Humanitarian

I was privileged this week to be invited to the British Red Cross Humanitarian Citizen Awards at the House of Commons. I was nominated and then short listed for the prize which was really humbling. I had never been to the House of Commons so to just get the chance to go inside was enough of an exciting prospect for me but then to be awarded as runner up was completely overwhelming.

This got me thinking about the word ‘humanitarian’ - the dictionary definition of the word is:

“someone devoted to the promotion of human welfare and to social reforms”

To me when I always thought about the word humanitarian I always associated it with people who went out to clear landmines in war torn countries, people who went and helped in orphanages in poverty stricken countries or people who helped people suffering from major medical problems. Not once did I ever think that humanitarian could be a word to describe somebody like myself from a rural county who helped young people in the community and helped people across the country pursue their talents.

I really enjoyed the British Red Cross Humanitarian Citizen Awards because of the positivity of the event. So many times in the press young people are used for negative news so the more events like this that highlight young people doing amazing things the better. At the event there were so many humbling stories of the difference young people are making in this country and the power that an individual has to make change.

I just hope this event has got people thinking that they can be a humanitarian in their own communities as well as in the wider world. So I would just like to use this time to encourage you to do something to help others and be a humanitarian. As a population of young people we need to put more importance of lives we can change and difference we can make over the money we can make.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Starting the Year off Right

So you are now back at School, College, University or work and already one week of the year has passed us by. Gone are the parties and the fun of the Christmas / New Year period and if your like most you wont have a clue what you are going to do in 2009. You have probably already made new years resolutions with many people already breaking them and you may have put a few pounds on over Christmas but now is not the time to look back now is the time to start the year off right.

A lot of what you do in January can dictate how the rest of your year is going to go. Now is the time we need to get our attitude right for the year, get focused and get that determination going. We need to start setting ourselves goals and go about achieving those goals, forget about what you did or didn’t achieve last year just focus on what you can achieve this year and how you can achieve what it is that you want to achieve. If we can’t get that determination and that focus going now its going to be harder for the rest of the year and if you do manage to find it later on you will have already wasted so much time.

Now is the time to get your diary out and plan your year. Start putting in all the things you have planned and if you don’t have enough things planned start planning things. To succeed in 2009 you are going to have manage your time and make the most out of every minute you have.

As we start the year it is time to cast off all those things about us which are stopping us from achieving and making those changes in our lives and in our attitude that will help us become more successful. This is the year to make the changes in your own life that make a big impact.

What are your plans for the year? We want to know what goals you have set yourself and you can let us know by joining in our topic of the week which can found by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=631

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Still lots to be achieved

As the year draws closer to its end, thoughts turn to Christmas and as the nights start to draw in it can be a time that many people start to take their foot off the pedal and get caught up in the season. It is so, so easy just to let these last couple of months go to waste and to relax but this week I want to use this chance to encourage you to get the most out of the end of the year.

You may have achieved some great things this year. You may have achieved more than you expected or wanted to achieve. If this is the case you can’t afford to get complacent just because you have achieved this year it doesn’t mean that there isn’t any more for you to achieve this year. Now is the time to press on and to not settle for what you have already achieved now is the time to find out what you really can achieve this year.

On the other hand you may not have achieved what you wanted to and what you wanted to achieve may seem impossible to achieve by the end of the year. If this is the case you need to reset your goals and end this year on a high by getting as much achieved as possible so that this year isn’t a waste. You need to learn from this year and use these next two months to put you in a better place to achieve your goals and targets for next year.

Try not to get distracted by things happening around you and don’t get sucked in to that attitude of just looking forward to Christmas. Your Christmas is going to be so much better and come a lot quicker if you are busy over the next couple of months achieving more great things. Let Christmas be a time where you can look back and honestly say hand on heart that you achieved the most that you possibly could with the year, that feeling is the greatest Christmas present you can give yourself this year.

We here at Talented Young People want to know what you are trying to achieve before the end of the year and you can let us know by joining in our topic of the week which you can find by clicking the link below:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=588

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to 2008. Most of the world were out partying last night to bring in the New Year and with that has probably brought a lot of tired people this morning, as I write this blog it is 10am on the 1st of January and I have already been up for four hours.

With much of the day wasted for many recovering from the night before it is important that we don’t let this become the norm or else before you know it we will be celebrating 2009 and you will again look back on another year which promised so much but delivered so little. The truth is life only delivers on what you have put in and you need to make sure that 2008 and every year after is one which delivers great things for you.

Today will see many New Year’s Resolutions made which will include everything from dieting to choosing a new hobby. The two problems I have with many New Year’s Resolutions are that many of them are made in areas of your life which are either not that important and the other problem is that most New Year’s Resolutions are soon broken with many not lasting for more than day let alone a year.

New Year’s Resolutions should be made in areas which are going to change your life and help you achieve your dreams. The only thing I can is that if you have chosen a New Year’s Resolution which isn’t linked to achieving your dream is that if you stick to it you can use that power and sense of determination to help you in the important areas of your life as it shows you have that dedication to achieve great things.

The people in life that achieve great things in life don’t need to wait for New Year’s to come around to set themselves goals and targets. The people that achieve are the ones that can set themselves these challenges at any time of day or year. Just telling everyone your New Year’s Resolution isn’t good enough if you don’t follow through on it. It’s better not to tell anyone and go out there and do it than tell the world and then not achieve it. Promises and threats of actions are worthless unless you put in the action to back them up. If you can use New Year’s as a motivator use it but don’t rely on it.

