Tips for extraordinary life

Menanteau Serfontein – 26 November 2021

Millennials (also referred to as Gen Y) were born between 1981 and 1996.

There appears to be differences between one generation and another in respect of beliefs, views, values, politics, preferences, behaviours, etc which are referred to as a “generational gap”. While some strongly agree with the perceived differences, others believe that these differences are exaggerated. (Read Article on the Website entitled “Generations”)

My personal view is that there are often discernible differences between the predominant characteristics of a significant proportion of the respective generations. However, based on personal experience and observation, I believe that there is a big danger in generalisations which can result in an unfounded assumption that every member of a given generation has the same characteristics. There are numerous examples of members of a given generation who have beliefs, views, and behaviours that are not aligned with the predominant characteristics of a significant proportion of the generation concerned.

We should view and deal with people from the different generations as individuals with unique personalities, strengths, weaknesses, needs, preferences, opinions and values, i.e. we should avoid perceiving people with stereotyped and biased views and assumptions based on their age, generation, race, gender, etc.

Millennials are a significant part of today’s society and workforce and it is essential to understand the typical/predominant characteristics of this generation, the key events that shaped them, how to relate to the millennials, how to assist them and how to manage them in the workplace.

Simon Sinek brilliantly deals with all these questions in a YouTube Video which is referred to as “The Speech That Broke The Internet”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEEyojZ_Hdo

(Also Read Relevant Articles on the Website entitled “Sacrifice Today for Something Better Tomorrow – Delayed Gratification” and “Managing Digital Media and Devices”)

Menanteau Serfontein – 3 December 2021

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.” ― Robert Frost – American poet

“The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible; for the faint-hearted, it is unknown; but for the valiant, it is ideal.” ― Victor Hugo – French poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and dramatist of the Romantic movement

“Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time.” ― Victor Hugo

“Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.” ― Saint Augustine – theologian and philosopher

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ― Mark Twain – writer, humourist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” ― Oscar Wilde – Irish poet and playwright

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” ― Les Brown – politician and motivational speaker

“I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt – American political figure, diplomat, and activist

“There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.” ― Saint Augustine 

“Rules for Self-Discovery:
1. What we want most;
2. What we think about most;
3. How we use our money;
4. What we do with our leisure time;
5. The company we enjoy;
6. Who and what we admire;
7. What we laugh at.”
― A. W. Tozer

“A soft, easy life is not worth living, if it impairs the fibre of brain and heart and muscle. We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage… For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.” ― Theodore Roosevelt – Conservationist, historian, and writer who served as the 26th president of the United States

 “A world where everything was easy would be a nursery for babies, but not at all a fit place for men.” ― Charles Spurgeon – theologian and preacher

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”  ― Thomas Edison – inventor and businessman

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work— as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?” — But it’s nicer here.… So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands? —But we have to sleep sometime.… Agreed. But nature set a limit on that— as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota.” ― Marcus Aurelius – Roman emperor and a Stoic philosopher

“I don’t pity any man who does hard work worth doing. I admire him. I pity the creature who does not work, at whichever end of the social scale he may regard himself as being.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.” ― Stephen R. Covey – educator, author, businessman

“Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it.” ― A.W. Tozer – pastor, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor

On critics: “It is not the critic who counts. … The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly … who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“If it’s endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it’s unendurable … then stop complaining. Just remember: you can endure anything your mind can make endurable, by treating it as in your interest to do so.” ― Marcus Aurelius

“Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, ‘It can’t be done.’” ― Eleanor Roosevelt 

“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it.” ― Chinese Proverb

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” ― Albert Einstein – one of the greatest physicists of all time

“Never leave till tomorrow which you can do today.” ― Benjamin Franklin – writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher

“Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength…It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less.” ― Charles Spurgeon

“He remembers our frame and knows that we are dust. He may sometimes chasten us, it is true, but even this He does with a smile – the proud, tender smile of a Father who is bursting with pleasure over an imperfect but promising son who is coming every day to look more and more like the One whose child he is.” ― A.W. Tozer

“God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength.” ― Charles Spurgeon

“Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Train up a child in the way he should go – but be sure you go that way yourself.” ― Charles Spurgeon

“You often hear people speaking as if life was like striving upward toward a mountain peak. That is not so. Life is as if you were traveling a ridge crest. You have the gulf of inefficiency on one side and the gulf of wickedness on the other, and it helps not to have avoided one gulf if you fall into the other.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.” ― Thomas Edison

“To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“If we never have headaches through rebuking our children, we shall have plenty of heartaches when they grow up.” ― Charles Spurgeon

On virtue: “No nation deserves to exist if it permits itself to lose the stern and virile virtues; and this without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism, to prolonged indulgence in luxury and soft, effortless ease.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Don’t educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy, so that they know the value of things, not the price.” ― Victor Hugo 

“Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else.” ― Charles Spurgeon 

Menanteau Serfontein – 10 December 2021

“Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” ― Saint Augustine – theologian and philosopher

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ― Mahatma Gandhi ― lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer

“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.” ― Leonardo da Vinci – painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect

Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life be lived in the light of eternity. ― Charles Spurgeon – theologian and preacher

Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow. ― Saint Augustine

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.” ― Plato – Greek philosopher

However feeble our voices, let us lift them up for the cause of truth and righteousness. ― Charles Spurgeon

What does love look like?

– It has the hands to help others.

– It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.

– It has eyes to see misery and want.

– It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.

That is what love looks like. ― Saint Augustine

“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” ― Victor Hugo – French poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and dramatist of the Romantic movement

“Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt – American political figure, diplomat, and activist

“The most likely man to go to hell is the man who has nothing to do on earth. Idle people tempt the devil to tempt them.” ― Charles Spurgeon

On inaction: “To sit home, read one’s favourite paper, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective.” ― Theodore Roosevelt – Conservationist, historian, and writer who served as the 26th president of the United States

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” ― Saint Augustine

“You not only have a right to be an individual. You have a responsibility.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Beware of despairing about yourself: you are commanded to put your trust in God, and not in yourself.” ― Saint Augustine

“A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself”. ― A.W. Tozer – Pastor, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor

“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” ― Saint Augustine

“Unbelief is actually perverted faith, for it puts its faith not in the living God, but in dying men.” ― A.W. Tozer

“To be under pressure is inescapable. Pressure takes place through all the world; war, siege, the worries of state. We all know men who grumble under these pressures and complain. They are cowards. They lack splendour. But there is another sort of man who is under the same pressure but does not complain, for it is the friction which polishes him. It is the pressure which refines and makes him noble.” ― Saint Augustine

“In all trouble you should seek God. You should not set Him over against your troubles, but within them. God can only relieve your troubles if you in your anxiety cling to Him. Trouble should not really be thought of as this thing or that in particular, for our whole life on earth involves trouble; and through the troubles of our earthly pilgrimage we find God.” ― Saint Augustine

On self-knowledge: “Unless a man is master of his soul (mind), all other kinds of mastery amount to little.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

On corporations: “Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of modern industrialism. … We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve (promote) the public good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.” ―  Theodore Roosevelt

“When you play, play hard; when you work, don’t play at all.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” ― Henry Ford – American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” ― Aristotle – Greek philosopher

“The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.” ― Socrates – Greek philosopher

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” ― Winston Churchill – British statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says ‘I’ll try again tomorrow.‘” ― Mary Anne Radmacher – writer and artist

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” ― Helen Keller – author and educator who was blind and deaf

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see.” ― Confucius – Chinese philosopher, poet and politician

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” — Helen Keller

“Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

“Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

“Remember this. When people choose to withdraw far from a fire, the fire continues to give warmth, but they grow cold. When people choose to withdraw far from light, the light continues to be bright in itself, but they are in darkness. This is also the case when people withdraw from God.” ― Saint Augustine

“Do you desire security? Here you have it. The Lord says to you, ‘I will never abandon you, I will always be with you.’ If a good man made you such a promise, you would trust him. God makes it, and do you doubt? Do you seek a support more sure than the word of God, which is infallible? Surely, He has made the promise, He has written it, He has pledged His word for it, it is most certain.” ― Saint Augustine

“Nothing binds me to my Lord like a strong belief in His changeless love.” ― Charles Spurgeon

Menanteau Serfontein – 25 February 2022

Definition: A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from objective rational judgment. People create their own “subjective reality” from their perception of input (an event, what was said, etc). People’s subjective biased construction of reality, not the objective input, may dictate their beliefs, opinions and behaviour.

