The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,300 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.
The beginning of the year 2012, always a good time for reflection and a look at your current start point and where you want to go. I tend to do this every 4-6 months anyway so I do not consider this New Year resolution time.
I am off to Bangladesh and India on the 10 Jan to work with a team who will compete for a World Cup in the summer of 2012, I love that the start of the year will allow me to go away on a training camp which will assist me to prepare for the rest of the year both mentally and physically-this will be a tough camp for them/CANT WAIT. It is also the culmination of a programme I have been involved in for a couple of years. Time to test the results and be judged.
The injections in my knees during the last training camp I attended have helped and this week I will be putting them to the test.
Later today I will have a fitness session to take stock of my current level of fitness, we shall see how much of gap there is to make before I am happy. I aim to set my level/bar high. When I told someone what I wanted to achieve this year a slightly skeptical look met my plans.
I always love it when I am told that I will not achieve something. The minute I hear someone tell me this I know my vision is at the correct level.
At the end of each year I usually play an old friend (extremely competitive) at squash to see who ends the year as champion. It is a winner take all match. We play the best of 9 games. Unfortunately he injured himself the week prior to our competition, which was very disappointing – GH I hope you get better soon. My son will take your place tmw morning.
I am meeting with my publisher at the end of the week which I am looking forward to. My book is about leadership and personal development. I am about to find out how close or far we are from making this book a reality-so work to do no doubt.
The launch of Britam Recruitment/Resettlement Company will take place this week. I am looking forward to seeing how this project will develop. The aim is to provide soldiers with a career transition to business or any other are of life that they would like to try. I think that due to the economic climate we will find ourselves in 2012 it is likely that we will also be assisting business people in making career transitions as well. I am sure that we will have a number of learning curves along the way.
I will also be working with a very talented international coach later this week and his management team, which I am looking forward to. I was also pleased that a very talented coach (Andy Flower) received the credit he deserved for assisting England Cricket Team achieve great things during his tenure. His ability to create the correct culture was in my opinion key to this success.
In February I have lots of work on the Olympics from a business/security perspective and other areas of sport. I still do not think that people have quite realised this this event is not business as usually and something that people need to be prepare for to be at their very best.
I am looking forward to working with very talented businesses once again. At the beginning of the week I am with a group who have recently done a 360 degree profile. This company is far ahead of many groups that I have come across in developing the individual, team and organization. It continues to push the senior leadership team to higher levels of performance by constantly challenging them.
The final week of December ended with a trip to Val d’Isere for a week of Skiing. The weather was glorious, snow outstanding and I met a lot of very nice people. We skied and jumped off a cliff, won a quiz, which was important, as there was a very competitive Australian team involved.
Sadly the year ended with the death of my brother’s wife. A truly wonderful person who literally looked after everyone else before herself. She never had a bad word for anyone. My heart goes out to her sons and my brother who loved her dearly. It is always at moments like this you get to see the strength in people and my mother who is 85 years old is once again a rock, such an inspirational attitude to life and who again does not complain of ill health or things not going her way, she just gets on and deals with it. Powerfulmindset.
How often do we actually take stock of our health (check up and diet), fitness level, financial position, time we actually spend with family, our friends or loved ones, how much time over the last year have we actually looked at our own personal development, hobbies, or our work/life balance?
When we truly look and perhaps score ourselves from 1 – 10, 10 being totally brilliant in this area, how many of those zones of our life do we score 5 or less?
We can always convince ourselves that we are too busy in our lives, that this is the reality of having to earn money and therefore some areas will always come up short. Whilst this is obviously true, we are not always so busy that we can’t take a step back and take a little stock of ourselves and change the important areas around to higher scores.
We must learn to take time out and ensure that we are content with our way of life and why shouldn’t we be?
The training test I did this evening was as follows.
I rowed 3,000 meters on the rowing machine – averaging 1:43 for each 500 m (pleased) – Time required 1:38 per 500
Body stretches including multiple holding exercises for 30 seconds plus – including planks-this is to test suppleness and flexibility-lots of work to do in this area.
