WHAT A ROLE MODEL!

I'm a big tennis fan and an even bigger fan of Roger Federer. I honestly believe that he is probably the greatest ever role model in the world of sport.

Currently world number 3, the former world number one has won no less than 16 grand slam titles. He has been there, done it and got the tee-shirt but he remains the most incredibly modest man. He is currently playing in the French Open championships at Roland Garros in Paris and on Tuesday was involved in an incredible comeback from two sets down to beat Juan-Martin Del-Potro in five sets. Two days before he beat a young up and coming player who openly admitted that he idolised Federer as he was growing up.

I was full of admiration for the way he conducted himself both during and after these matches. He demonstrated incredible mental strength and focus. He dug deep when he most needed to and called upon the resources he required to get the job done. Afterwards he was full of praise for his opponents. He is like that whether he wins or loses. Even after losing in the US Open semi-final last year to Novak Djokovic after being two sets up, playing fantastically and having several match points, he remained a real gentleman. He must have felt crushingly disappointed by the loss but said something I have never forgotten - "When things like this happen it always makes me remember why we all love sport - because we never know what's going to happen."He demonstrates exactly how sport should be played and is in my opinion is sportsmanship personified.

I once read an interview in which a sports reporter told the embarrassing story of how as a young reporter he had been lucky enough to interview Federer in his hotel room the night before a big semi-final match. As he was finishing the hour long taped chat he realised to his horror that he had forgotten to switch the tape recorder on. Far from being cross with him, Roger Federer simply suggested they do the whole thing over again, even though it was already late at night.

He is fluent in four languages and proficient in several others. He always makes people feel special and never forgets his roots. The man is a legend, quite simply the greatest sportsman who ever lived.

OK so I didn't actually meet him at last year's ATP world finals at the O2 ........ but you have to admit I still look pretty happy about it!

DIAMOND JUBILEE

What other subject could there be to blog about today? As Britain returns to work after the four day celebrations for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the nation is left with some great memories. It was a fantastic time in which Britain came together to give thanks for her 60 years of selfless service.

The British aren't really a nation of flag wavers. We tend to be more reserved in our shows of patriotism. However, the only time I have ever seen anything like as many flags around the place was during Euro 96 - don't start me off about that, there's a week's worth of blogging in there and I've already got so much great content planned for you!

The jubilee was an opportunity for old and young alike to get out onto the streets and give thanks to our Queen. Now whatever you may think about the monarchy, you have to admit that she is an amazing lady. I was lucky enough to visit Buckingham Palace about 10 years ago when my (now late) grandmother received the MBE. It was an incredible day, really special and every bit as exciting as I thought it was going to be. My Nan was a great royalist and loved that day as the Queen made it so personal for her and made her feel so special.

I loved the way that communities got together and there was a real sense of pride in our nation. Foreign friends on Twitter were saying that seeing the celebrations made them wish they were British. For those of us lucky enough to be from these Isles it was an opportunity to express our love for our country - I've never seen #proudtobebritish trending on Twitter before.

So let's take that pride, that great feeling and spread it into our daily lives. Let's show the world that Britain is a great place to be, not just for the Jubilee celebrations but every single day.

TIME TO REFLECT

Those of us in Britain are lucky enough to have a long four-day weekend to look forward to now, in celebration of our Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It's one Bank Holiday that I will particularly enjoy. I don't work in the surgery on a Monday so I normally miss out on the holidays, but not this time as we are off on the Tuesday as well.

Sixty years doing anything is an amazing achievement. What is so amazing though is how much the world has changed since she came to the throne. She was there years before the internet, the mobile phone, Facebook, moon exploration, the first four minute mile or the conquest of Everest. All of these things have happened yet she has remained a constant reassuring presence in our lives.

This weekend will hopefully provide you with a bit of down time, a bit of time to quietly reflect on your life. What are the calm, reassuring presences in your life? What or who can you rely on to be there for you when needed? Thinks about these and feel grateful that they are in your life.

Think also about what needs to change. What have you thought about doing or achieving and haven't started yet? What projects have you begun and let fall by the wayside? What better time could there be to resurrect these, to breathe new life into them, thereby enriching your own?

You can always look back and say you should have started X, Y or Z ages ago and is it really worth doing it now? My answer is this - it really is never too late. Remember the old Chinese proverb,

      The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.

So relax, enjoy your weekend and take time to reflect on the next chapter in your life. It's up to you.

RICHARD BRANSON'S HABITUAL PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOUR

I can't remember who said that we are our habits, but whoever it was got it pretty much spot on. As a coach I'm interested in getting people into better habits and that of course includes myself. I read this article about Richard Branson a few weeks ago and thought you'd be interested in it too. I can't credit the original source as I've seen it in several different places on the web. I believe it has been compiled from both his autobiography and various interviews. I think it's a fascinating insight into the mental habits of one of the world's most successful entrepreneurs and businessmen.

Branson lists these as his most important mental habits, the attitudes and ways of being that have got him where he is today:

• Stepping outside your comfort zone
• Facing problems head-on
• Being open to change
• Making every second count
• Hunting for new opportunities
• Asking questions
• Challenging yourself
• Enjoying life to the fullest
• Having fun
• Meeting new people
• Trying new things
• Enjoying working
• Always carrying a notepad
• Surrounding yourself with great people
• Taking calculated risks
• Taking time to read and learn
• Taking time to catnap and daydream
• Taking time to think

I love these. I find them stimulating and thought provoking. These are what works for him, they're not rules but how much better could things be for us if we adopted some or all of these ideas into our own lives? We likely do many of these things already but I think the difference is in doing them consciously. Why not choose a couple that really appeal to you and make a real effort to do them today? Actually ask yourself for example in what way are you stepping outside of your comfort zone today or in what way are you making an effort to meet new people. The answers you get will lead you into a whole new set of highly productive habits. What have you got to lose?

