource Recognition’, identifying Strengths, finding the things we are actually good at then making sure we know how to apply them, being passionate and focussed.  We all constantly label ourselves and others with preconceived ideas that limit us and those around us.  By first breaking this habit of self limitation we can all acknowledge our own true potential and therefore help to empower those around us.

This is a big step, one well worth taking, letting go of our own constraints and positively helping those around us to achieve what they want to achieve.

So my question to you; Are you a big enough person to cut the crap and positively help yourself and those around you?

Personally I believe you are, otherwise you would never have started reading this.

Rest assured you will be in good company, there are plenty of us already walking the walk (see above) we just need more people to take action and in doing so help themselves and others.

This combined action will make the difference to young people, it will make a difference to you, it will give us all a more secure future that we can be proud of and enjoy together.

Are you ready to Open the floodgates, by Un-damming a generation?

What is more powerful than Why, yes it is.

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‘What is more powerful than Why’ is a statement not a question.

I saw this tweet by Jamie Dunn @ JDEntrepreneur this morning

‘The “Why” should always be bigger than the “How“… Focus on the reasons why you’re doing something, instead of how you’re going to do it.’

Which is perfectly correct in that when you focus on ‘How’ you are going do something you lose the spark of energy, the passion for the initial reasons are you doing it. These reasons are the real insight into ‘What’ you want to achieve.

 

If you look at the recent disturbances, they were termed Riots but once they got past the initial activity were just opportunist looting in the main, and ask two questions with the same intent yet different structure, you will elicit different responses.

Qu: Why are you kicking that window in?

Answer: Cos I want that pair of trainers

Qu: What will you (do you hope to) achieve by kicking that window in?

Answer (if they actually had an agenda):
I hope to make a political statement about the unjustified shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham
or
I hope to make a political statement about the lack of opportunities for young people in the job market
or maybe even
I want to get that pair of trainers so i can sell them to get £20 so that I can put some dinner on the table for my family tomorrow night.

Unfortunately the more likely answer from the looters is:

I want to look cool in a nice new pair of trainers.

 

When you ask ‘What’ you as the questioner are prompted to add the ‘do you want to achieve’ or ‘are you hoping to get out of’ etc therefore making your initial question more explicit and focus around what you want to achieve.

Why did I write this blog?

Because I enjoy playing with the language we use day to day.

What do I hope to achieve by writing this blog?

I want other people to question the language they use and challenge themselves to get better outcomes.

So I will leave you with 2 questions that you can ponder.

Why does that person annoy/frustrate/upset you?
What do you get out of letting that person annoy/frustrate/upset you?

I am not expecting you to be able to fully answer the second question (or understand the answer you come up with), that is where coaching comes in all I want you to see is that you get two totally different answers.

If you would like to find out more about how restructuring the language you use day to day can help you change your perspective and therefore the results you achieve, please call me on 0118 324 1010.