While we like to believe that we are rational and logical, the fact is that all of us are continually under the influence of cognitive biases. These biases distort our thinking, influence beliefs, and sway our daily judgments and decisions.

Sometimes these biases are fairly obvious, and you might even find that you recognize these tendencies in yourself or others. In other cases, these biases are so subtle that they are almost impossible to notice.

These biases happen because we often rely on mental shortcuts that speed up our ability to make judgments, but this often leads to bias and mistakes in our decision-making.

The following are just a few of the different cognitive biases that have a powerful influence on how we think, feel, and behave.

1. The Confirmation Bias

The confirmation bias is the tendency to prefer to listen more often to information that confirms our existing beliefs. Through this bias, people tend to favour information that reinforces the things that they already think or believe.

Examples include:

• Only paying attention to information that confirms your current beliefs.
• Refusing to listen to the opposing side.
• Not considering all of the facts in a logical and rational manner.
• Choosing news sources that present stories that support your views.

There are a few reasons why this happens. One is that only seeking to confirm, helps to minimise our mental and emotional energy that we need to consider options and make decisions. It also helps to protect our self-esteem by making us feel that our beliefs are accurate.

Confirmation bias causes “bias” in forming and confirming our opinions.

One of the disadvantages of confirmation bias is that it could lead to incorrect understanding and poor choices. It could also result in an unwillingness and/or inability to listen to opposing views, or to contribute to discussions/debates with people who hold different opinions.

2. The Anchoring Bias

The anchoring bias occurs when we rely too much on pre-existing information or the first information we find when making decisions. Some examples of how this works:

• The first number voiced during a price negotiation typically becomes the anchoring point from which all further negotiations are based.
• Whilst shopping for a used car, you might see a car for sale for $13,000. If the next car you see is only $9,000, you might view this car as cheap, regardless of the actual value of the car.

Like other cognitive biases, anchoring can have an effect on the decisions you make each day and can sometimes lead to poor choices, because the bias makes it more difficult to consider other important factors before making a decision.

3. The Misinformation Effect

The misinformation effect is the tendency for memories to be heavily influenced by things that happened after the actual event itself. A person who witnesses a car accident or crime might believe that their recollection is crystal clear, but researchers have found that memory, is surprisingly susceptible to even very subtle influences.

For example:

• Simply asking questions about an event can change someone’s memories of what happened.
• Hearing other people talk about a memory from their perspective may change your memory of what transpired.

4. The Actor-Observer Bias

The actor-observer bias is the tendency to attribute our actions to external influences and other people’s actions to internal ones. The way we perceive others and how we attribute their actions, hinges on a variety of variables, but it can be heavily influenced by whether we are the actor or the observer in a situation.

When it comes to our own actions, we are often far too likely to attribute things to external influences. For example:

• You might complain that you botched an important meeting because you had jet lag.
• You might say you failed an exam because the teacher posed too many trick questions.

When it comes to explaining other people’s actions, however, we are far more likely to attribute their behaviours to internal causes. For example:

• A colleague screwed up an important presentation because he’s lazy and incompetent (not because he also had jet lag).
• A fellow student bombed a test because they lack diligence and intelligence (and not because they took the same test as you with all those trick questions).

5. The False-Consensus Effect

The false-consensus effect is the tendency people have to overestimate how much other people agree with their own beliefs, behaviours, attitudes, and values. For example:

• Thinking that other people share your opinion on controversial topics.
• Overestimating the number of people who are similar to you.
• Believing that the majority of people share your preferences.