SYNCHRONICITIES

Have you ever thought about someone you haven't heard from in ages and then immediately afterwards got a phone call from them? Or maybe you've been thinking about going on a course when an email about the perfect one lands in your inbox? I'm sure you've had similar experiences or synchronicities. Maybe the Universe is trying to tell us something?

As regular readers will know, I have recently changed direction and am no longer working with my business partner to deliver NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) training. Instead I am concentrating on individual coaching and am absolutely loving it. It feels more authentic and real for me. I'm able to do it in my own way and tailor it to the needs of the individual doctors I coach. It's flexible, personal and enormously enjoyable. So what has this to do with synchronicity you may be wondering? Well in the last few days I've read two articles by coaches I admire, about them moving away from formal teaching NLP too. I'm thinking of Jamie Smart - now more involved with teaching the Three Principles (Mind, Consciousness and Thought). Jamie is a great coach, really generous with his time and with his content. Check out his website here. I also read a fascinating interview with Chris Morris yesterday in which he talked about making a similar move. Chris is now closing down NLPconnections which has been one of the biggest free NLP resources on the internet. I was introduced to the work of both of these coaches by Michael Neill who regular readers will know I greatly admire. These guys are big players.

I guess what I'm saying is that in some way, reading their interviews came at exactly the right time for me. It reinforced the fact that I have made exactly the right decision. Friends have been very supportive although some expressed surprise as the NLP training was in fact going very well. I have to say though that my favourite comment came from my most emotionally intelligent friend. Whilst out to dinner a couple of weeks ago she said "change is good; we all need to keep changing to keep growing." You know what - as a coach I couldn't have put it better. Think I might pinch that line for myself!

BEING GRATEFUL IS AT THE ROOT OF EVERYTHING

When was the last time you stopped at looked at your life; I mean really looked at it? Too often nowadays  it's easy to get caught up in the flow of busyness without even knowing what we are busy doing, let alone how it's going to benefit anyone. Sometimes we need to take a step off the treadmill and just look at ourselves, just appreciate our lives and realise how fortunate we are.

Let's see - I'm sitting outside writing this on my laptop, it's an Apple MacBook and I've got my BlackBerry Torch by my side. It's a beautiful day and I'm in very good health. I'm sitting looking out at our house and garden and can see our chickens and our dog basking in the morning sun. I'm privileged to have two great careers - medicine and coaching. I love the challenges of General Practice and still learn something new from it every day. I earn reasonable money and am free from debt. I've got a wonderful partner and two great kids. I have a lovely family and some great friends and colleagues. I'm lucky enough to live in England and so enjoy free speech, free healthcare, clean water, sanitation and all the many other priviliges of life in a developed country. I could go on for ages and so could you I'm sure but the point is, we don't need to. How long did it take for me to mentally list those things? Thirty seconds, maybe a minute? How great did it make me feel to think about them though? Absolutely wonderful!

For me, the root of all achievement is being grateful for what you already have. It's realising that you already have so much to be grateful for that gets you into the mindset to achieve even more. Not only that but it ensures that you appreciate those things when you achieve them. I'm sure that you have friends, as I have, who live their lives at breakneck speed, collecting "stuff" and seemingly never allowing themselves the time to enjoy it.

Why not slow down and step back, just briefly, to mentally run through what's great about your life. Do it first thing in the morning, maybe whilst you brush your teeth? If you ask yourself each morning what's really great about your life then you deliberately create such a powerfully positive state in yourself that believe me, you're ready for anything by the time you get out of that door! Of course you're not restricted to that time, it's never to early to start being grateful - so why not start right now?

FOCUS YOUR EFFORTS

I was sitting in the sun at the weekend, enjoying the fabulous weather. I was reading a book and trying to ignore the dog who wants to be played with 24/7. She was repeatedly dropping her tennis ball on my foot, trying to get me to throw it for her. I gave in after a bit and we played fetch for 15 minutes or so until she collapsed in a panting heap under a tree ...... don't worry, she was fine and the whole cycle was to be repeated several times more that day!

Whilst she was resting, I started to throw some bread onto the lawn for our chickens and the way that they behaved inspired today's blog. We've got two chickens, both very independent souls. They have distinct personalities in many ways but they both did exactly the same thing with the bread and that's what interested me. I tore it into small pieces before throwing it and as I did so they dashed to wherever it landed and started pecking away greedily. However, as soon as I threw a new piece down, they instantly abandoned what they were eating and rushed over to the new bit. They did this repeatedly, never able to stick with what they had, even though they were evidently enjoying it, always tempted by the promise of something new in the hope that it might somehow be even better.

How often do we find ourselves doing a similar thing? How much more could we achieve if we stuck at something instead of always expecting the grass to be greener elsewhere? Think about it. Maybe you started learning a language and then gave up when the going got a bit tough? Perhaps it was a new sport in which you made rapid progress at first and then stopped when you seemed to reach a plateau?

Success involves both focus and determination. If you set a goal and keep taking steps towards it every day then you are going to get there, even if the steps are small, providing you keep moving in the right direction. This means not changing your mind and moving onto a different course at the first hint of trouble. If you keep doing this you'll waste so much energy but if focus your efforts there's no limit to what you can achieve.

THE POWER OF LAUGHTER

              "Laughter is the sound of the soul dancing"  Jarod Kintz

One of the biggest compliments I have ever been paid as a GP was by one of my former partners who said that they could always hear so much laughing coming from my consulting room. I loved this and I've always remembered it.

Of course laughter isn't always appropriate, but those occasions are relatively few and far between. As a GP I strongly feel that my job is to make people feel better and that's about so much more than writing them a prescription. I love it when patients tell me they feel better just for having seen me, that really makes my day. Victor Borge once said that "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people" and that is so true. Kids are great of course and are usually so easy to make laugh. Their laughter is so free, so spontaneous, so uncensored. They're not self-conscious, they don't worry about what other people will think about them - if it's funny, they just laugh.