It’s like me the other day I decided it was time to see what my body was capable of and how fit I could actually get so I started what I call the 6am club. I could have waited to New Year’s day to make a resolution but this was something I wanted to do for me right now so yesterday I got up at 6am and went on a run something which I will be now doing everyday for the foreseeable future. On top of this I have cut out all fatty and sugary snacks opting for three square healthy meals a day. I could go and run at anytime but by doing it at 6am it is more of a challenge and shows how dedicated I am to do it so to me the 6am club represents dedicating yourself to achieving your goals.

If getting healthy and getting fit are your objectives then you need to know that no book or diet plan is going to help you get fit and healthy. The only thing which is going to get you fit and healthy is your determination without it a diet is useless. At the end of the day to lose weight you need to burn more calories than you are consuming plain and simple it’s not rocket science.

Don’t let 2008 be a year closer to retirement with no more achieved. The time we get here on earth is short and precious and it goes by far too quickly whatever you do don’t let it pass you by. Make 2008 the year where everything changed for you and the one you can look back on and say was the year that changed your life.

At New Year’s people like to reflect on what they have achieved in the past year but don’t sit back admiring your achievements. What I have achieved so far doesn’t excite me nearly as much as what I know I can achieve.

This is your chance to change your life, take it, you’ve only got one life and you have got to live it to the full if you don’t want to end up with years of regrets and no chance of doing anything about them.

Do you want to share what you have planned for 2008, what you are going to achieve and how you are going to do it? Well then head over to our forum and get involved in our topic of the week by clicking the link below:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=300

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Sports personality of the Year Award

For sport fans across the UK the BBC’s Sport Personality of the Year show is an institution. The show aired live last Sunday from the Birmingham NEC as part of a bumper weekend of UK sport with Ricky Hatton competing in Las Vegas for a world boxing title.

The two hour show which as well as handing out awards recaps the year in sport did give us an overview of a year which has been an almost but not quite year for British sports. We had the England Rugby team losing in the final of the World Cup, England and Scotland’s football teams just missing out on Euro 2008, Lewis Hamilton finishing as runner up in his first season in Formula 1 and finally Ricky Hatton losing to Floyd Mayweather Jnr on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Now the UK may only be a small isle but it is a proud nation who can boast of being the home of many sports and many famous sporting triumphs. The last few years however have been littered with underachievement and near misses. On Saturday thousands of British fans of Ricky Hatton had converged on Las Vegas to support Ricky Hatton making it seem like a home away from home for Ricky with his fans drowning out all those supporting his opponent in all the press conferences and during the actual fight itself. The media and the fans had built up to a point where everyone in the UK was convinced he was going to win and it came as a heart crushing blow when he was knocked out in the 10th round.

The British public and the media may criticise every poor performance given by a British team or sportsman but when the chips are down their support and optimism can’t be questioned. So if the lack of support isn’t the reason for failure what is? Or are we actually already overachieving for the size of the UK?

Personally I think the moment we feel we are overachieving is the moment we start going backwards as you should never limit achievement. The people that succeed in sport are the ones who always have something more then want to achieve after every victory and this is how we need to be as a nation, never content to be second best and because of this I am behind the media’s stance of always expecting and demanding more from our sporting stars.

In a year of near misses it was great to see one of the UK’s greatest sporting stars get recognised as Joe Calzaghe took home the main award. Joe has been a boxing world champion for 10 straight years without defeat which is a feat rarely matched in the boxing world. Ricky may have got all the headlines this weekend but it is Joe that deserves the award.

The main award we were excited about though was the award for Young Sports Personality of the Year which went to the very deserving Tom Daley a 13 year old diver based not to far from Talented Young People HQ in Devon. Tom has already won a Gold Medal in the Junior Elite diving Championship and is considered a medal contender for the 2012 Olympic Games. Well done Tom from everyone here at Talented Young People.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Camp America

This month will set a lot of young people from across the globe start of adventures of a life time. After a year of hard graft at college or university many people will now be gearing up for their gap year, for a backpacking trip across Europe or to work abroad in programmes like the Camp America programme which sends young skilled and adventurous people across to America to work at Children’s summer camps.

For many young people this will be a life changing experience as they survive away from their parents’ home or their student digs for the first time. They will get to learn about new cultures, meet new people, see new sights, have new experiences and learn more about themselves than they ever thought possible. They will be getting an education that you can’t learn in a classroom and getting memories that will keep with them for the rest of their life.

I myself went through Camp America and ended up working at a camp called Kenmont Kenwood Camps in Connecticut USA. This was the first time I had ever been away from home or away from my parents for more than a week; it was the first time that I had gone abroad by myself. I was put in a situation which tested my personal skills and encouraged me to learn more. I had to put myself out there and get to know and make friends with people I had never met before. I had to learn how the camp was run and learn how to be the best counsellor I could possibly be.

I was put in a situation of great responsibility and greeted with situations that nothing could prepare me for but at no time in my life have I learnt so much or developed so much in nine weeks. That experience gave me so much confidence and so much energy that I don’t think I could have got anywhere else. I came home a changed a man and a changed man for the better from my experiences and I came back with a book full of friends and contacts from all corners of the globe who I still keep in contact with to this day. No words can describe the magic, the feeling and the experience that is camp.

I am now an interviewer for Camp America and enjoy giving back and helping young people across the country secure the summer of their dreams. I would recommend to anybody that really wants to challenge themselves and to experience all this world has to offer to do a work or study abroad programme. Working at an American Summer Camp can turn the shyest person in to the loudest and most outgoing and can turn the most dependent person in to the most independent person.

If you want to have an experience that will change your life log on to http://www.campamerica.co.uk and find out more about arranging the summer of your life. The application season for this summer has now finished but you can start gearing up for summer 2008.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com/