Researchers have found that some of the reasons why the false-consensus effect trips us up so easily, include:

• The people with whom we spend a lot of our time, our family and friends, do often tend to share very similar opinions and beliefs. Because of this, we start to think that this way of thinking is the majority opinion, even when we are with people who are not part of our family and friends.
• When we believe that other people are just like us, it soothes our self-esteem and ego. It allows us to feel “normal” and maintain a positive view of ourselves in relation to other people.

6. The Halo Effect

The halo effect applies when our initial impression of a person influences what we think of them overall. Also known as the “physical attractiveness stereotype“ or the “what is beautiful is ‘good’ principle”. We are either influenced by, or use the halo, to influence others almost every day. For example:

• Thinking people who are good-looking are also smarter, kinder, and funnier than less attractive people.
• Believing that products marketed by attractive people are also more valuable.
• Thinking that a political candidate who is confident must also be intelligent and competent.

7. The Self-Serving Bias

The self-serving bias is a tendency for people to tend to give themselves credit for successes, but lay the blame for failures on outside causes. When you do well on a project, you probably assume that it’s because you worked hard. But when things turn out badly, you are more likely to blame it on circumstances or bad luck.

This bias does serve an important role in protecting self-esteem. However, it can often also lead to faulty attributions such as blaming others for our own shortcomings.

8. The Availability Heuristic

The availability heuristic is the tendency to estimate the probability of something happening based on how many examples readily come to mind. One example:

• After seeing several news reports of car thefts in your neighbourhood, you might start to believe that such crimes are more common than they are.

It is essentially a mental shortcut designed to save us time when we are trying to determine risk. The problem with relying on this way of thinking is that it often leads to poor assessments and bad decisions.

9. The Optimism Bias

The optimism bias is a tendency to overestimate the likelihood that good things will happen to us, while underestimating the probability that negative events will impact our lives. Essentially, we tend to be too optimistic for our own good. For example:

• We may assume that negative events such as job loss, illness or death won’t affect us.
• This bias can lead people to take unnecessary risks.

The good news is that this tendency toward optimism helps people to have hope for the future and the motivation they need to pursue their goals, trusting that they will succeed.

Comment

The cognitive biases above are common, but there are various other biases that can also affect your thinking and decision making.

NOTE: A large amount of the content of this essay has been derived from an article entitled  “List of Common Cognitive Biases” by Kendra Cherry –  Reviewed by Amy Morin, LCSW – Updated on January 20, 2021

https://www.verywellmind.com/cognitive-biases-distort-thinking-2794763

Menanteau Serfontein – 11 March 2022

Introduction

Many young high school graduates are not “ready for life” – they are not mature enough to go straight into the world of work, or to further their studies at university or another tertiary institution.

A large percentage of students entering university or other institutions of higher learning fail and drop out before completing their degrees/diplomas. There is growing evidence that many school leavers don’t have the necessary “life skills” to be able to choose an appropriate course of study and to become successful students.

In order to succeed academically as well as in your career, you should ideally have sufficient  clarity about “who you are” (your identity) and be confident that you have the necessary life skills to be effective and successful. However, for many, the “why” questions of life are still vague and unanswered at that stage. A significant number are bewildered, scared, lack confidence, feel unworthy (not good enough) and are uncertain about themselves, about life and about their faith.

In such cases, the possibility of taking a gap year after leaving high school should be seriously considered.

Gap years are not for everyone and many aspiring students would not need to take a gap year before they start their chosen course of study, or enter the world of work straight away. However, judging by the failure rate, coupled with the large number of students who “lose their way” after leaving school, I believe that there is a strong case to be made for certain school leavers to “invest” in a gap year in order to gain knowledge and skills that will equip them for “adult life”.

What is a Gap Year?

A gap year is a semester or full year of experiential learning, typically taken between high school graduation and college/university/apprenticeship/traineeship enrolment or entering the world of work.

Purpose of a Gap Year

There are various reasons why people opt to embark on a gap year – such as discovering themselves, finding purpose, discovering what they want to do with their lives, what sort of work they would like to do and the career path that they wish to pursue.

Taking a gap year after high school is becoming an increasingly popular decision among high school leavers, and an increasing number of universities are supporting students who choose to do so. Some proponents have even argued that gap years, or a year of national service, should be mandatory.