So many adults have lost this ability. Too many times adults get bogged down with worry and don't make time to laugh. It's been scientifically proven that laughing actually makes you feel better. Just like smiling, it's not so much that you do it when you feel good it's that doing it makes you feel good. Knowing this makes it even easier to laugh and to smile because not only are you doing yourself a favour, you're cheering up everyone around you too.

Think back to yesterday, how many times did you laugh? Resolve to increase that number today. Look for the humour in everyday situations, see the fun that's all around you. Seek it out by watching or listening to things that you find funny. Do whatever it takes to get your soul dancing today!

OLYMPIC FLAME

How do you feel about the Olympics? Are you excited about them or are you one of the naysayers who reckon we should have saved the money and all had 37p extra in our pockets? Obviously I'm in the former camp. Regular readers will know that I love sport and I absolutely love the Olympics. To me they represent everything that is wonderful about sport, not just in the sense of athletes reaching peak performance in front of millions but in the way that people from all over the world come together in the spirit of peace and unity.

It was therefore with a massive sense of pride that I have followed the story of the Olympic torch relay. I watched The One Show and saw it arrive on British soil and I'm not afraid to admit I had a lump in my throat. What an amazing honour for those selected to run with it, something that they will remember for the rest of their lives. I will certainly be going to see it come to my town in early July. We haven't had the games here for 64 years and unless it comes round more quickly next time, I won't see it again in my lifetime. It really will be history in the making.

Personally I was delighted to see Will.i.am carrying the flame in Taunton.

I know this caused controversy in some quarters but regular readers will know I've blogged about him before and about his extraordinary achievements. The games are all about celebrating achievement. Let's get behind them, let's show the world what Britain is all about. I'm lucky enough to live in what I consider to be the best country in the world and I'm hugely proud to be British. I'm urging you to join me. Support the Olympics in any way that you can. Stand up and be counted. Make these the greatest games ever and make 2012 a year the world will remember forever.

LIVE YOUR EXTRAORDINARY LIFE

When I was a kid I loved Jacques Cousteau, the french oceanographer, explorer and co-developer of the Aqua-Lung. His TV programmes about the underwater world were just amazing. I developed an interest in life under the sea and went on to keep marine fish, truly beautiful creatures. Well that was back in the 70's and those fish have long since departed to the great coral reef in the sky but Jacques has remained as one of those important figures who taught me about life and it's incredible diversity.

It was with great pleasure then that I came across this quote from him recently whilst reading The Breakthrough Experience by Dr John Demartini.

"When a man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself."


I love this quote. I love the enormity of it. I see it not just as a massive inspiration but as a call to action. Whilst we have breath in our body we have that opportunity. We all have things we can do, things we are good at, hidden talents. This calls for us to let them out and let them shine!

Have you ever felt that you are special in some way? Don't be afraid to answer yes to this question. Playing small doesn't serve anyone, least of all yourself. It's time to acknowledge that and do what you need to do to unleash the extraordinary you!

WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT - HAPPINESS

As regular readers of this blog will know, I'm all for making life easier. Why struggle if there is a simpler, more efficient way to do something that will give you the same result? I think that's why I love this quote I received today from Robert Holden - one of my very favourite coaches and a hugely inspirational man.

"To be even happier you could learn 100 techniques, meditations and mental tricks, or you could just decide to be a more loving person."


I think that's wonderful and it really sums up what life's all about. I also think it explains why I have made the move away from teaching NLP to concentrate on personal success coaching. I get this now, it works for me and I want to get the message across to others too. I think that's why focusing on the techniques of NLP, as if happiness and success depended on them, was making me feel somehow inauthentic. That's not to say the techniques of NLP aren't wonderful - they are and they have their place, but that place isn't right here for me right now.

The bottom line of happiness really is all about deciding to be happy. Once you've made that decision, everything flows on from there. Once you have decided to be happy you will find it easy to appreciate all the great things around you. In that appreciative frame of mind you're more likely to see the opportunities life presents you and feel more able to act on them. It all starts with that one simple decision.

Decide to be happy right now and watch your life expand from there!

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

Just a short blog today and a question to leave you with for the weekend. When did you last do a random act of kindness?

I'm not talking about the big stuff here or the stuff that you did and got thanked for, I'm talking about something small, just to be nice, just for the hell of it; without anyone else knowing. Done anything like that recently? If not, why not start right now?

It can be a very small and simple thing. The pleasure is in the doing and in the knowledge that what you did helped make someone else's day just that little bit better.

Gandhi once said "Be the change you want to see in the world."

So if you want to see more kindness in the world then start by being kind to others. Start today. Even in a very small way, you'll be making a difference. You'll be helping to make our world just that little bit better for everyone.

MAKING THE MOST OF NOW

Having chosen the title for this blog I decided to do some exercise whilst I considered the most interesting angle to write it from. As I looked for inspiration, it quite literally hit me in the face in what I can only describe as a very embarrassing and bizarre fitness accident!

I have a set of resistance elastics at home. I don't use them much for two reasons - firstly I prefer to go to the gym and secondly if my teenage sons get wind of them I'll likely never see them again. Now if you know about these you'll know that they come in various thicknesses. After a few gentle arm exercises I decided to move on to do some abdominal exercises and here's where it all went pear shaped. I selected the thickest strongest band; if you know the Bodylastics range, it's the inch or so thick, black 23lb elastic we're talking about here, it's a monster. Well I sat down on the floor with my legs stretched out in front of me and put the elastic around the sole of my slippered (that was the mistake) feet. I held the free ends one in each hand and leaned right back. As I did so the elastic slipped up and off my slippers, catapulting the thick elastic smack against my chin at very high speed - wham!

I couldn't have done it any harder if I'd tried. An inch higher and I could easily have knocked a few teeth out. I felt like a total prat, sitting in the bathroom with a cold flannel on my chin, gingerly checking myself out for more serious damage. Luckily no real harm was done but it brought home to me the importance of making the most of now I can tell you! One minute you're ticking along just fine and the next you're a whisker away from having no teeth and looking like you've done ten rounds with Mike Tyson.

