About This Site. This site is the website of motivational speaker Craig
Harper. A constantly updated, one-stop
information, inspiration, education and motivation
station. Unlike many similar sites, it is a totally
free resource for anyone who is serious about moving
from mediocre to amazing in any area of their
personal or professional life. With hundreds of
articles covering a wide range of subject matter,
great interviews with cool people and inspirational
video posts, there's more than enough brain-food to
keep you busy for hours. Okay, days!!
Enjoy.
Attention Website Owners!
How would you like to become an online business partner with
Craig? Click
here
to find out how to become an affiliate of craigharper.com
Public Speaking Workshop
- Craig Harper
If you've ever
thought about becoming a professional speaker or
improving your public speaking then this is the workshop
for you.
Life Coach & Mentor - Craig Harper
If
you are interested in maximizing your potential,
stepping out of that 'holding pattern' and being
privately coached by Craig click here.
Business & Career Coach - Craig Harper
If your a personal trainer, gym owner or studio owner who is interested
in growing your business and/or your career, then mentoring with Craig
could be a valuable part of your overall success strategy and
professional development journey.
Body Composition Analysis
- Craig Harper
Craig's
Qualified Exercise Scientists can provide you with a
complete Body Composition Analysis in just 30
minutes.
Fattitude
- Craig Harper
While many books focus on food,
Craig Harper teaches that creating life-long change is more about the
dieter, than the actual diet. This book is perfect for people who have a
history of 'almost' getting in shape.
In this entertaining presentation, Craig discusses the
notion of Renovating Your Body - once and for all. Many of us have a curious
ability to be able to get in shape for events (weddings, parties, reunions
and birthdays), if only we'd get in shape for life.
Food, Exercise, and Lifestyle
Diary -
Craig Harper.
If you're serious about your training,
nutrition, and lifestyle - Craig Harper's training diary is an invaluable tool.
Craig Harper is a leading
motivational speaker
and educator. He is a highly
sought-after corporate coach and is considered to be
a leader and pioneer in the areas of personal and
professional development. Working with hundreds of
teams, companies and a wide variety of organisations
on numerous continents over the last twenty years
has given Craig a unique insight into, and
understanding of, human performance and all its
variables. Craig has an ability to educate, inspire,
challenge and make people laugh all at the same
time!
Recently on a current affairs television program here in Melbourne there was a story exploring the concept of children not receiving 'traditional' school report cards and not being graded (marked) on their school work at all. The key message of the program was that evaluating our kids and actually scoring them on their work and exams might set them up for some kind of long-term emotional pain or short-term social judgement and ridicule from their peers. Apparently the traditional concept of report cards might do some kind of damage and it might be in our kid's interest to 'protect' them from any form of assessment or evaluation.
Clearly, turning up to school is enough.
What a great idea. That way nobody will get upset. Fantastic.
We wouldn't want children to compare report cards and we wouldn't want anyone to do 'better' or 'worse' than anyone else would we? Ideally, everyone will get about the same mark, no one will fail, no one will get upset, all the parents will be happy, no kids will have to deal with any pressure, no waves will be made and then we'll all go home and sing nice, warm, fuzzy songs around the fire and drink hot milk. Then we'll put our pyjamas on and dad will read amazing stories to us; ones where we are the heroes. Give me a bucket.
What a great preparation for the realities of life beyond school this kind of learning environment would be. What are we teachingour kids when the message is that... not studying, not paying attention in class, not completing homework and not being a responsible, diligent student... has no real downside?
Back in the dark ages when I was at school my teachers employed this wacky notion of telling us whether or not our school work was great, good, bad or otherwise. They even gave us grades. And when my report cards were bad my folks got mad at me... not the teacher. Crazy, I know. Surprisingly I didn't die from this... or suffer any irreparable damage.
Sometimes kids even failed a subject. Interestingly, none of them died either (as a result of that failure). Some of them even went away, studied, worked harder, passed the next semester, developed some new skills and learned a lot from the experience!
