DO YOU WANT A PENNY OR A MILLION POUNDS?
After all the excitement and the amazing displays of excellence – everyone keeps talking about the “legacy” of the Olympics and asking what it will be. I hope it is that we all (whatever our age) have been reminded that contrary to the desire for instant fame/ wealth/ success/ celebrity, what really gets you where you want to go is determination and dedication, and let’s be honest, some hard work!
Luckily for you and me, most of us don’t have to work as hard as Mo Farrah, Jessica Ennis or Bradley Wiggins to achieve our goals. What has been highlighted though, is that you have to have a plan. The reason our cyclists now dominate the sport, is down to successful planning, often in minute detail. These “micro” changes that they have introduced include teaching cyclists how to wash their hands properly to remove bacteria so that a virus or other bug doesn’t prevent them from missing even one training session. When interviewed this week Ian Woods, the man who masterminded this revolution talked about how some microscopic changes, when added together, can be transformational. Someone asked “why is this man not running the country!” wise words perhaps!
In THINK MORE EAT LESS there is a story about the man who offered his sons the choice between a penny that doubled every day for 31 days, and £1 million. One penny doubled every day for 31 days accumulates to over £10 million (work it out – it does!) this example clearly shows the importance of the compound effect, that means focusing on the tiny things that combine to make a big difference.
This is a philosophy I teach in all my workshops and seminars. One of the most common responses I get on my weight loss programme is “ I am surprised how easy it is” and that’s because I teach you how to change how to change how you think and feel about food, and how rather than with daily trips to the gym and extreme diets, you can genuinely make small changes that will bring you great results, when they are repeated over time and incorporated into your everyday life. Success is inevitable! If you would like to find out more about how to do this, come along to my next workshop on September 9th in Watford.
We have teenagers wanting to be famous, without actually having anything to be famous for other than perhaps being in a fly on the wall documentary. I wonder what YOU want that one or two small changes, repeated over time, could bring you closer towards? Perhaps changes so small that you think they are not worth the effort – if this Olympics has taught us anything it’s that EVERYTHING YOU DO DOES MATTER.
This has been my philosophy for so long and I have loved the emphasis on actually doing something to achieve your goals rather than sitting back waiting for your lottery numbers to come up. I come back to my first point, chances are you don’t need to make the level of sacrifice we have seen demonstrated by our athletes, what you probably need to do is make some microscopic changes and repeat them over time. You probably already know what they are – so what are you waiting for?
If you would like some help in the form of some coaching or something more therapeutic to help you change how you think and feel – email me a brief outline of what you would like to change and I will get back to you with my best advice.