Exercises including dips/press ups/squat thrusts/star jumps/ burpees/sit ups. Each one over 30 seconds with a five minute rest – Score 198
400 meters on the running machine x 10 – each rep must be with five seconds of the last one.
Strength test bench/shoulders/squats/dead lift
Very tired at the end – felt sick and pleased.
Have a truly wonderful year – it is down to YOU…………………
Work has been very busy and enjoyable of late. Although that is not to say there have not been difficulties and difficult negotiations along the way. I have continued to develop a number of projects which all moving forward although not at the pace I would like. Patience once again becomes an important aspect of character.
The maritime project I have recently been working on has taken a new direction and I presented my thoughts to a large convention in London recently. I made this presentation very interactive and asked them for advice in developing a number of ideas. Too often I see groups/companies fail to get all of the stakeholders of a particular project on board and realise that together everyone will achieve much more. More importantly we can also all profit in very difficulty economic times.
I have also been putting the finishing touches to the recruitment and development side of Britam Defence. I am looking forward to launching this at the beginning of December but I am also prepared to wait until the New Year if this seems to be the better option. Again I am having to hold on my enthusiasm to move forward quickly against ensuring having all of the foundations in place.
The leadership training goes from strength to strength and I continue to build on my understanding of how individuals, teams and organizations actually work well together. I recently spoke to 70 children who are in year 11. I really enjoyed the interactive session and it is important to realise that the vast majority of children want to do well at school. I never cut corners on my discussions or try to make allowances for their age simply because I do not have to. They get it, they understand that they have to take responsibility for their actions, that they have to have a vision and courage to move forward. They have to be dedicated and ask for help where necessary. At the end of the session I asked them to work as teams and discuss what they had learnt and then present to the rest of the year what it was they had discovered and what they intend to do about it. I wish I had taped this, all of the teams came up with key strategies for moving forward and making the most of their final year of GCSE’s. It was inspiring to listen to them. They also gave me a number of ideas for working in this area in the future.
2012 will be a busy year with the Olympics and World cups coming up and I am looking forward to working with some outstanding people in many different spheres. I start next week with a team preparing for a World cup next year. This is a big year for that group and I am looking forward to seeing them achieve great things. The New Year will also see me travel to India, Bangladesh and Australia
My physical training is going well and I will be on a very tough schedule right up to Christmas which I am pleased with as it keeps me from too much temptation in the lead up xmas. I am also going ski-ing which will be great as I haven’t been on the slopes for awhile. I am looking forward to the cross country element too.
Work on the book is coming to a close with all the information now recorded. I am just working through how best to present this so that it is an enjoyable as well as educational read. It will be all of the things I wish I had know when I was 15 or so yrs of age. I am often asked would I really have benefitted from receiving the information at that age. Well after speaking to numerous children that answer to that question is yes.
I wish I had know more about one particular aspect of my own development and that is about how the brain actually works.I am still amazed at how little we are actually taught about how our brains evolve under our direction. The one great uplifting theme to my book will be that the actually physical architecture of our brains are down to our experiences and how we have sculptured our minds. Every element of your behavior is a result of what happens in your mind. Nature and nuture combining to make us unique.The more you understand it the more that you can achieve from it. “The little book of big stuff about the brain” is a brilliant way to fully understand the mind. It is by Andrew Curran isbn 978-184590085-4 read this book and I will guarantee you that you will see how talented you are and could become.
I have also been working on a new way to learn information, it is early stages yet but I think that it could prove to be a wonderful way to understand how easily we can store and find information when we want it.
Lastly, I have been waiting for a knee operation in fact two both of which have been delayed so it looks like it will be next year before they are cleaned out once again. As a result of waiting I missed the Dubai 7’s which was hugely disappointing.
I intend to write a few more blogs before Christmas and I will certainly cover one on friendship. Once again I have needed a number of friendships to assist me in every area of my life. Christmas is always a good time to remember and value them.
have a wonderful week.