This bizarre incident followed immediately after having been accidentally locked out of our house by my partner and came just before walking out of my front door and stumbling down two steps, twisting my ankle! If you read my earlier post, Excuse me your life is waiting, you'd probably conclude that I had been focusing on all the wrong things to attract all this. You might be right but they did all serve to give me a laugh and I thought they might amuse you too.......

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Following on from Monday's post about Will i am, I've been thinking a lot more about making a difference. It's really prompted me to look at my own life and ask myself just what difference am I making to other people?

I think there are few things more important in this world than the difference you make to others. When we come to the end of our lives, what things will we look back on, what will give us the most pleasure? My guess is that it won't be the things that we've accumulated, the stuff around us. No, I think what will give us that glow in those final days will be the experiences we've shared, the memories we've built and the way that we have touched the lives of others. Do you agree?

If so, what are we doing about working towards that now? What ways are we trying to positively influence the lives of others? I'm lucky enough as a GP to be in a position to do this every day. I'm well aware how lucky I am and what a responsibility I have in this respect. I have the chance to make people feel better as well as to educate them. I can also inspire them to live a more healthy and active lifestyle. As a coach I get the chance to do this to and to act as a catalyst for those wishing to make personal changes.

How about outside work though? I do my best to be a role-model for my teenage sons. Neither of them want to go in to medicine. I once read somewhere that one of the best gifts a parent can give their child is the positive example of their own life working and that has always stuck with me.

I could be doing more though to contribute in a wider sense, to my local community and to charity. I'm always on the look out for projects to get involved with and support. So how about you? What difference are you making? How much more could you be doing and more importantly, when are you going to start?

DON'T WORRY - BE HAPPY!

How much time do you spend worrying? A few minutes every day, maybe more? Think of this in terms of hours per week, per month or per year. What about over a whole lifetime? How much of our precious time on earth do we waste worrying?

Can any of us say that even one second of this time has been useful? I very much doubt it. Worry has to be one of the most useless emotions going. Rather like jealousy, it's completely redundant; it achieves absolutely nothing.

American coach Steve Chandler talks about downgrading your worries to concerns. I find this to be a really helpful shift. Think about it, if you're worried about something, does that prompt you to do anything about it? I'm guessing not. Most of us wallow in worry, going round in circles and getting stuck through inaction, paralysed by fear. If instead you have a concern, well that feels rather different doesn't it? If I'm concerned about something, I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to take action.

I'm all for these subtle distinctions. Anything that works and makes life easier has got to be good. Why complicate things? Life's too short to waste it worrying. Choose today to downgrade your worries to concerns and take action. Enjoy your day.

SO MUCH MORE THAN THE VOICE

Have you been watching The Voice UK? I have and I'm really enjoying it. It's not just that the standard is much higher than most TV talent shows, I've also been really impressed and inspired by one of the show's coaches - William James Adams Jr, better known to all as Will.i.am

Now I'm not really a big fan of rap music but I love Will's manner with the contestants and that prompted me to find out more about him. I was amazed at some of the stuff he has done and at just how inspirational a character he is.

He grew up in a ghetto in East Los Angeles, the child of a single mother. Despite their poverty she knew the value of education and scrimped and saved for him to go to a better out of town school. She encouraged him to be different and to be better than what he saw around him. He never forgot her sacrifices and cites her as the inspiration for everything he does. Once he began to make money with The Black Eyed Peas he paid to move his mother out of the ghetto. Later he did the same for all his aunts, cousins etc - in fact his whole family. One of his latest ventures is starting a new car company IAMAUTO. He has designed cars that will be produced in a brand new factory - located guess where? yes, that very same ghetto. He's extended his philanthropy to the other people of the area, creating lots of new jobs in the community.

As well as being a singer, musician, producer, DJ, fashion designer and entrepreneur he runs i.am.angel, a non-profit organisation which encourages and sponsors young people to go to college. He is quoted as saying that he hopes those he sponsors don't just want to do music, "what the world needs is another Bill Gates." He is also involved with FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) which aims to promote the importance of these areas to kids and to encourage them to get involved in science.

I love people like Will, people who use their fame and wealth for the greater good. He really puts back and contributes positively to the lives of those around him. He really makes a difference. I find his story massively inspiring. I hope that now you know more about him, you will too.

THE DRAGON - FEAR IS JUST A THOUGHT

I love this story - I heard it told by Michael Neill and I think you'll enjoy it too.

Once upon a time there was a dragon. The dragon was incredibly fierce and the people of the land were terrified of it. They spent their lives in fear and did everything they could to avoid the dragon's bite. To keep themselves safe they built themselves castles to live in.

Some people built their castles out of money. The more money they got the higher their walls became and the safer they felt. Some built their castles out of respect, feeling that the more people respected them, the higher their walls would be and the harder it would be for the dragon to get them. Others built their castles out of fame. The more famous they became, the higher their walls grew and the safer they felt. The people spent every day in fear, running around trying to get more and more money, respect, fame etc to stay safe from the dreaded bite of the dragon.

But what if you woke one day and realised that there was no dragon? There would be no need to waste your time chasing after money, fame or respect. All that fear would simply disappear and you could live your life with freedom and joy. Fears are just thoughts. Drop the thought and the fear disappears. Try it - you will be amazed how liberating it feels.

BE WITH YOUR EMOTIONS

Here's a great distinction that I want to share with you. It has it's roots in Buddhism and has an important message for us all. I love it and it's something I think you'll really enjoy too.

So often when we feel negative emotions we describe them as if they were part of our identity. I often hear patients describe themselves by saying for example; "I am depressed" or "I am angry." These are identity statements and make it sound as if the emotion is all that they are. Someone who describes themselves as a depressive is so much more than their depression, likewise one who says "I am sad," has much more to them than their sadness.

