Category Archives: Challenges

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Come on….take on the challenge….

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I love trying new, different things and challenging myself.  For me going through life without any challenges at all would be pretty boring, right? Going from day to day being able to do every single thing with ease and confidence is just too easy, yes? When we create challenges for ourselves we create excitement, we learn lessons, experience new things, and have to push ourselves a bit harder.

Recently, I read this quote ;

“Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They’re what make the instrument stretch-what make you go beyond the norm.”

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This week I have been able to share in other people experiencing this for themselves. On Wednesday, my 15 year old brother, Nathan, performed his first solo in an event at school. For a couple of years now, he has declined singing solos due to a lack of self belief and confidence. However a few months ago he was approached by some sixth former’s asking him to sing a solo in their charity event. Suddenly he felt he needed to take this challenge and push himself to step outside of his comfort zone.  The nerves and insecurities, of course took their toll but he never gave up, in fact he became more and more determined to succeed in this challenge.  Wednesday came, so did the solo and so did the accomplishment of the challenge. Suddenly Nathan experienced a new, exciting exhilarating feeling whilst performing. He also received great praise and made many people very, very proud including his big sister who didn’t stop showing everyone the video.  So here it is for even more people to see….

So when was the last time you created a challenge for yourself?  Would you rather challenge yourself or go through life completely knowing you can get by from what you already know or can do?

Why not check out our ‘Get Involved’ page to see how Chennai Challenge can get you to challenge yourself and step outside your comfort zone.

Who’s up for a challenge?

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There seem to be a lot of challenges around in life at the moment. When I say this I am not thinking of all of the problems of the world, recession  and the like, I am more thinking about things that are offered and advertised as a challenge for our entertainment. Just to think of some of them it seems a little odd to see how they would be fun to do. A marathon has always been seen as a challenge and people are often sponsored as they push themselves through this challenge. However it seems that that is not extreme enough for some people as there is a rise in triathlons  iron man competitions and events such as tough guy. Some go as far as going on TV to do a silly challenge with shows like wipeout, or the slightly more extreme Ninja Warrior. As strange as it may seem to some people that you would want to put yourself through a whole load of pain, many people do and then feel the warm glow of having achieved something.

You may get a slightly different feeling from doing a food challenge, far more popular in America than the UK and brought to the fore by Man Vs Food.

Man v. Food

Man v. Food (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The gargantuan meals that are served to people seem to be able to give you the proud feeling of eating far more than you need to and the likelihood of indigestion. That is if you finish them, as more often than not the size of theses challenges really shouldn’t be possible for a normal human being. They are spreading and it is possible to find a good number of challenges in the UK now, with my local pub offering the 1 kg burger challenge as well as the Flaming wings challenge.

For a far less physical challenge there are always challenges on computer games. It seems that every games has to have a series of challenges to keep you interested, whatever you are playing it on. It could be that you are trying to win one of the weekly challenges set on Halo 4, or just trying to unlock all the achievements on it as you play on your Xbox 360, your reward is being able to show people you have done well and scoring lots of points. This week I have been hooked in to completing challenges on Temple run 2 on my phone. Not all week of course, but a little bit of time each day, because if I complete the challenges I earn coins, which then makes Temple Run 2 easier for me to play. I am not sure why but I felt like I should complete the challenges to show my prowess at this pointless and silly game.

You can even just spend your time watching people doing challenging things on TV, especially by watching the channel ‘Challenge’

It would be foolish of me not to mention Chennai Challenge and of course to focus this time on the ‘challenge’ part. Way back in 2005 Chennai Challenge started, and between Cathy, Isaac and myself we had a clear idea of what we wanted to do initially and that was to take people to Chennai to help out with the charitable works of Madras YMCA. We had got this vision after being involved in Guildford YMCA’s “India project” which had been doing the very same thing and we saw the opportunity to go out for longer and with a wider age range. We then get the the problem of a name for our charity.  Mainly from the fact that I like a bit of alliteration, ‘Chennai Challenge’ was put forward as a name and is what we became. We liked the name because it does give a very quick idea of what we are and what we do. We were thinking at the time that the challenge is for all those who are team members, the experience of being in Chennai will be challenging to them in terms of being away from home, being in a different culture, eating different food, seeing extreme poverty first hand and many other things. That all comes after the challenge of having to raise money in the first place. As challenges go, I think that these are worthwhile challenges which people can feel proud that they have overcome.

So after a little extra history of Chennai Challenge, what are the challenges for today? Well there is always the challenge of getting involved with us, by supporting us, reading the blog regularly or volunteering to be part of a team that goes to Chennai. You may want to take up the challenge of posting a reply to the blog. Or you may simply want to take the challenge of counting how many times challenge is written in this blog! (And that does include this challenge and the one where I gave you the challenge counting challenge)

feel free to post your answer in the reply section below

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Born to be a leader….

