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.