Think instead of being with the emotion rather than being the emotion itself. For example, "I am with anger" makes the distinction between the person and the emotion much clearer. It also makes it easier to let go of the emotion and heal yourself.

This is a subtle distinction but sometimes that's all it takes to set someone back on track. When many of us have problems it's as if we are a stick that's floating down the river of life and become temporarily stuck. We don't need years of therapy - all most of us need is a little nudge. Think of coaching as that little nudge.

GO BOLDLY!

I live and work near Watford. What's that you say? "somebody's got to." Cheeky! Despite the way it is sometimes portrayed, Watford's a great place to be. So why am I telling you this? What I'm focusing on today is boldness - inspired by my daily sightings of the Watford town motto - Audentior, which latin scholars and locals (I qualify both ways) will know means Go Boldly!

My favourite boldness quotation has to be:

      "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
        Boldness has genius, power and magic within it."

This quote is attributed to both Goethe and to William Hutchinson Murray, the Scottish Himalayan explorer. I don't really care who said it first, I just love the sentiment of it.

I love the idea of starting something and fully committing to it. Until you do this, whilst you remain in the talking and planning stage, there is always a chance to change your mind and pull back. Once you are committed, you have decided to give it your all and will give 100% effort and dedication. That is when great things start to happen.

Strange as it may seem, this is what goes through my head when I see the Watford sign. It inspires me, it fires me up, it makes me want to get out there and give my all to the things I am passionate about. Obviously doesn't take much to get me going, even on a wet Wednesday morning! Have a great day.

STILL SMALL VOICE

Today is likely to be a busy day, as I'm sure it will be for you too. I'll be up at 5.30am for commuter surgery. It's likely to be a hectic morning after the long weekend. I'm on-call too so that'll add to it. Then there is the lunchtime meeting with the nurses and then training on the new coils. I might manage half an hour or so off before it all starts again for evening surgery.
 I'm sure this is much the same as your day will be. Life is busy, there's always stuff to do.
What we need to be careful of though is ensuring that we make time in our busy day for ourselves. When you're pressed for time it's easy to feel rushed and to take quick decisions. Situations demand that we do this and sometimes it's the right thing to do but at other times, we need to remember to ....... slow down ...... to pause . ....... and to listen to our own intuition, to that still small voice within. Even though when we are busy it seems like we don't have the time to do this, ironically I think that that is when we need to do so the most. Gandhi was once asked if he was going to have time to mediate because the day ahead was going to be so busy. He apparently replied that when the day ahead was that busy he'd need to meditate twice as long. What I'm asking you to do and what I'll be doing myself, is to take regular tiny breaks during the day. These might just be a minute or so but use them to check in on yourself and note how you are feeling, what's going on for you at that moment. Listen to what your intuition is telling you. Learning to follow this makes life easier; it begins to feel like you are moving along easily, not forever fighting against the flow of things. So no matter how busy you are today, try just stopping for 30 seconds and being still with yourself. You'll be amazed what you will learn.

DOG GONE HAPPY!

I'm currently reading "Happiness Now!" by Robert Holden. It's an excellent book which you won't be surprised to hear from the title is all about being happy. The central message of the book so far is that happiness is something within us, not something that we can ever find externally. Being happy therefore involves realising this and just allowing the happiness that is within us to shine through.

With this in mind I took my dog Sox out for a walk yesterday lunchtime. I left home feeling really happy and was determined to stay that way. We had a lovely walk and after an hour or so, instead of heading back home I decided we'd head in the opposite direction and get a coffee at one of the canalside cafes.

I tied her up outside the cafe and went inside to order. Little did I realise that my resolution to be happy was about to be tested. Having ordered a cappuccino, the woman took my money and handed me the change without making any move to make my drink. When I didn't walk away she said - you've already had it haven't you, aren't you just paying? I told her very politely that no, I'd just got here and hadn't had a drink yet. She eyed me slightly suspiciously, even more so when I pointed out that she'd given me change form a fiver when I'd just paid with a ten pound note. I went back outside to sit at one of the tables alongside the towpath with Sox, to wait for my drink and enjoy the peace and quiet. It was a nice day, if a bit overcast and all I could hear was the gentle sound of a barge moving along the water  a few yards away. Less than a minute later, an elderly couple walked towards the cafe from my right. The old lady was full of complaints - telling her husband very grouchily that she was too cold, too tired and that he was holding her arm too tightly and walking too fast. She then turned her attention to us as we sat quietly minding our own business and muttered loudly "what a stupid place to bring a dog."

Now Sox is pretty smart and I'm sure she knew she was being talked about. She looked up at me then turned and growled at the woman (really out of character for her). The woman responded by calling her a "spiteful little bugger" and shuffling off into the cafe. Now once upon a time I'd have reacted to that, either by politely challenging the woman or more probably by keeping quiet but feeling irritated inside. Instead today, with that central core of happiness firmly in place, it just made me want to laugh. Sox picked up on this too as she turned and looked up at me and I swear she grinned. If she were able to I think she might even have high-fived me! As you can see from the picture above, she's a pretty special dog. Hope that story made you smile too. Enjoy the Bank Holiday.

MAKING BIG CHANGES

Big changes are happening for me right now - and I'm very excited to tell you about them.
For the last year and a bit I have been running an NLP training company with my friend and business partner. We've decided to call it a day and go our separate ways which frees me up to lots of really exciting possibilities.

I'm directing my energies to doing what I love - coaching. I'll still be a six session partner in my practice, that's not going to change, but when not there I'll be coaching individual doctors rather than running NLP courses. I feel that coaching has so much to offer the medical profession and I have a burning desire to share this with my colleagues.

The decision to make this change hasn't been an easy one but I am sure that it is the right one. My challenge now is to enable my colleagues to understand the benefits of coaching. Being coached has made a huge difference to me, not just in what I have achieved but more importantly in whom I have become.

I feel happier and more authentic now than I have ever been. The road ahead will certainly contain many challenges but I am very clear about my destination and feel certain I am going to enjoy the journey.

