Uncategorized

Free Live Online Concert

We are partnering with CMAA to offer our Live FM family access to two free online concerts this June!

Click the image’s below to get access now

 

for King & Country Live Concert

We Rise As One: Special Concert Event by for King & Country

 

We Are Messengers Live Concert

Darren and the band bring a special intimate concert event with intimate acoustic sessions and never a never before seen concert recorded in front of a live audience just before lockdown. Feel the energy and passion of this Irish American band up close and personal.

Tune in to 99.9 Live FM for more offers, interviews with some of the artists and events related to Connect20!

Leading Communities in Unprecedented Times with Mark McCrindle

Social Researcher Mark McCrindle share’s the findings of his latest research into the sentiment, expectations and attitudes of communities and organisations amidst the challenges of Covid-19. He give’s insights into the characteristics of great leaders in a crisis and how to best communicate and facilitate flourishing in this new era.

Our Drive Home announcer Dan got to interview him all about how to lead communities during this time.

Unprecedented Time’s with Mark McCrindle pt. 1

Unprecedented Time’s with Mark McCrindle pt. 2

Make sure to register for Mark McCrindle’s Connect20 Session 3 June 4:30 pm

3 Everyday Enemies of Your Tenacity

Miriam is quick in the centre but loses heart. Joyce understands the game but could move a little quicker; Audrey places herself well but lacks height. 

I recently came across this extract from the sports notes section of the annual magazine from a girl’s school in the 1930s.[1]

Undoubtedly, for many of us, comments like this would sound completely foreign in the context of schools and workplaces as modern sentiment has steered us towards prolific positivity and away from the unfiltered responses of previous decades. Especially in schools, to speak of any student’s performance and potential in any way other than glowing is unacceptable in a modern context.

While this modern move could easily be dismissed as political correctness gone mad, the reality is that such changes have had and are having a significant influence on the mentality and psyche of younger generations who are being proved wanting in one of the most key ingredients for success: tenacity.

Martin Seligman states, ‘Children need to fail. They need to feel sad, anxious and angry. When we impulsively protect or children from failure, we deprive them of the ability to learn.’[2] Seligman argues that how a young person deals with and perceives failure, challenges and obstacles in the early years of schooling is critical to whether they develop tenacity, resilience and optimism.

The same goes for the not so young among us. Tenacity is essential, but there are some common barriers that prevent it.

Three everyday enemies of tenacity include:

1. Fatigue

Sleep experts agree that adolescents should get about nine hours of sleep a night – and that anything less than seven hours is considered sleep deprivation. Fifty-seven per cent more Australian teens were sleep-deprived in 2015 than in 1991.[3] Adults should be getting between 7 and 8 hours. While many of us feel we can push through on only 6, the effects on our resilience can be detrimental.

As adults we know well that our coping mechanisms are significantly impaired when we are tired. Small irritations suddenly feel like significant issues. Minor setbacks and disappointments can become overwhelming.

Many of my adolescent psychologist colleagues have confided in me over the years that a good proportion of their clients would have their mental health challenges significantly alleviated if they would consistently get a good night’s sleep. For young people and adults alike, the capacity to learn, maintain productivity and persevere through challenges depends on energy levels that have been fortified by sleep.

In considering the impact of sleeplessness on resilience and tenacity, legendary American football coach Vince Lombardi said, ‘Fatigue makes cowards of us all.’ It’s hard to be tenacious when you’re exhausted.

2. Personal expectations

The second factor that inhibits tenacity in modern workers and students relates to their expectations of themselves and everyday life.

While previous generations were raised being told ‘life was never meant to be easy’, younger age groups have been taught the opposite.

The old-school view that life was meant to be hard at times underpinned older generations’ paradigm for dealing with setbacks and difficulty. If an exam was failed, the job got hard, you didn’t get the promotion, or a loved one got sick, well, that’s life. If things were hard, that meant you were on the right track – so suck it up and let the hardships build your character.

