Over the past few weeks I have been visiting schools educating students on my 5 steps to becoming your own star.

These 5 steps have been created through studying the greatest psychologists/theorists of all time as well as through my own experience as a young student.

For me, life at school was always very difficult and challenging. From a young age, I always felt I was slow, overweight and not up to scratch. Demonstrating poor gross motor skills and low levels of fitness, I also struggled to read, write and concentrate in the classroom. A pronounced stutter compounded my shortcomings and often made me the target for bullies – leaving me feeling trapped and scared.

This fear of school was the reason why anxiety ruled my childhood.

Without the social, intellectual and physical capabilities of the other children, I continued to struggle to fit in. Neither my teachers nor my sports coaches were able to offer any help in the classroom or on the field. As a result, my parents sought assistance from speech pathologists, occupational therapists and eventually a personal trainer to address all my issues.

Looking back it was from experiences like this early on in my childhood that I realised strengths and skills need to be developed in all areas of life. Through hard work and training I was able to turn my childhood around in an incredible way.

Here are the 5 steps I took to become my own star:

1. Find your sport and practice!

We are never “bad” at sport or exercise; it is just that the right type hasn’t come along yet. It is important for children to try everything and see which sport/exercise activity they enjoy the most.

The most enjoyable activity is the one they “must” persue, as mastering our physical movement is the essential to gaining higher levels of confidence and resilience.

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2. Build your team!

As mentioned by previous psychologists and theorists, us humans just want to “fit in”. We can’t deny this because we are hard wired to strive towards developing relationships that make us feel stable.

Having awesome friends, family and teachers that support your wildest dreams are people you want your children to be surrounded by. This allows them to master their social life.

3. Embrace every emotion and let it walk away

After being bullied for many years I learnt that we all love to push away both positive and negative emotions. It is important that children realise we are supposed to feel every human emotion possible through out our lifetime. Obviously if we are predominantly “angry” or “happy”, we are pushing away feelings that need to be let in. A trick I learnt was to “hug” each emotion and let it walk away so I could deal with each situation rationally. This one skill is a crucial step for children to take in order emotionally mature.

4. Knowledge is empowering

My mum always used to encourage me to read more as a child. For many years I didn’t as I thought it was “boring” or “nerdy”. Children must read as it opens new doors for them to discover fresh concepts of society that they may not have known about.

It can also be extremely beneficial for strengthening personal talents, as it allows them to train their intellectual skills around topics they may love. 

5. Dream out loud! Everyday!

My dream as a child was to be a “professional sportsman”. I used to speak and think about this every single day. Even though this didn’t occur, it was in the process of chasing this dream that I discovered my real life’s passion “educating children”. I discovered coaching when I was 12 and made it my career at 16.

An inspiration will always open plenty of doors. The way forward for children is for them to courageously go after their dreams so they have the opportunity to discover what is truly important to them.

How do you help your kids be their own star? Please share in the comments below.

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