WHAT IS SUCCESS?

I'm currently reading "Success Intelligence" by Robert Holden. It's a fascinating book and one which I'll review properly once I've finished it. For now though I wanted to share the question that the author asks early on, what does success mean to you? It seems fundamental yet it's really not so easy once you begin to think about it. No two people will answer that question in the same way I'm sure.

For me I like the idea of success as a journey and not just as a destination. I want to enjoy the getting there and not just the arrival. Success is also about who I am becoming, it's more than just about what I'm getting or achieving. In fact the more I write, the more I realise that my own ideas are still at the evolutionary stage - let's call them a work in progress. Once they are more fully formed I'll share them with you in a future post.

Recently I talked about following your joy though and I wanted to share the fact that I really did live up to that yesterday. As a part-time GP I now work in the surgery only three days a week. The rest of the time is my own to pursue my other interests and today I did precisely that. I'm working on an article for one of the medical magazines about coaching. I wrote it on my laptop whilst sipping cappuccino in the coffee shop in my village. I spared a thought for my partners at work on what is undoubtedly the busiest day of the week in general practice and as always I smiled inwardly at the thought of being somewhere else on a Monday. But it was more than just being elsewhere, it was about doing what I truly love doing. Coaching is my passion and something that I care deeply about. This latest article was about coaching doctors and is really at the core of the sort of work I love; so yes, today; I really did follow my joy. When I was doing that work it felt effortless, I loved it. I felt inspired and somehow almost guided. I had a strong sense of being in the right place at the right time.

I haven't yet figured out my full answer to the success definition question but if I was to look just at today I'd have to say I think I came pretty close.

EXCUSE ME YOUR LIFE IS WAITING!

Now if the title of this book makes your stomach start to churn, then maybe like me you are British! I don't know why but I can't even read the title without hearing it being said out loud in a really annoying fake American accent. But hold it right there. Put those prejudices aside. This book is superb....... very strange, very challenging and well worth a read.

In summary, it's about putting the feeling into the Law of Attraction. It attempts to give a brief scientific explanation for how this works. The theory is that we are all magnets and are vibrating all the time. Good things are said to vibrate with positive frequencies and bad things with negative frequencies. As like attracts like, if you spend you time thinking about all the things that are wrong about your life, you will vibrate negatively and attract more negative things. On the other hand, if you concentrate on all that is wonderful and really focus on this then your positive vibrations will attract more of what you want.

It is an attempt to explain the synchronicities we all experience from time to time and also the fact that when one thing goes wrong for us, everything else seems to follow. Conversely when things are going well, more good things seem to follow. The idea is to follow the steps set out by Lynn Grabhorn and learn to vibrate positive energy to create a better future. Anything that encourages people to focus on what is good in their life and feel great about it has got to be good, so I though I'd give it a go, in a very small way at first.

At yesterday's Michael Neill/ Robert Holden workshop - see earlier blogs, I returned from the lunchbreak about 5 minutes before the afternoon session was due to start. I'd walked up towards Notting Hill for lunch and had had a cappuccino and a mushroom panini for lunch but had forgotten to buy a bottle of water. I got out my phone to tweet about the workshop and as I did so, imagined how lovely it would be to have a nice cool drink of water. The room was pretty warm and I was almost tasting it and feeling the cool refreshment in the back of my throat. I was shaken from my reverie when a lady three chairs to my right, who I didn't know and hadn't yet spoken to, asked me if I would like to have a bottle of her water as she'd bought two, didn't think she'd drink both and didn't want to have to carry it later! I was a bit gobsmacked to be honest, but said yes, very gratefully. I didn't get her name or get the chance to explain later but if you are reading this and recognise yourself - thank you.

So, coincidence? Maybe. Positive attraction as evidence of The Law of Attraction in action? Who knows. It was a bit odd though and it's given me even more impetus to persist and experiment. Why not join me?

FOLLOW YOUR JOY

Well Saturday's workshop in London proved to have been well worth all the anticipation - it was absolutely wonderful. It was held in Porchester Hall in Paddington and was attended by around 350 people. I had met some of them before and as ever at this sort of event got chatting to a lot of very interesting new people. The atmosphere was warm and friendly and everyone seemed open to sharing and to exploring new ideas.

It was co-hosted by Michael Neill and Robert Holden. I knew that Michael Neill would be fantastic - he always is. I've read all but one of his books and his audio programmes have provided the backdrop to many walks with my dog Sox. Robert Holden on the other hand was relatively new to me - and he was a revelation. Rarely have I been introduced to someone's new material that has made so much sense and struck such a chord with me. He came across as such a straightforward, genuine bloke too with an absolute passion for the work that he is doing. Not only that but he loved sharing it and talking about it.

He shared so many fascinating ideas. One that I particularly liked was the distinction between being what he called HIP and DIP. HIP stands for healthily independent person whilst DIP stands for dysfunctionally independent person. Whilst in many ways it is great to be independent, allowing yourself to ask for and accept help from others is something that we all need to learn how to do and some of us find difficult. Many people are very good at giving help to others but find it hard to take. He spoke about seeing it not as taking but as receiving. I love this distinction and know I will incorporate it into my coaching as well as my own life. There were so many gems like this.

We explored many things during the workshop including the different answers that we received when we asked the same question of our head, heart and gut. Intuitively we know what to do in most situations but often we get in our own way and try too hard to think through the solution. Sometimes we just need to be with ourselves peacefully for a while and allow our inner wisdom to guide us.

Robert was kind enough to chat to me afterwards for a while. His background is in psychology and he has done a lot of work with the NHS around his Happiness Project. I was genuinely touched when he said that he thanked me from the heart for the work I was doing coaching fellow doctors. I told him I loved doing it and that I had found the day inspirational. He signed my copy of his book Success Intelligence with the inscription "Follow your joy".

Thank you Robert ; from my heart, I fully intend to.

ANTICIPATION AND INSPIRATION!

