Success

Posted on May 25, 2013 by yemmakelly

1986, was not only the best year to be born (not biased at all..) but was also the start of one of the most successful careers in football management. As you may have heard (or not if you are like my sister!) Alex Ferguson retired as manager of Manchester United Football Club. For me this was a very upsetting time as the he had been the driving force of my beloved football team since the day I was born. Since he announced his retirement I have enjoyed reading the reflections on his career which have put into perspective the enormous success and inspiration he was.

In some way, shape or form we all want success. Whether that is in our job, in our sports teams or in our family life, we want to accomplish something. So how can we be successful? Here are some ideas on how to be successful using Sir Alex’s way…

1: Imagine Success

Einstein said “the imagination is more important than knowledge”. Sir Alex dreamed of success and made it a reality. Of course there were bumps along his journey, we all know he is known for his controversy with the likes of Beckham (remember the boot to the head!). However, he got the job done with an extraordinary 38 trophies across 27 seasons, including; 13 League Titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 10 Charity or Community Shields,European Cup-Winners Cup, 2 Champions League Trophies, European Super Cup, an Intercontinental Cup and FIFA World Club Cup. (Sorry for the little factoid there but WOW!) So…dream and imagine your success to enable the ball to start rolling.

2: Get the motivation

You need to identify the things you love to do, the things that give you satisfaction and that in turn will provide the motivation. What if Sir Alex hated football? How could he have made a success of the club? The answer is he couldn’t! Enjoyment leads to success.

3: Take Risks

“Success…seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”

–Conrad Hilton

Become active in your journey, don’t take the back seat as nothing will happen. Furthermore there is no point in giving up at the first hurdle, you need to keep going, reflecting on what was good and what went wrong and why. Sir Alex had many a defeat in his time, many of which I would like to forget…anyone remember the grey shirt excuse against Southampton? Oh dear! However that just provided him with more motivation to come back fighting.

4: Value people

In Sir Alex’s farewell speech it struck me how much of his success is based on the value of others, teamwork and respect. He knew that his success was a result of other people as much as himself.

“The players… I wish the players every success in the future. You know how good you are, you know the jersey you’re wearing, you know what it means to everyone here and don’t ever let yourself down. The expectation is always there. ” -

Sir Alex Ferguson

Finally there is not any shortcut for success, it’s just the result of preparation, hard working and learning from failure!
Success does not come through willpower alone, it takes consistency and determination. Doing something once won’t make a huge difference; it’s when you do that one thing many times over before you can achieve success. Sir Alex’s success is one which many people, United fans or not, are in admiration of. He is definitely an inspiration to many. Thank you Sir Alex for 26 years of success … now time to pass on the baton.

So your challenge today is start your own journey of success…no matter how big or small…imagine then go for it! Who knows you may be the next Sir Alex!

Tales of the unexpected.

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Rob Short

One aspect of being involved in Chennai Challenge is the unexpected. Many times in India we have had an unexpected situation that we have had to deal with, some positive and some not, all of which have added to the experience. This weekend is a little unexpected. Well not the weekend itself, but the fact that I am NOT training a team to go to Chennai. As part of the training for Chennai Challenge we normally use the early May bank holiday to take the team to a camp site a practise the activities they will be leading in Chennai, to fill in visa forms, to make sure they know the kit list and look at what it is like in Chennai. However, this year we are not taking a team, but doing a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ work to make sure the Charity is running efficiently and continue to help both volunteers from the UK and people in Chennai. If you had asked me 18 months ago, I would not have expected this to happen.

I would like to share with you a few ‘unexpected’ stories from my experiences and encourage you to embrace the chance to have some unexpected experiences of your own.

My first trip to Chennai was rather unexpected. All the way back in 2000 I was still studying Chemistry at university. Without really expecting it, I had the chance to get involved with a project run by Guildford YMCA, to go and help in Chennai. A slightly random connection as I was studying in York, but my then girlfriend (now wife) was in Guildford. I didn’t really expect that I would go to India to try and help, but some how I did.

When I arrived in Chennai, it was not what I had expected. Even with people who had been before telling me what to expect, my mental picture was different to the reality. The thing that I found to most unexpected however was the way in which we were welcomed. On the same evening as we had arrived we were taken out to dinner by Madras YMCA. At this point in time I was tired after spending so long travelling and still trying to adjust to being in India. I, and others on the team, bumbled out to dinner wearing what we had travelled in. We arrived at a very nice restaurant. Far nicer than the sort of place I would normally go to in the UK. I felt completely under dressed and quite bemused at why our host were taking us to somewhere so nice, when we had done nothing for them and they didn’t even know most of us. It was totally unexpected by me and a very generous offer of hospitality. Later I could see the benefits it had, we had no local currency, so would not have been able to buy a meal ourselves on the first night, also the Madras YMCA were thankful for the fact that we had gone there, even before we had started to do work.