Gap years haven’t only grown in popularity with students and parents. Some universities  encourage students to take gap years and allow accepted applicants to defer their admission for a year to do so. In fact, some universities even offer university-sponsored gap-year programmes. The institutional support of gap years is due in part to the growing evidence that gap years can be extremely beneficial to students.

Before opting for a gap year, you should clarify what it is that you want to explore and learn and what kind of personal growth you wish to pursue. An unfocused and aimless gap year which entails too much sitting around being idle, is unlikely to provide any positive takeaways.

There could be some benefit in travelling overseas for 6 to 12 months to develop greater independence – and benefit from the enriching experience of seeing and experiencing foreign places, cultures and different ways of life.

Another option could be to combine working part-time to earn some money with periodic travelling.

I am aware of several students who successfully completed their high school studies and then remained at the same school for a further year to participate in a structured “post-matric” programme.

Personal Experience

When I finished high school, I was one of the boys during that time who was conscripted to do compulsory military training for 12 months.

Some of the conscripted boys thought that their 12-month stint was a waste of time, but many others benefitted significantly.

In my case, my military training was a substantial personal growth experience. Without realising it at the time, it was in fact a “gap year” of sorts. I was on an Officers’ course where we learnt leadership skills, self-discipline, group-discipline, goal setting and goal achievement, perseverance, resilience, group dynamics, inter-personal skills, sharing with others, sacrificing for one another, teamwork, courage and going the extra mile.

It was common knowledge that the general trend was that those who completed their military training first before going to university, had a much better probability of passing their university degree within the normal time period, than those who went to university first and did their military training thereafter.

Although there were many exceptions, the ones who did military training first, were generally more mature, had greater clarity and direction about what they wanted to do with their lives and which course of study to register for.

In a previous essay on the website entitled “Should Educational Institutions Also Teach About  ‘What Makes Life Worth Living’?” , I wrote about the fact that education today focuses almost exclusively on specialised bodies of knowledge (and skills), which is essential in order to equip students to eventually hold their own in the work situation. However, young people often don’t learn about the meaning of life, purpose, character and time-tested biblical values and principles at school and in many cases not even at home, resulting in a huge vacuum when it comes to life skills.

This neglect is one of the reasons why I favour appropriate structured gap years. Theodore Roosevelt said: “To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”

Example of an Excellent Structured Gap Year Programme

There are many options available that would suit the specific unique needs of different people, however I tend to favour a “structured” gap year which is geared specifically to equip young people who graduate from high school – “for life”.

A great example of a well-established and highly successful “structured” gap year programme that I have become aware of recently is “Victory Gap Year” which is offered by Victory Church in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa.

The “Victory Gap Year” programme offers various elective streams to attendees to choose from. An overview of some of the structured exposure that attendees receive through a combination of theoretical input and practical experience include:

• Leadership Theory and Practice
• Leadership Principles and Styles
• Identity
• Character
• Developing a “Why”
• Followership
• Teamwork
• Basic Sociology
• Team Dynamics and Trust
• Conflict and Confrontation
• Planning, Organising and Hosting events
• Marketing
• Public Speaking
• Outreach
• Participatation in a Global Leadership Summit
• Personality Profiling
• Key principles for successful everyday living

The core curriculum of the programme is underpinned by learning Biblical foundations and principles with ample opportunities being offered to obtain practical experience.

One of the elective streams is “Media”, which covers the terminology, principles and practical application of the various forms of modern media and how to make optimal use of it. This is done through practical usage of the respective media. This stream also covers graphic design, video, photo editing and live media productions. In addition, the media stream includes visits to an Impact Photography and Design Studio.

It goes without saying that a tremendous amount of informal learning takes place during the programme and practical experience is gained throughout the year.

The web address is: victorygapyear.co.za

Note: Some of the content of this essay has been obtained from “Should You Take a Gap Year? by Mikael Mulugeta, June 4, 2020 https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/what-is-a-gap-year/#:~:text=A%20gap%20year%20can%20be,through%20an%20internship%20or%20job.