So it's Friday again already and the week seems to have gone really quickly. I'm sat, as I usually am on a Friday morning, in the lounge of my health club, sippping a latte and tapping this out on my laptop. I don't need to get to the surgery quite so early on Fridays so I stop off here on the way in. It means I can take advantage of the free wi-fi here as the ancient browser at the surgery doesn't support the Blogger site.

I'm off up to London tomorrow to a workshop run by one of my very favourite coaches - Michael Neill. those of you who follow this blog will doubtless have heard mention of him before. He is excellent and his coaching approach has really inspired and influenced the way that I coach my own clients. He's a lovely guy too, I met him back in 2009 when I attended a course he was running.

Tomorrow's workshop is co-hosted by Robert Holden, whom I haven't met or heard speak before but I've just started reading one of his books. More of that in a later blog.

Knowing that I was going to this workshop tomorrow has been great as it's given me something to look forward to all week. I'm all for that, I like to set up a constant series of things like that, that I'm really looking forward to. They can be very small things but anticipating them, just knowing that I've got them to look forward to, really adds to my week. In this way I get to enjoy them all not once but three times:
   Once - when I'm looking forward to them - really visualising how it's going to be.
   Second time - when I'm there, really enjoying it in the present.
   Thirdly, afterwards; looking back, reflecting on what I most enjoyed, what I learned,who I met etc.

I'm still in touch with three of the people I met on the 2009 course and continue to be inspired by their work too. Coaching has taught me many things and one of the most important has been to be open to new experiences. Doctors in general tend to hold quite fixed views about certain areas and perhaps aren't quite as willing and open as some groups of people to listen to new concepts, new ways of thinking. Maybe it's the scientific background, I don't know, but with this in mind I'll be telling you next week all about the book I'm currently just finishing as it certain fits into the category of challenging conventional views of life!

So have a great weekend. Enjoy all that you have and keep your eye out for inspiration - it's all around you once you start to look.

SO FAR SO GOOD....

On Monday we introduced a new appointment system in my practice, which seems to be working very well. I designed the new scheme which involves a radical shift in the balance between appointments that can be booked in advance and those bookable on the day as emergencies. The latter has got to be one of the most overused words in the english language, at least where I practise. I've been here for nearly 22 years now, if you include my time as a registrar and the number of true emergencies I have seen even in all that time is pretty small. Other favourite local phrases include "he turned around and said" (often used repeatedly within a short time - must be getting dizzy by now I always think to myself) and "she was rushed to hospital" (no-one ever just goes to hospital do they, they're always rushed there?)

Anyway, I digress; as with any change, there were a lot of obstacles, or as us coaches like to call them - challenges! Many of these centred around communication and making sure that everyone understood what we were doing and what they should and shouldn't be saying. The reception team are doing really well, even though it's been made more complicated for them in that the new system currently only applies in the mornings and the afternoons run as before (another challenge!). I think this will change when we review it in a couple of weeks.

So so far so good but I'm not in the surgery to monitor it today as I'm off up to BMA House for a musculoskeletal masterclass. I'm looking forward to that and it'll be nice for once to be in the audience; last time I was up in London for a masterclass I was the one up on the stage, teaching NLP to 150 people. I reckon it will be a lot more relaxing today and looks like a good programme.

I always feel a bit guilty when I go to these sort of talks as when you get chatting to someone they are inevitably from the Outer Hebrides and have had a three day barefoot trek across the wilderness to reach the nearest ferry then had to take six trains, fourteen buses and a taxi. They are usually carrying an enormous rucksack as well as they've needed supplies and several changes of clothes. When they ask where am I from I guiltily mutter - "oh just outside Watford, 15 minutes away by train." You get that sort of pitying look of "aye yay don't know what suffering is lassie....." before you get the chance to follow up with a rather weak sounding - "so did you enjoy the morning session?" It's usually about then you realise they're the next speaker....

I'll stop there as I need to head for the station. My good intentions of walking there (20 minutes) have gone out of the window as it is chucking it down outside here - so much for the drought. Whatever you're up to - enjoy your day.

DECISIONS

How do you make decisions? Let me be more specific - how do you know when you've made the right decision? We all make decisions in our own individual ways - some weigh up all the evidence, others make a more snap judgement. What interests me is what internal gauge do we use to know that what we've decided is right for us? The language that we use to talk to ourselves in is important here. Do you ask yourself - does this look right to me? Maybe you ask yourself does this sound right?. Others, and this includes me, will ask themselves this question - does it feel right?

It doesn't matter which way you do it, all are equally valid, what matters is being able to recognise your own yes signal. Once you know what yes means for you, you can be really confident in your decisions.

I've had a big decision to make in the last week. I considered all the pros and cons but in my heart of hearts I think I always knew which way it was going to go. When I thought about carrying on as I was, I felt weighed down and somehow not authentic. However, when I thought about following the other path and making the change I was considering, everything just felt right.

Maybe you've got a decision to make, or you're wondering is this the right way for you to be going. Think about how you've assessed your decisions in the past, what has worked for you before? Chances are it will work for you again. Another technique is to think about flipping a coin between two alternatives. Just before the imaginary coin toss, stop and ask yourself which way do you hope it's going to land. Might be more revealing than you think.

INTERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE HAPPY MIND

I don't know about you but I woke up this morning to bright sunshine streaming into the room - wonderful. There is something about a sunny day that makes everyone feel so good isn't there? OK I know it's forecast to rain later but who cares - I guess we need it anyway. Certainly in the surgery patients are noticeably happier on a sunny day.

Great as that is, why wait? Why let your happiness be determined by the weather or indeed by any external factors at all. Why not just decide to be happy?

You see I believe that happiness starts from the inside and begins with a decision; a decision to start being happy right now. Michael Neill, coach and author of several great books, once said "When you are happy, nothing changes but everything is different" and I think that is so very true.

