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IBLC’19 - dream, live and inspire

By US Desk
Fri, 01, 19

IBLC is a journey of developmental experiences where participants are prepared to take on leadership roles.....

COVER STORY

IBLC is a journey of developmental experiences where participants are prepared to take on leadership roles and learn from their experiences as leaders and followers when they return to their schools and colleges. IBLC’19 (the 11th edition of IBLC) was all about realizing their own journey, journey of integrating new ideas, facing hurdles, overcoming barriers and yet becoming successful. The participants got the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with other young leaders around them and explore their talent. They also interacted with inspirational leaders and discussed their approaches of integrating by dealing with the pressure situations in their lives.

Day 1

The first day of IBLC’19 focused on the projection of the participants on the micro level, i.e. who they are and why they are the way they are. It aimed to pull them out of their comfort zones and interact with random people to form a team. The concept of this day was ‘melt’, which is to break the status quo of the individuals and push them a step forward from where they are, by making them think of where they should be. All speaker sessions and activities were geared to help the participants identify themselves and realize the significance of their individual contribution to team.

Day 2

The second day focused on the transition from self to society, i.e. how an individual can help develop trust and work productively in a team to contribute towards a communal goal. To tackle problems, one needs to battle collectively more than individually. IBLC linked the discovery of one’s self to the discovery of this nation, where each participant has a responsibility to own up his/her actions. The programme then moved to the motivation element of talking about the importance of collective cooperation of the youth to get the optimal performance for the betterment of an individual and the society as a whole.

Day 3

The third day’s concept was ‘mould’, the day in which participants were actually exposed to the real life situations. A long goal oriented activity was the main programme to push them to reach their goals in teams. The objective was to make them a team player and encourage them to be a team leader later on. The participants were exposed to real-life situations. At the end of this activity, they realized the significance of leadership in real life.

Day 4

The last day was solely for the social event.

Take a break when stuck; use the break wisely

“Failures are important in life because they make you think and reflect. There was a time in my career when I was trying to do a lot of things at the same time, but couldn’t accomplish my goals.

“I failed every time I tried and that really made me sit down one day and write about what’s happening in my life. While just scribbling down my feelings, worries, work details and whatever came to my mind, I started reflecting on my current situation. I realized where I was making mistakes and what skills I should acquire to succeed. I figured out what meaningless work I was doing and how I should focus all my energies on key projects. Most importantly, I understood what success meant to be.

“Self-discovery could be the most essential lesson in your life if you are able to learn it at this stage in your life. Sometimes you will find yourself totally lost in meaningless work that you shouldn’t be doing. Stay focused and eliminate everything that’s unimportant.

“Another thing that I find extremely important is to take a break from work when things get frustrating. Just switch off! And also make sure you use that break wisely; talk to your loved ones, ask for help without feeling guilty or maybe read your favourite book. In order to move forward, you have to take a step back. When you return to work with a fresh mind, you will be able to see things clearly and perform well.”

- Faysal Quraishi


Three things I have learnt in life

1. Sometimes, it’s not your fear; it belongs to people and environment around you.

2. Fear is grand only in your head, not in reality.

3. Maybe it’s not even your fear, but can be your passion.

The other side of the fear is amazing!

- Arsal Faheem

“A study I came across mentioned that six percent of students in school right now will go into jobs that have not yet been invented. So we’re trying to prepare you to live and excel in a future that we have no idea of.

“Stress, anger, happiness - all of these are perspectives. Your mind is more like a building with a lot of rooms while your awareness is like a ball of light that you have. When you feel stressed, it’s not your mind that’s stressed; it’s that you’ve brought your awareness to the point of stress.

“For example, Usain Bolt doing all those exercises, eating healthy, and sleeping well - his whole life, his whole day is for that 9.58 seconds. In order to succeed, make sure your focus and awareness are on the main thing.”

- Sidra Iqbal

Participants’ comments

“I am gaining different experiences, getting into new types of activities. People come and give speeches and we learn from them; they’re our seniors and they’re experienced. We’re socializing and making friends. The best session was of M.A. Mannan. He described the word dream and explained it in such a great way that I was able to understand it. The negative aspect, I think, was that there were only activities (funs stuff mostly) and I would have liked it if there were some sessions where we would have been asked to brainstorm on innovative ideas or where we could have shared our (business) ideas and been guided or counselled by the speakers. Also, there are some students who are introverts and it must have been pretty intimidating for them to participate in public speaking and other group activities. Not everyone is interested in public speaking. There should been speakers from other fields as well.” - Anonymous, student of Credo College

“I learned that we should believe in ourselves and live in the moment. We should not cling to our past or worry about future. And whatever we do, we should do it happily. It’s not necessary that we find the right career the first time. We might switch careers later on in life, which is totally fine. We should be open to everything.” - Summaiya Kashif, student of Aga Khan College