Hello again and welcome to another Own Your Life Club Newsletter!

A belated Happy Father's Day to all the Dads! 

Father's Day can be a day of great happiness for some and great sadness for others.  We hope there was something to enjoy and share on your special day.

Between us we have four boys - Roger 26, Greg 24, Aaron 22, Noah 20.   They all remembered Father's Day - which is something to celebrate in itself!



As our sons forge their own life journeys and career paths, we try to teach them some of the things we've learnt on our own journey.  Recently we attended the Think and Grow Rich Seminar here in Adelaide and Roger came along with us.  He was inspired to make some positive changes in his own life. 

The words in his Father's Day card to Richard read:

"Thanx for being an inspiration for me.  I'm really motivated to get going.  It's the kick in the bum that I really needed... 

Hope you have an awesome day."

There wouldn't hve been a prouder Dad around after reading that!

Keeping with the Father's Day theme, this fortnight's Success Tip comes from a different kind of father, Father Chris Riley. 

A young Chris Riley showed a talent for communicating, especially with disruptive children.  Chris set up a refuge for kids at risk at the back of a Melbourne school and spent every night on the streets looking after homeless children eventually moving into a homeless men's hostel so he could work on the streets full-time.

Gradually, his work with children with problems – abusive parents, sexual violence victims, drug and alcohol addictions – became increasingly successful.

Today, Chris’s Youth Off The Streets organisation runs a huge, multimillion-dollar array of enterprises - including residential farms in the country, a detox centre, food vans, schools, mentoring programs and programs for kids who have endured a lifetime of neglect and abuse. More than 60,000 children have passed through his projects and he is the recipient of a Human Rights Medal and has a Queen's Birthday Honour.

What are your top tips for parents with teenage children?

1. Talk, talk, talk to them.
2. Every young person needs a fan club – be that fan club for your teenagers.
3. Remember ‘behaviour is language’ and understand the non-verbal cues used by teenagers to communicate.
4. Encourage your teenager to get involved in volunteer work and, if possible, participate with them. For example, help the RSPCA, walk the pound dogs, visit an elderly person’s home, plant trees, join Clean Up Australia.
5. Glance at problems, gaze at successes.
6. Adults who want to get close to their kids need to do the simple things that develop trust and make lasting bonds. If you don’t spend time with your kids, then the kids won’t come to you when they are in trouble or need your guidance.

What is the best way to encourage young people to open up to you?

It is imperative that you have a relationship with the young person. You must spend time with them, chat about the everyday things that interest them and be there when they are facing challenges. Showing that you are fighting for them lets them know that you are in their corner. For example, attend court appearances with them, visit and write to them in lockups or when they are in hospital.

Trust is only given when they feel safe with you; safety is created by having clear boundaries and understanding young people. You must try to build them up by acknowledging their goodness and strengths. Putting them down and using negative labelling ensures nothing productive will be achieved. Also, ask the hard questions up front (don’t beat about the bush) – often when confronted directly, young people respond directly and honestly.

What is the most important thing you have learnt about being a successful leader?

The most important thing I learnt was that you are only as effective as your team. In the early years I regarded control as important. But this was natural considering that I was trained as a teacher, and like I always say, teachers are bossy. I learnt that it is much easier to operate as a leader when you gather good people around, give them your trust and let them know that you do not have all the answers.

I often say that I can create a reaction or bring significant focus to a particular issue, but then have no idea of what to do next. I know, however, that once I create a sensation I am lucky enough to have good people around me to negotiate a way forward. For example, I flew into Aceh after the 2004 tsunami, with no idea that the province was under martial law prior to the disaster or that it was a conservative Muslim country. Needless to say I created headlines – a Catholic priest walks into a Muslim community. I thought to myself, ‘What have I done?’ and almost immediately people came on board to negotiate a way forward. I have now proudly set up a Muslim childcare centre in Aceh that has been incredibly successful.

What are your favourite leadership quotes?

• ‘Know no fear when it comes to defending young people.’
• ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’

While I was principal at BoysTown and working on the streets part-time,I came to a sudden realisation one cold, wet night when I was 33. I realised that I was able to move out of the comfortable and supportive surroundings of BoysTown. I said to myself, ‘I am not afraid to die. There are worse things than death’. This realisation freed me. As I worked alone on the streets, situations certainly came up that made me understand why I needed this courage.

Death threats and warnings have been a regular part of the work. I now challenge every adult to be prepared to die in the place of a young person who may be threatened. ‘The only reason we adults exist is to raise children’ is a Native American quote; without this courage, fear would have crippled my effectiveness in being an advocate for kids throughout the world.

At the end of your life how do you want to be remembered?

As someone who made the difference in the life of one young person.

If you enjoyed this Success Tip from Fr Chris Riley and would like to learn more about this or any of the other 500+ items now available for you to download in Own Your Life Club, click here NOW to take your 21 day trial for just $1.

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As you may know, we spent an entire fantastic weekend recently at the Think and Grow Rich Seminar.  While the main theme of the weekend was personal development and wealth creation, the underlying theme was definitely about making a difference.  It's not money itself that is important, but what you can do with that money to make a difference in your own or, more importantly, someone else's life.

It's well documented that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the richest men in the world, plan to leave most, if not all, of their fortunes to people who need it most.  Warren Buffett has said, "A very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing."  Love it!  And Paris Hilton's grandfather has changed his will to leave 97% of his hotel millions to displaced and starving people in Africa, and not to her - much to the delight of those of us who wonder how someone can be famous for being famous!

   

Australia's richest man, mining billionaire Andrew Forrest, has joined the growing number of the world's super-rich who plan to give their children's inheritance to charity.  We've always admired him and he's just gone up a notch in our view!

Others with the same awesome mindset are actor Sean Connery, TV chef Nigella Lawson, and Body Shop founder the late Anita Roddick.

 

And now the middle-classes are joining the super-rich with Australians taking the lead - only 23% are making plans to pass their hard-earned savings on to their children.  (Although in many cases they're going to do a darn good job of spending it themselves - there's even a name for them, SKIs who plan to Spend the Kids Inheritance.)

Research shows that happiness comes from having a true purpose and a lot of love around you - not from winning a lottery, a trust account and hangers-on.

This is brilliant and hopefully signals the winds of change approaching.  And they can't come soon enough...

World Renowned Speaker John C Maxwell is now a regular contributor to Own Your Life Club!

We're very proud to announce that Own Your Life Club will now be featuring regular Audio Presentations from John C Maxwell.  John is an internationally recognised personal development and leadership expert and speaker, as well as a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Business Week best-selling author.

To hear John's latest presentation go to:

John C Maxwell - Pride: A Leader's Greatest Problem
  
Then click on Select Author in the Search for an Item area to listen to the other extremely valuable insights from John C. Maxwell.  We will be adding exciting new audios from John on a regular basis so watch out for them.

Until next time, here's to your Success,

Richard and Julie

Creators of *Own Your Life Club*