When you are happy you smile and that alone makes you feel good. If you don't believe me then just try it. Not only will it make you feel better but it makes other people behave differently to you. They respond warmly, they smile back, they talk to you. This further reinforces those good feelings.

So yes it's Friday, yes it's the weekend, yes it's sunny - all great reasons to be happy in themselves and I know you've got many many more of your own too, but my message today is don't let what's happening out there determine how you feel inside. Take a positive decision right now to be happy, from this moment on and just see what happens. I guarantee you'll be glad you did.

Have a wonderful, fun-packed inspired weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

MOTIVATION - DON'T WAIT JUST DO IT!

This weekend will see 25,000 or so people from all across the world converge on the streets of London to run the London Marathon. It's a wonderful day, I know because I ran it myself in 2005. I ran in aid of the spinal injury charity Aspire and raised over £ 4500. Pleased as I was with the fundraising, the real winner that day was me. I learned a lot about myself during the training and the race, lessons that have served me well ever since.

As a GP I often hear my patients say that they would love to do something eg. stop smoking, lose weight or start to exercise, but they don't have any motivation. If I know them well or I've feeling mischievous, I stop and hunt around in my desk drawer for a while before saying - sorry I don't seem to have any in here for you today, I'm fresh out of it! That usually makes them laugh or at least smile. I haven't yet had my face slapped but there's always a first time.

My point is that motivation is not a thing, it's a concept. In NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) it is what is referred to as a nominalisation. Think of this as something you can't put in a wheelbarrow. So if it's not a physical thing, maybe it's something you don't need? At least not initially.

Back to the marathon. Although I played fairly regular sport, at the time I started to train for the marathon I was most definitely not a runner. An April marathon involves doing most of the long, hard miles in the winter and I trained very early in the morning. If I'm honest I didn't often wake up and think yes, it's blowing a gale out there, let me out there into that horizontal sleet! What I can say though is that once I'd got myself out of the door and a few yards down the road I always felt better for it - and then I loved it.

You don't need to wait for motivation to come before you start something. As they say on the Nike ads - Just do it, the motivation will follow.

Knowing this opens up vast new possibilities of achievement. Just start and see what happens. If you start and really don't enjoy it, then maybe it isn't the right goal for you - more of that in a later blog. My bet (and I did have the winner in the Grand National last week) is that once you've started you'll develop momentum. Do something a few times and you develop a habit. Once good stuff has become a habit then you are bound to achieve great things. It doesn't matter how small your steps are - as long as you are going in the right direction you will get to where you want to go.

So to recap:

      Motivation is not a thing.
      You don't need it to get started.
      Once you are under way motivation will follow.
      You'll develop momentum and be on your way to your goal!

So as you watch those runners plod along, spare a thought for what they've been through. Maybe running a marathon doesn't float your boat but take inspiration from them and use it to create something wonderful in your own life.

INSPIRE A GENERATION

I was fascinated by today's news story about the choice of motto for the London Olympics, now just 100 days away - "Inspire a generation." I listened to a discussion about it on Radio 5 this morning and was amazed by some of the comments. People seemed all too quick to moan about it, mostly stating that it is far too big a statement and overly-ambitious.

Well that's the point isn't it? Do we really want to publisise our nation with a motto along the lines of,

"A fortnight of running races that might get a few people into sport for a bit."
or
"A glorified sports day at the tax payers expense."

No, no and a thousand times no!

Mottos like this are all about huge ideals, about massive goals and tremendous achievement.
They've got to be big, they've got to be bold and they've got to really appeal to your heart.
The thought of inspiring a generation makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck and gives me goose pimples - in the right way. It's the same way I feel when I remember David Beckham's free-kick goal against Greece that put England into the World Cup finals. It makes me proud, it makes me want to stand up and be counted and above all it makes me want to take action. After all isn't that what any motto or goal is supposed to do?

We are all motivated by what Anthony Robbins calls big juicy goals. The things we really care about, not the small mundane stuff. I wouldn't be motivated to get up at 5:30am and go and do a commuter surgery in the practice if I did it just to pay my bills. No. What gets me up in the morning is the knowledge that I am making a difference to peoples' lives - every day. I'm lucky to get the chance to do that multiple times every day but whatever we do we can all do this in some way. Whether that's with a smile or a word or just a small random act of kindness.

So if like me you're excited by the thought of inspiring a generation, let's say so. Let's do something about it. Let's lead by example. If you want to change the world, begin with yourself. As Gandhi once said, "my life is my message." Make sure it's a message that you are proud for others to see, hear and feel.

I recently read Jonny Wilkinson's excellent autobiography - it's superb. One of the goals he aspires to is always be able to sign off a 24 hour video recording of his life, thereby always being happy about and proud of his actions. Now here's a man who takes being a role model very seriously but we can all learn from this. Become a role model for those around you - your kids, your friends, your colleagues. Make yourself proud, make them proud and "Inspire a generation!"

NEW WEEK, NEW START, NO LIMITS

The last year or so has been really exciting. As well as continuing to work as a part-time GP I've been working hard to establish my NLP Training business, NLP4MEDICS. I love doing this but it has meant I've spent less time doing the thing I really love doing and that is individual coaching. That is all about to change.

Whilst I've continued to coach during this last year I've only taken on a small handful of clients. We've had some excellent results working together. Coaching never feels like work, it feels like a privilege and an opportunity for me to learn from some amazing, inspirational people. The thought of doing more of this fills me with energy, joy and excitement.

Coaching is wonderful. It's an opportunity to achieve things you didn't think you were capable of achieving. With the help of a coach you will not only reach your potential but often far exceed it.

"The only limits in our life are those we impose on ourselves."
Bob Proctor

The limits are coming off and I'm ready for anything. I'm going to be using this blog to explore resources and concepts that have helped me in my personal journey. I've found them really inspirational and exciting and I hope you will too.

So if you're thinking about coaching or just want to share ideas and thoughts then you're in the right place. Why not sign up for regular updates and share this page with your friends?