27th July - Celebrating Your Victories



I'm the first to admit that often, I get so caught up in a moment, and focusing on achieving a victory, I rarely get time to celebrate them, or allow myself to feel the 'victory' of that moment, basking in the glory of the success. That's partly down to my nature as of something of a relentless workaholic, and partly because I'm so incredibly driven that I'm always looking ahead to the next goal, even when I'm in the moment of the present one. It reminds me of an anecdote a Manchester United player once told about Sir Alex Ferguson.

The team had just won the league for the umpteenth time, and rather than celebrating with the rest of the squad, the lads found Fergie in his office, typing away, and furiously jotting things down on his notepad. When they tried to persuade the gaffer to join the champagne showers, he explained that they'd been lucky to win the league this year, and he didn't want to put their fate to such small margins next time around. He wanted this thing wrapped up with a month to go, a year from now, and so set about making improvements to the minor issues he'd noticed in the past 9 months. The defence, the concentration from set-pieces, the wastefulness of chances. Who would come in? Which signings could improve the side? Which new faces could help those 'relaxed' figures like Giggs or Scholes, who had been there for more than a decades, feel their place was now under threat, and consequently give them a nice re-motivating kick up the back-side.




This year, I've already achieved so much, and as arrogant as it sounds... I knew I would. None of these victories are surprises to me. They're all things which I wrote down at the end of December 2021, and told myself I'd be achieving them, setting targets for each. In fact, you can go all the way back to my very first diary post on this blog, the one I wrote on 'bite size pieces', and you'll understand my mindset much more thoroughly. As we now approach the second half of the year, much like Fergie, my focus is now on how I can improve even further, and maintain the same consistent level of success throughout the remainder of the year. Whilst others have worked for 8/9 hours a day over this past 7 months, I've been working for 12/13. Those extra hours won't make a difference over one day, or even a week. But come August, you're now starting to see the fruits of such labour. Many would be satisfied, at this point, to sit back, and soak up the glory of their first 7 months, but nobody remembers how you start... 




... They only remember how you finish. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

20th July: I was assaulted last night

Image
Last night was just an absolute fucking disaster from start to finish, tbh. After finishing work (working from home), I set off at around 7pm to reach my destination as I was needed back in the office for the rest of the week (our office doesn’t have A/C so we were allowed to work from home on Mon & Tues on account of the heatwave), though it soon dawned on me that this was not going to prove a simple task. I arrived in London around 10.30pm and found both my 10.30pm and then 11.30pm trains had been fully cancelled. The reasoning they gave was that the tracks couldn’t handle the heat, but surely metal is strong enough to withstand even the most potent of temperatures?  As hoards of fellow commuters gathered around the departure board, looking forlorn at the rows of cancellations on the electronic board, I managed to earwig on a small group of middle-aged folk who were heading to the same destination as me. Seeking their advice, we attempted to grab one of the very few operati...
Read more

15th Jan - Dancing Queen

Image
Well, last night got a little interesting huh? I fell into 'the basic bitch trap' of jiving around to commercial drivel in one of those overpriced cocktail bar chains where a faint waft of Paco Rabanne & Gonorrhea fill the air... Be At One, All Bar One, Insert Other Name Involved 'One' and 'Bar' here. I've realised, that like many of you, when intoxicated, I possess a complete alter-ego. A gremlin inside of me which comes out to play and completely does away with the sober version of myself. This alter-ego is dangerously confident, sassy and sensual, and most worrying of all, delusional when it comes to dancing. I can't say I've ever been much of a dancer, I mean sure... I'll give it a go. I have rhythm at least, but I'm now at an age where I'm probably old enough to be able to pull off ' dad dancing ' and give the word some real personification. Last night consisted of myself & my equally intoxicated pal putting on live...
Read more

29th December - The MOST important life skill you'll learn

Image
I've spent much of this year musing a range of important and philosophical ideas and thoughts. Real deep analysis on human behaviour and psychology. And then sometimes I've just blogged about Kebabs. But there are a few really important takeaways which I can pass on from this year. The first is that when we talk about eating healthy, or 'being healthy', we alway focus on weight. Fat burning, weight loss, muscle gain etc etc. But one thing very few people talk about is that exercise, or eating nutritious foods, is first and foremost the biggest self-care for the mind. That is definitely something I discovered this year when comparing my moods on days when I stayed in like a slob, or days when I partook in my hourly walks. By clearing the mind and allowing yourself that period of isolation in fresh air, you are delivering a type of therapy to yourself more powerful than any self-help podcast, or life-coaching course. The second thing I've learned, thanks to both Jorda...
Read more