I hadn’t expected it, but by the end of the trip I did not have to decide if I wanted to go to Chennai again, I knew that I had to. So I did, twice more under Guildford YMCA. During those projects so many unexpected things happened, quite often to do with where we we gong and at what time, that just gave a great character to the experience I had.

There is one conversation that I can remember, and I certainly was not expecting at the time. On my last trip with the YMCA I was talking to the head of Madras YMCA (the Late Dr. G. Ebinesan), who told me that I should bring a team of people out. This was a bolt from the blue for me as I expected to keep being a team member more than a leader. Initially this didn’t really change much, however within a few years I would be leading teams out to Chennai with Chennai Challenge.

I didn’t expect that Guildford YMCA would have to stop taking a project to India. This, and the words from Dr G. Ebinesan, were a huge motivation for me in being part of setting up Chennai Challenge with Cathy and Isaac. We didn’t expect to set up a charity, but it has been a hugely rewarding thing to do. Through it we have been able to help people in ways we had not imagined, both people in India and the UK in visible tangible ways and in unseen and personal ways. Our expectations of what a particular team would be like have often been wrong and we have seen people surprise us and themselves with the things they are capable of.

Through these unexpected things I have seen in myself and others things that have developed character, strength and many other qualities. Have you got space for the unexpected in your life? Can you risk it, not knowing what will happen? It might not end badly, it could be rather good. Why not get involved in our 2014 project and see where that will take you. Or you could just comment below on an unexpected event of your own

Come on….take on the challenge….

Posted on April 27, 2013 by yemmakelly

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.”

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?

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Rob Short

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 (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

Temple Run 2: Bigger and Better (iphone.appstorm.net)
Lent, generosity and choice (chennaichallenge.com)

Hot Cross Buns, Chocolate Eggs and Dr Who!

Posted on March 31, 2013 by susiekelly

YES, after weeks of no chocolate, cakes or anything sweet the day has finally arrived when I can fill my boots with it all! Lent is over and the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend brings tasty treats (including my first attempt at Hot Cross Buns: recipe below), a long weekend and the return of the popular tv series Dr Who.

So what does Easter mean for you?

Unlike Christmas, Easter, I find is not as commercially hyped. However the reason for it all still seems to be drowned out by the eggs and the long weekend which brings relaxation and new tv programmes.

As a Christian the important bit for me is remembering a sacrifice of the highest order. A sacrifice which tells me I am loved. It is a message I have been fed every year through Sunday School and Youth groups. This sacrifice and great gift of Love inspires me to try to live my day-to-day life in a way that reflects that Love.

None of us are perfect but in our imperfect world we can make a difference. This was my encouragement for travelling 6,000 miles to Chennai. To show that love to others through a smile, a helping hand, an engilsh lesson, a gift.

This year I and many before and after me have the anticipation at looking back at the past amazing 7 years of Chennai Challenge celebrating the experiences we had, the friendships we made and the change it made in our lives.

So this Easter lets indulge in a bit of Love as well as the usual Hot Cross Buns, Eggs and T.V.

As promised here is the recipe I used for my Hot Cross Buns, perfect for any time of year. Enjoy!

Ingredients

For The Buns

300ml full-fat milk, plus 2 tbsp more
50g butter
500g strong bread flour
1 tsp salt
75g caster sugar
1 tbsp sunflower oil
7g sachet fast-action or easy-blend yeast
1 egg, beaten
75g sultanas
50g mixed peel
zest 1 orange
1 apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon

For The Cross

75g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

For The Glaze

3 tbsp apricot jam

Method

Bring the milk to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the butter. Leave to cool until it reaches hand temperature. Put the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour in the warm milk and butter mixture, then add the egg. Using a wooden spoon, mix well, then bring everything together with your hands until you have a sticky dough.
Tip on to a lightly floured surface and knead by holding the dough with one hand and stretching it with the heel of the other hand, then folding it back on itself. Repeat for 5 mins until smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hr or until doubled in size and a finger pressed into it leaves a dent.
With the dough still in the bowl, tip in the sultanas, mixed peel, orange zest, apple and cinnamon. Knead into the dough, making sure everything is well distributed. Leave to rise for 1 hr more, or until doubled in size, again covered by some well-oiled cling film to stop the dough getting a crust.
Divide the dough into 15 even pieces (about 75g per piece). Roll each piece into a smooth ball on a lightly floured work surface. Arrange the buns on one or two baking trays lined with parchment, leaving enough space for the dough to expand. Cover (but don’t wrap) with more oiled cling film, or a clean tea towel, then set aside to prove for 1 hr more.
Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Mix the flour with about 5 tbsp water to make the paste for the cross – add the water 1 tbsp at a time, so you add just enough for a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag with a small nozzle. Pipe a line along each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create crosses. Bake for 20 mins on the middle shelf of the oven, until golden brown.
Gently heat the apricot jam to melt, then sieve to get rid of any chunks. While the jam is still warm, brush over the top of the warm buns and leave to cool.

Chennai CHALLENGE

Category Archives: Reflection