The power of starting the year well
Even though my birthday is in January, I (like many people) find January the most depressing month of the year. Starting this year with two days of ideas and inspiration at the Pendulum Summit and I can feel the positive energy and buzz affecting everything – my mood, my energy, my motivation, my work, my perspective, my vision for the year ahead, even what I’m like at home with my family.
Note to self: Always start January with some kind of positive and powerful experience to set myself up for the year ahead!
The energy of connecting
Apart from hill running (which I’ve written about before), one of my greatest sources of energy comes from connecting with people. Of course I saw very impressive and inspiring people on stage, but I also got huge energy from the conversations I had with people throughout the two days and at the CEO dinner. Talking to and connecting with interesting, like-minded people. People who want to grow and be the best version of themselves.
So it really wasn’t just about those two days in the Convention Centre – I know I will feel the after-effects of so many engaging, connected conversations for quite some time. It’s so important for our sense of wellbeing, for our energy levels and in order to enjoy our lives as much as possible to know what ‘fuels’ us, and to make sure we actively shape our lives and work to tap into this as often as we can.
The buzz of learning
One of the most important things in my life is feeling like I’m always growing and developing as a person and I get such a buzz from learning and challenging myself. To be in an environment of learning, insights and inspiration for two full days was a powerful energiser for me. Redbull for the mind and soul! And great to be surrounded by 4,000 other people who feel the same.
Again, more knowing your fuel and acting on it.
The importance of the inner game
You may have noticed, the points so far are all about inner shifts not anything outside of myself. My fundamental belief is – get the inner right and the rest will follow.
When I compare my feelings towards some work-related issues before Christmas (after a long year with some personal challenges along the way) to my perspective now – everything seems much clearer and easier to me now. Perhaps you’ve noticed these kinds of shift in perspective too after the rest/reset/refresh of the break at Christmas/New Year.
What’s changed?
Only my inner world. My energy. My mood. My perspective.
And THAT changes everything.
Bear Grylls on failure, fear, fire & faith
Failure:
After a very impressive intro to the SAS trained, youngest ever person (at the time) to climb Everest, and the man who took president Barack Obama into the wild for two days, Bear comes on stage and tells us that the “other” Bear Grylls had just been seen nervously going walkabout before his presentation, was seen repeatedly visiting the toilet and that he “Really struggles with a room full of strangers”.
Much more human and humble than I expected, Bear explained how he failed SAS selection the first time but that this “Forced me to adapt …. To get stronger inside and outside … Failure is the doorway you’ve got to go through if you want to succeed”.
Fear:
After sharing a harrowing story about how he nearly died when his parachute failed to open and he didn’t have time to pull his reserve so all he could do was to “Brace himself for the impact”, Bear went on to tell us “I knew the answer to my fear was to face it. When we edge towards our fears they so often melt away. The way through our fears is right through the middle.” And that “Fear is an emotion to keep you sharp. Use it”.
Fire:
He explained that “We all face our Everests” and that when things are really tough he draws on the fire within him, even if at times it’s only the smallest of embers, saying “Nobody is brilliant or brave all of the time.… but the fire is always there”.
Faith:
And finally, he warned us when following our dreams to be aware that “You’re going to be surrounded all the time by dream-stealers” but to “Never give up”. NGU.
10 quick fire ideas from other speakers
1. ‘Digital Sunset’ – no technology for an hour before going sleep (Erik Partaker (below left) – one of the ‘Top 30 Entrepreneurs in the UK under 35’ & one of ‘Britain’s 27 Most Disruptive Entrepreneurs’).
2. Rather than going straight to email, spend the first part of your day “Being creative, before being reactive” i.e. reading, thinking, planning, writing etc (Erik Partaker).
3. Multi-tasking causes a 28% time loss. Stop doing it and you can save 13 weeks in the year (Erik Partaker).
4. “Being trusted brings out the best in all of us”. Because we judge others by their behaviours and ourselves by our intent, one way to increase trust is to make our intent (our why) clear to others and also to assume positive intent on the part of others (Stephen M.R. Covey – Global authority on leadership & culture)
5. ‘Simplexity’ – the art of making the complex simple (Caroline Currid – Irish sports psychologist who’s worked with Paul O’Connell, the Tyrone football team, Tipperary hurling team and Olympic medallist David Rudisha).
6. The importance of ‘Intelligent Recovery’ like 8 hours sleep at night (Caroline Currid).
7. The closer you get to someone physically, the more powerful the shared emotion. This can be used to your advantage in social media like using photos of yourself close up – as if you were in close proximity in real life (David Meerman Scott – 10 time bestselling author & author of ‘Fanocracy: Turning fans into customers and customers into fans’).
8. “It’s not how the world defines you, it’s about how you define yourself. Don’t turn your power over to someone else to define you” and that “Vision allows you to get beyond your circumstances” (Stedman Graham aka Mr Oprah Winfrey – below left)
9. “We have 60-70,000 thoughts a day and 90% are the same as the day before. Thinking the same thoughts means life will stay the same. The same thoughts create the same reality” (Dr. Joe Dispenza – Global authority in neuroscience & NY Times best-selling author). Change our thinking and we change our world.
10. “Meditation literally means to become familiar with” and that “The purpose of meditation is to get beyond our analytical mind” (Dr. Joe Dispenza).
