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!

Power of Positive Thinking

"Sod it...I'm going to quit!" said Rollling Stone's drummer Charlie Watts when faced this week with serious health consequences he decided to quit smoking after 55 years on the weed! Well done Charlie and best of luck.
Somehow I don't think he'll need luck because it sounds like he simply doesn't want to smoke anymore.
On the 13th of next month it will be 13 years since I gave up. "Is it worth it after all this time?" enquired a colleague at the time. I remember thinking then that her comments were probably a reference to my age, and to my record of unsuccessful previous attempts. Plus the fact that smokers seemed obsessed with discouraging those that want to stop. Have you noticed that?  But I also remember how at the time I felt  about stopping.   Of course... it was to do with health threats and the impact of that on my family. But it was also to do with the notion that at my age it didn't matter...and I wasn't happy to accept that idea!  The significant thing I remember however, was that previously I had quit because I felt I should. It was the right thing to do.  Now I was going to quit because I wanted to. Previously I had left the body in charge to withstand and hopefully forget the cravings and satisfaction of nicotine. This time I put the mind in control of things. The body would still want to succumb but the mind would say "no we don't do that any more!"

It's probably over 40 years since I bought my first book on the Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. And yes I wish I'd read it and grasped the meaning back then....I'd say "if only etc. etc"  but I don't  do if only these days...(wisdom came late in life)
Maybe it's because we have to experience something before we understand it (some ancient philosopher said that I do remember) that we find it hard to learn lessons by reading from a book.
I wager that any of us can look back and with 5 minutes thought we will remember 3 or 4 experiences where we did something we had previously considered beyond us! Thus we learnt the meaning of self-limiting beliefs and the power of positive thinking.
So apologies Norman. It took me a while to see the light but there's no stopping me now. And Charlie too I'm sure  

"Stop the ageing clock at 50!"

Did you see that on the news today? Scientists at Leeds University are embarking on a Multi-million Pound research programme, the successful outcome of which would be that we stop ageing at 50!!!
How wonderful would that be??   Obviously there will be critics, sceptics and just plain argumentatives who'll challenge this. Speaking personally I'd have gained little from this as I looked 50 when I was 40....probably on account of having lived an equivalent 60 years by that time!!!!
But seriously, I think the idea is brilliant!  And thinking about it, I realise that I've had my own "stop the ageing clock programme" in place since my 50th.  I'm sure it was triggered by my "ex" running off around my 50th birthday. (note to self - avoid unnecessary joke that this was bound to have rejuvenating effect!)  But it probably began earlier than that when corporate life decided to do without me at 47 and the thoughts of "mid-life rebellion" were implanted.  But looking back I am really grateful for those life changing events that did exactly that! They changed my life. They recharged the sense of purpose and challenge to start over again.

 Nowadays I do all the recommended things. The daily workout ...sorry the photographer cut off my head. The brain workout too, with good old Sudoku and the like. Eat the right things with Omega 3 seeds on my muesli...red grape juice....salmon or mackeral four nights a week...and yes a glass or two of my favourite red as advised by a dear old cleric!  But for me the most important "anti-ageing agent" has been and continues to be change.    No, I'm not recommending that you run out on your partner! But to be continually introducing some form of change or difference: New skills. New interests. New ventures. New friendships. If we keep giving the mind something new to think about, the mind in turn will give the body something to think about.    "Come along, we're not finished yet ............ON WE GO!"

"It's that problem with the steering Lulu!"

"It's that problem with the steering Lulu!" Dad would say.  My dear departed mum and dad used to work at the same engineering works in Wembley, and each day they would to work together. Except for the occasional day when the car would play up!  It was always the same problem....the steering...and funnily enough usually on a pleasant sunny day. They would be heading off in the right direction and then suddenly without warning the steering wouldn't respond....just at the critical Wembley turning. An hour later they would be in Brighton....sitting on the seafront....enjoying the packed lunch intended for the factory canteen....just appreciating what was around them.

Mum would always protest...for a while. Mum was the conscientious one in our family. But Mum also knew what these days meant to both of them.They meant.

Do the things you enjoy in life with the people that you love.

Be able to enjoy moments that add value to your life.

Take opportunities and don't procrastinate. Be spontaneous.

Never lose your sense of fun or your spark of rebelliousness.

With these sunny autumn days that we're currently enjoying they would definitely have been taking a "Bob'n Lu Day" as I like to call it.    And who knows....maybe they are?

Strictly not too old!

The row over the sacking of Arlene Phillips (66) from BBC's Strictly Come Dancing rumbles on. After Harriet Harman previously describing the decision as "shocking" we now hear the Lib-Dems Equalities Spokeswoman telling the Party Conference it "sent a bad message" and "she would not be able to describe her feelings on the matter in parliamentary language."
Interesting as well that we get Justin Lee Collins (35) wading in with a swipe at Bruce Forsyth (81) suggesting that he should have got out 3 or 4 years ago. I wonder was that a piece of clever PR to deflect from the sexism aspects of the Phillips - Dixon row?
It seems a shame that ageism will be the likely casualty in this row. If you watch the show (which of course I don't) you would appreciate that the original panelists shared a similar perspective as critics, and so maybe a different angle will limit repetition. There certainly were clashes and personal exchanges. The trouble now is that if Len (65) falls out with Craig (44) as he did last Saturday (I'm told) we will dismiss this as cantankerousness by the old fella!
Of course it's viewing ratings that will ultimately settle this debate and the head to head with X Factor last Saturday wasn't a good result with Strictly losing out by 2 million viewers.
But the BBC have the answer. They've "gagged" the Strictly judges and issued suitable responses they can give to questions on the affair. Their record with costume drama is renowned and adding censorship to ageism within the plot is bound to increase viewing levels.