I couldn't feel it in my loins!

I went to our company Annual Conference last week and we finished off the day with the customary bit of team building...this time in the shape of Karting.
Now OnWeGo is all about doing things you've never done before....stretching your achievement limits....breaking the conventional link between maturity and sensible behaviour. So Karting met all of those criteria and I was definitely up for it.

I thought it would be a good opportunity to apply all the NLP training...to work on the inner resourcefulness...to get into the zone and all that.  Of course all the young dudes were doing their stuff...you know how excess testosterone makes them behave when there's a bit of a competition. And the mountain of pizza for lunch probably added to their hyperactivity. Even "IT" Rich couldn't resist pointing out that he left 10 minutes after me and still managed to arrive at the venue 10 minutes before me...clearly questioning my prospects at the Karting?? Mind games!! Huh!! They are easily dismissed, and I focused on my positive visualisation as I pulled on my Karting suit. That was the first problem! It seems that Karters are typically narrow of hip and getting into "the zone" proved difficult with my loins in a tournaquet! Choosing my helmet didn't help matters. "XL is blue" read the sign. My chosen blue helmet wouldn't go past my ears! "No!" Said an exasperated Rich. "it's the colour of the stickers on the visor."  I think he was being helpful? .. and not still playing mind games!

By now the positive affirmations were not working so well, and by the time the pre-race briefing had finished I suspected that I hadn't taken everything on board...and I was now numb from the waste down!!

For those that have never karted, let me explain that mental concentration and quick reactions are essential. I was decidedly lacking in awareness, both above the neck and below the waste...and it showed in my results!

Heats 1 to 3 left me languishing down the leader board and positive visualisation of a podium place was proving difficult. Now previously, in the warm up sessions, the testosterone soaked yahoos in the studio had laughed at the gentle driving style of the girls. This was bound to offend my old fashioned sense of gallantry... or maybe it was my dominant Assertive-Nurturing behavioural style that was taking over? But competitiveness was giving way to altruism.  I found myself turning my attention to encouraging the girls. Actually, I didn't have to turn at all. They passed me at will. Nor did I have to encourage them!!!

I didn't make the semi-finals. I had to endure the customary half-witticisms of Bill the Accountant. My kartsuit had to be peeled from my shoulders by a gracious and sympathetic Amie...bless her!  I even managed to get lost driving home.
So no personal glory for me but most definitely a good case for the "don't give up....keep on trying" spirit of  OnWeGo!  
Karting I will do again...... and next time????

The real secret of long life

Playing golf last week with my great pal Tony, I told him that he is the epitome of what OnWeGo is all about, and that when we get to create our Hall of Fame he'll be in it.  I was feeling fraternal at the time, after all I hadn't seen him in a year, the round was paid for, and he had laid on a buggy! But gratitude apart I have to say he is an OnWeGo role model.   He is 75, fit as a fiddle, quick witted and still selling membership packages for the FSB with the same passion as he did 20 years ago.
He also takes his golf very seriously. A regular player at Puckrup (and former Club Captain) he still felt that a 9 shots handicap allowance was all I deserved in our round of Stapleford. But he also knew he'd have to play at his best to beat me. And it's that wanting to do your best each day that I believe is the real secret of long life.
We should all marvel at the power of our minds when it comes to things like attitude and determination. Fighting off illness. Overcoming adversity. Raising performance levels in sport. Each week we hear news stories and read scientific research showing how a focused determined mind drives a strong body.

Only today I was reading of work at UCLA that again shows how mental exercise, be it from Sudoku, crossword puzzles or even surfing the net will counter the ageing effect on the brain.  My own anecdotal research would add having purpose to those "stretching exercises."  Regularly doing something that in some way or other requires that you "attempt your best." Whether that is playing to your best, and sport is great for that, or doing better in terms of learning a new skill. Because a stretched brain remains a healthy brain which in turn insists on a healthy body to keep up.

Which is precisely what keeps Tony performing at the level of somebody 25 years his junior.

As to the golf....he beat me 36 points to 30! 

But I remained purposeful to the 18th. An awesome 180 yard par 3 over a lake to an elevated green overlooked by the hotel restaurant and clubhouse.

Tony (former club captain remember) sliced his tee shot into the water. A quiet inner word with myself preceeded a soaring 3 wood onto the green and two putts for par! I enjoyed lunch in the club house...that was also on Tony.

Look at me mother...I'm a book reviewer!

"A big thanks to Bob Howard-Spink, who deserves a special mention for painstakingly reading the drafts and testing my techniques on the range. Your help, feedback and advice has been invaluable."
 Roy Palmer

What?    Yes that's right.... I am posting an author's acknowledgement.... to me!!! Yes me.

And I'm crowing about it because I really am chuffed to bits. I have always wanted to be one of those "invaluable" people that gets mentioned in the Acknowledgments. I think it goes back to childhood when I thought that to be acknowledged must have meant that you had lots of knowledge. And to be honest,  throughout life I've never been a great reader and so the Acknowledgements were the only part of a book I was certain to read.

Which is why it was all the more surprising, flattering and I guess a bit daunting to be asked by Roy to run a golfer's eye over the draft of his forthcoming book Golf Sense...and me only a 24 handicapper as well!

I must say that Roy's ideas in the book are terrific. Apologies to any non-golfers but one technique that  helped me so much deals with getting into the zone prior to backswing. I've always been aware that I think too much about starting the backswing, and so it becomes a highly conscious attempt at moving hands, arms, shoulders and pretty much everything else in a vague up and down path. No wonder I never progressed much below 24 handicap!!

But not now!  A big thank you Roy!  For the golf improvement but also for giving me a crack at book reviewing and adding another entry on my "I never thought I'd be doing this" list.

OnWeGo is all about promoting the "keep it going....do something new" spirit and looking for opportunities to fulfill that spirit, at a time of life when we could be reaching for the jigsaw puzzles or watching day time TV.  It's about doing something that you'd never seen yourself doing. It's about recognising that we've got talents that others will appreciate. And it's about the enormous satisfaction derived from beating your "personal best" in life and getting thanks and appreciation in the process. Why shouldn't the rest of your life be the best of your life!