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LeadershipIconLeadership – this month has seen global changes in leadership; a new pope, a new archbishop of Canterbury and not to be left behind, we at Chennai Challenge are developing our leadership and management structure.  This got me thinking about the phrase commonly heard, ‘born to be a leader.’   Some people believe that leaders are born with the necessary qualities that make them successful as leaders. Others believe leadership can be learned and developed through life. For me, I think it depends on how you see leadership.

What is leadership?

Some believe it is the ability to inspire and influence others. John Quincy Adams states; “ If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and  become more, you are a leader.” For others leadership means being courageous and willing to speak out on an issue they are passionate about.  Many define leadership as a typical intelligence / behaviour which would bring us back to believing it is a trait which we are born with but can develop and enhance through life. So what does this mean?

Anyone can be a leader!

We all have passions in our lives where our talents lie and where we can succeed. These passions lead to qualities that we may not use in other areas of our life. Therefore whilst we may not be a natural leader, we can overcome obstacles and develop a desire and an ability to lead through our inspiration.crossword 14

Developing Leadership

Here at Chennai Challenge we invite people of all ages and backgrounds to join our projects and they in turn bring differing experiences and characteristics. However they all have a common desire to make a difference which in turn brings out unknown qualities which we encourage and develop whilst they are on project.

For example we endeavour to encourage team members to develop their leadership skills by;

  • Taking risk and living outside their comfort zone.
  • Improving their communication skills especially their ability to listen.
  • With support make decisions in planning sessions and organising resources.
  • Being confident in themselves and their ability.
  • Being reflective, knowing their strengths and seeking support in areas they find difficult.
  • Thinking positively and committing to reach their aims for the project.
  • Supporting and mentoring other team members.
  • Influencing others.

So what do you think? Are leaders born or made? Comment below. Or why not look at applying for our next project to develop yourself as a leader.

Making a difference

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4th Saturday means my time to blog! Unfortunately this also means there will be no recipes or baby related talk just a small insight into my thoughts…..I know scary! So here goes….

MAKING A DIFFERENCE – A thought for the week ahead….Make-a-Difference

When encouraging people to join a Chennai Challenge project, we often use the phrase ‘make a difference’. At a recent project leaders meeting it occurred to me that many people have this desire within them to make a difference by changing lives, being an encouragement or actively helping people. In Rob’s blog in January he used the story of the starfish and the girl http://chennaichallenge.com/2013/01/05/order-order/ to show us that we can have a positive effect on the things we are involved in.

Recently at school, I used this video clip to illustrate how just ONE person can have an impact on people and that nothing should stop them with their desire to do so.

Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Now I know what your thinking ….and yes it is still Emma writing…the person who is rarely seen giving hugs! However ‘Free hugs’ is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, a man whose desire was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives. In this world of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal. It had a snowball effect and soon this “hugs campaign” was bringing good feelings to many, many people. Acts like this one are the type that work to bring the people of the world closer together.

My challenge to you this week is… make a difference to someone elses life. It may just be a hug, smile or listening ear but as we have seen it can have a huge impact. 

Let’s try to bring our world closer together and enjoy connecting without Facebook. Twitter or the social networking we are all so accustomed to.

Why not comment below and share the ways in which you made a difference.

Good Puddings – sorry Beaudesert

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Well three days on and I have almost caught up on sleep.

There are a number of thankyou’s I want to share:

Cathy, Rob, Isaac, thanks for having such an amazing vision and following through to actually make a difference for others, both here and in Chennai.

Cathy – thanks for the food – nom nom nom!

Then also thanks, or should that be apologies, to all my coworkers on the team this year who have put up with my warped sense of humour, and are still willing to go to India with me – WHY? Just think, Lynn married me and has had to put up with it for more than thirty years – she is a patient lady.

So what else? The weekend was amazing so much information – just feel really embarassed that I haven’t mastered even the most basic words in Tamil – will try harder! Working alonside you all has been great, and after the weekend I am getting excited about going!

We all have different gifts and working as a team we can do so much more than we can individually. We will all have good days and bad days, so those on a good day support those on a bad day – it will swap later!

Don’t bottle your feelings up, they will eat away inside you until you pop like a champagne cork – the champagne goes all over everyone – and its definitely not a blessing. Talk to someone either one of the leaders, or your mentor, get it in the light early, deal with it, then enjoy the next bit in peace. Do you remember any of the warning signs we talked about during the training in London? If you think I am pointing a finger, think of a hand pointing, one finger points forward, three point back toward me – I’m not good at this either, but I’m working at it.

Emma K – my partner in coffee – I am relying on you to feed my addiction – especially in the first few days!

Amy, thanks for giving me a rude comment back – I needed you to, we are working together on the project and I am not MRS Godden – your RE teacher at school! ;-)

Finally, 23rd June at Rising Brook Baptist Church – The Paul Poulton Project – Chennai Challenge Concert 7:30pm all welcome, Tickets are £5 or 2.50 for 12 and unders.

Les

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