TO BE a good leader one must have positive outlook on things which is important in building up confidence and self-esteem.

Hj Suhut Hj Sahat, a guidance counsellor from Sekolah Menengah Masin who was one of the speakers at the Motivational Leadership Workshop for the school's members of Peer Guidance Group (Pembimbing Rakan Sebaya, PRS) yesterday said that through the workshop students could become leaders to themselves as well as being a leader to others.

"This (workshop) hopefully would motivate and change their attitude towards things and view them more positively, which is good when it comes to their academic pursuits."

Hj Suhut said that he had encountered students who already possessed leadership capabilities but are dominated by their negative qualities which made them less confident and had low self-esteem. "We cannot completely ignore the negative side of things as it has to balance out with the positive. But in this case, what we prefer to do is to help and guide them by changing their negative qualities into positive qualities and making them see the brighter side of such things," the counsellor said.

He also elaborated the importance of building up the students' confidence through this workshop because with confidence they would be able to achieve great things in school and at home.

"With strong self-confidence, students can excel in their academics by not afraid to speak out and with an enthusiasm in answering questions in class," the guidance counsellor said.

Hj Suhut pointed out that through looking at, listening and thinking on things positively could greatly change how a person perceived things which come towards them and had a higher level of acceptance which was important for students as it was the key to gaining knowledge. He expressed hopes that the workshop would not only impacted the participants' personality, but also most importantly spiritually, as being a good Muslim also means to have a good heart and soul.

More than 38 members of the school's PRS took part in the two-day workshop.

More activities will be held this afternoon followed with the closing ceremony at the school's Multipurpose Hall.The Brunei Times