In contrast, today’s students have been taught the formula that easy = right, and, by deduction, hard = wrong. The moment that hardships, setbacks and difficulties emerge, younger generations tend to draw one of two conclusions:

a. There must be something wrong with goal I’ve set.

Along with an obsession with convenience and the rise of individualism has come a willingness to abandon any goal or commitment that requires a sacrifice or stretch.

Character, maturity and mastery are all earned in the crucible of hardship. To this last point, cognitive psychologist Anders Ericsson’s research famously showed that it takes an average of 10,000 hours of practising and honing skills over 10 years in order to achieve mastery.[4]

It stands to reason that a generation that has been conditioned to perceive hardship as a cue to swap paths, abandon the goal or lower the bar will be hard-pressed achieving anything resembling personal success or mastery.

b. There must be something wrong with me.

This second conclusion is perhaps more concerning. Having spent well over a decade working with schools and students around the world, I have all too often encountered young people who are quick to give up on their goals or themselves because they see challenges as an indication of their inadequacy.

As such, failure becomes quickly seen as an identity rather than an experience – an identity that robs them of the confidence and will to keep trying.

3. Social media

Many of us are well aware of the perils of social media in its encouragement of comparison and its destruction of contentment in the user’s life.

Recent research from Duke University described the modern aspiration of young women as ‘effortless perfection – a belief that they must display beauty, perfect womanhood, and perfect scholarship all without trying (or at least without appearing to try.)’[5]

Younger generations are naturally all too familiar with idea of building a ‘personal brand’ which they are led to carefully craft via social media, while somehow forgetting that everyone else is doing the same thing.

As one colleague describes it, it’s like we have a generation that are comparing their behind-the-scenes footage with everyone else’s highlight reel.

In other words, social media has conditioned today’s students to believe that if they can’t do something as expertly and effortlessly as others appear to do so on social media, that they are a failure. Compare this to the grit of former generations who saw effort as a sign of sound character and valuable work, and the disparity between each generation’s posture to work is further highlighted.

Tenacity is invaluable in the pursuit of work that is meaningful, successful and rewarding. For many of those in the younger generations, it is something that has unfortunately not been fostered in the modern institutions and environments we have created.

However, putting up a fight against these three enemies of tenacity will give you the best chances of developing it. In fact, putting up such a fight in itself is a good sign you are on your way to developing a healthy and productive level of tenacity in your everyday life.

Red Frogs Supporting Teens in Isolation

Cancelling events doesn’t just mean reducing crowds. For young people, it can also mean cutting them off from vital support networks. But “official party crashers” Red Frogs Australia, are working to ensure no one isolates alone.
Founded over 20 years ago by CEO Andy Gourley, Red Frogs typically attend 17 major schoolies events and a number of musical festivals around the country each year, offering walk home services, hydration stations and being the “designated sober person” many people need.
To lose face-to-face interaction has been tough for their teams but Andy says they’re still finding ways to help.
“We’re in the people business, and the people are still there. So our teams have been great at taking what we’d normally do and putting it online [with virtual games nights] and so on.”
“We do events, but we’re not in the events business,” said Andy, “We’re in the people business, and the people are still there. So our teams have been great at taking what we’d normally do and putting it online [with virtual games nights] and so on.
“Our Red Frog Hotline has also gone live around Australia to be accessible to students, and particularly university students who live in residential colleges.
“There’s over 100,000 residential college beds, and there’s a lot of students who’ve had to stay there, and chosen to stay there. In that case, we’re connecting with them and we’ve got that hotline open for them so if they need to just call and have a chat, Froggies are there for them” he said.