Is it just me, or does is dawn on anybody else that the rampant over-protection of our kids (and not just in a school setting) doesn't really help them at all? It's not always an advantage but often, a significant disadvantage? I'm not a kid-ologist (made that up) but I do own a kid's gym and do observe lots of parents in action and it seems to me that some parents are so paranoid and over-protective that the very thing they don't want... they end up creating; kids who can't cope, can't adapt and don't fit in.
The world is a messy, lumpy, bumpy, unfair, nasty, unpredictable place. Perhaps we should let our kids experience a little pain, discomfort, adversity... life. One of the realities of life beyond school is that we are regularly (if not, constantly) evaluated, judged, criticised and given feedback. Some of it's positive, some negative, some of it's nice, some of it's nasty... it's just happens. Try and find a job where you're never given feedback about your performance... good luck with that. In life not everybody 'wins', not everybody has fun, not everybody has it easy and not everybody 'passes' everything. Perhaps this would be a valuable lesson for our kids. Sometimes we fail, fall down, get hurt, make mistakes... and dealing with these realities is how and when we do our real learning.
One day some of these 'protected' kids are going to get a rude awakening when they step out of their cushy, cosy, comfy, manufactured school experience... and step into the workplace.
I worry that by building these weird academic environments where 'everybody passes'... and nobody gets and 'F'... we prevent our kids from experiencing reality. We prevent our kids from developing the strength, skills, attitudes and coping mechanisms to be able to negotiate the realities of life. We handicap them. Yes, we mean well...but no, we're not helping in the long-term.
I also worry that neurotic, insecure parents are raising neurotic, insecure kids.
I personally know several women who have been so determined to 'protect' their daughters from the 'perils' of obesity (fat girls get picked on) that they have kindly passed on all of their own obsessive behaviours and attitudes around food to their girls. Mum was picked on for being chubby... so she'll do anything to protect her daughter from going through that same experience.
Including giving her an eating disorder. Thanks Mum.
I know that the parents and teachers motives are (usually) good and honourable but perhaps we need to ask ourselves whether or not all this 'protection' is grooming our kids for success... or failure.
Waddya think? Let me know (and where you're from).
15 comments
Click play above
to
see motivational speaker Craig Harper in action.
Motivational
Speaker - Craig Harper Craig Harper is one of Australia's most respected
motivational speakers and educators. Some of Craig's recent clients include:
"We had our annual
conference over the weekend of the 23rd and 24th Feb, 2008 and we had
Craig Harper as one of our presenters. He was wonderful, funny and
professional, and he got our message through to the staff in a positive
and fun way. He was loved by all!"
DVD
- Renovate Your Body - Craig Harper
In this entertaining presentation, Craig discusses the
notion of Renovating Your Body - once and for all. (Also
available on CD).
Fattitude
- Craig Harper
While many books focus on food,
Craig Harper teaches that creating life long change is more about the
dieter than the actual diet.
Food for thought
- Craig Harper
In this book, Craig Harper
walks the reader through his 21 rules to Permanent Weight Loss.
So you've decided you want to get in shape (again)
- Craig Harper
Imagine a pocket-sized fitness book that takes just twenty minutes to
read. Craig Harper addresses the REAL getting-in-shape issues.
DVD
or CD - Renovate Your Body - Craig Harper
Alinta
Telstra
ANZ Bank
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
National Australia Bank
Corporate Express
Pricewaterhouse Coopers
Department of Infrastructure
Department Planning and Community Development
Simplot Australia
Porter Davis Homes
Rothschild Merchant Bank
Royal Children's Hospital
Fernwood Fitness Centres
Flour Daniel
Brivis
Sensis
Western Water
South East Water
For more information on booking Craig click
here.Some nice words about Craig:
"We had our annual conference over the weekend of the 23rd and 24th Feb, 2008 and we had Craig Harper as one of our presenters. He was wonderful, funny and professional, and he got our message through to the staff in a positive and fun way. He was loved by all!"
Ally Memic, IMCD, Australia