Photo: Red Frogs Australia Facebook
While social distancing has hit young people pretty hard, Andy believes they’re uniquely placed to handle it well, and parents should be confident they can get through it.
“Young people are very active and they’re out and about,” said Andy, “so the home isolation has been a big thing for them on the one hand, but on the other hand they’re used to living online…So they’re probably the most adaptable to the new systems as well.
“There can a lot of fear out there, and negativity from the media, but [young people] are adapting and connecting online very well.”
In the change of routine, Andy also sees an opportunity for school leavers to learn skills that will set them up well for adult life.
“This is actually really good training for them if they’re planning to go to university,” said Andy, “because in university you don’t have the framework of a school around you, you’ve got to be self-motivated to show up…the framework and the rigidness is not there.
“These new routines can be very beneficial in putting a new skillset in you on how you learn and adapt. Even if you’re going into a trade…now’s a great time to smash through your theory before you’re busy doing all your [apprenticeship] jobs that the tradies give you.”
For those who are struggling, Andy reminds us to keep checking in on each other.
“There’s two options right now which is fight or flight,” Andy said. “You can retreat into your cave and isolate and it all gets a bit too much. But you’ve got to do the opposite of how you feel sometimes and make sure you keep reaching out.
“We really encourage people to reach out to your friends, reach out to your mates, don’t let them isolate — make connection with them in online ways.”
The Red Frogs Hotline is available 3pm-8pm on 1300 557 123. Find out more via redfrogs.com.au.

In This Rare Moment, the Whole World is Living the Same Story

Sometimes I’m surprised at what I get nostalgic about. Recently I was reminiscing about the way in-flight entertainment used to be done on planes.
You might remember it. Before we had individual touch screens with a million movie options, a hostess would announce the ‘feature film’ was about to start, those who wanted to take part would don headphones and we’d all watch the same film on the cabin TVs. What this quaint arrangement lacked in choice it made up for in shared experience. When the film got funny, everyone laughed. When tension built, everyone gasped. We entered the same story together.
We’re all in the same story
In this moment, much of the world feels like it’s living the same story. The streets of Paris are as empty as those of Delhi. My friends in Michigan are struggling with home schooling as much as my friends in Sydney. Coronavirus has us fighting the same microbial enemy and applauding the same heroes, whether we’re in Glasgow or Rome. I wonder how many times such a thing has happened in history.

Throughout time humans have turned to stories to make sense of crisis. Superhero comics emerged during World War 2, bringing a hopeful message that ‘men of steel’ could win the battle. John Steinbeck’s novel The Moon is Down became an underground hit in occupied Europe because it surreptitiously showed readers how to oppose the Nazis. When 9/11 happened, then New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani stayed up all night reading how Churchill handled the Battle of Britain. And more recently, publishers have noticed an uptick in sales of Albert Camus’ novel The Plague. Whether fictional or historic, stories can often help us find hope and guidance in troubled times.
Hope and guidance
And hope and guidance seem to be what our societies are looking for right now, as we rethink our ways of living and wonder what’s coming next:
Editorials pour forth from The Guardian, The Times and other media on how this moment places society at a crossroads. “Some believe the pandemic is a once-in-a-generation chance to remake society and build a better future. Others fear it may only make existing injustices worse.”
Time Magazine has dedicated it’s Time 100 edition to hope. “As our world now looks far different than we expected, so too will our annual TIME 100 list and issue. Here’s hoping that world is a better and healthier one.”

New York Times columnist David Brooks writes of their being a ‘new introspection’ in the world. “Everybody I talk to seems eager to have deeper conversations and ask more fundamental questions: Are you ready to die? If you did next Tuesday, would you be content with the life you’ve lived?“
Jeanet Bentzen at the University of Copenhagen has found Google searches for prayer have “skyrocketed” in recent weeks, even in secular countries. “The rise in prayer intensity supersedes what the world has seen for years.”
This story has a deep plot. We’re barely into the second act. How will it end?
A story in Luke’s Gospel has been speaking to me lately. Two friends are walking home. They’re in shock and grief, their lives upended by the events of Good Friday. As they walk, a stranger comes up beside them. They don’t recognise his face but his words make their hearts pound. On reaching home they invite him in for a meal, and it’s then their eyes are opened to see who it is. The stranger sharing their crisis has been Jesus.
We’ve entered a globally shared story. No one quite knows how it’s going to end. But we’re not alone in it. As we rethink and wonder, search Google for answers and maybe even pray, a Voice of hope is available to help us land.