Personal reflection

I travelled to Dubai recently as part of a trade mission with UKTI (United Kingdom trade and Industry.) To say that I was disappointed when I arrived and looked around this once welcoming city is an understatement. As some of you know, I have been travelling to Dubai for several years, my most recent trip before this one being in October of 2007. I would never have thought that even a city like Dubai could change so radically in the space of 14 months. They are now capitalising on the tourist industry. In some sectors, mainly restaurants and the like, prices have almost doubled and the once amazing service has declined at the same rate. To say it is literally a building site is another understatement. It is a well known fact that twenty percent of the worlds cranes are in operation in Dubai at any one time, only now they are in operation 24 hours a day. We found this out to our cost when we arrived in our room shortly after 1am and had to put up with the construction workers working through the night literally outside our seventh floor window. The buildings work once seen as opulent has now (in my humble opinion) crossed the line from opulence to ostentatious. There is almost an arrogance about what is built and where. There seems to be no respect for Mother Nature especially when it comes to the tides and the sea. We spent some time with a family who have lived in the city for a little over ten years. When they moved to Dubai from India they bought a house on the beach. They now have to drive almost two kilometres to get to that same beach!! And they have stolen from we British the one thing that we could always claim to be the best in the world at...queuing!! We queued for almost an hour for a taxi and then another hour in the taxi on route to our destination a couple of miles away (before you ask, it is too hot and busy to walk.) Getting anywhere takes an absolute age, the building work seems to have been done with little or no account of the infrastructure that exists.

So will I go back? Of course I will. In fact I have entered the 'Race Across the World' (RAW) desert race in November next year when I will cover 250 kilometres between Abu-Dhabi and Dubai in five days. The chances are that the race was created because it is quicker to run it than to grab a cab.

My final thought for this year is a little more positive. For a few years now it has been fashionable to send e-greetings at Christmas with a message that says something like "I'm not sending cards this year and with the money I save on the cards and postage I'm buying a goat or a tree"...you know the ones I'm talking about. Well I am jumping on that band wagon this year and if you live in North or West Yorkshire I am inviting you to join me.

My lovely friend Ros works for Radio Aire in Leeds and she is once again running her "Radio Aire cash for kids" appeal. I will let her tell you what it is all about...

"Radio Aire and Magic 828's Cash for Kids has launched the Toy Appeal to make sure sick, disabled and underprivileged children across West Yorkshire receive a present on Christmas morning. You can help by donating a new, unwrapped gift for a boy or girl aged 0 to 17. Drop your gift off at Radio Aire & Magic, any shop at Crown Point Shopping Park, or any branch of Barclays in West Yorkshire. If you want to get your colleagues involved by organising a workplace collection call Ros on 0113 283 5555 for poster and pack. We have more children than ever to help this year and very gift will make a difference.
Ros Raine
Cash for Kids Charity Manager

So, when you take down your cards this year and realise that you didn't get one from me you can also rejoice in the fact that the money I would have spent on your card and postage has hopefully brought a smile to the face of some youngster a little less fortunate than us on Christmas morning.

Of course if you want to join in and you don't live in God's own country by all means sends me a cheque and I will buy something on your behalf and make sure Ros knows where it came from. Remember that we aren't talking about flat screen tellies and ipods here guys. A tenner will buy something just as valuable for these kids.

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Recommended reading, listening or watching

I told you some time ago that I was slowly getting round to watching all of the DVD's that I have bought over the years. Recently I watched "Hotel Rwanda" the true story of a hotel manager who turned the hotel he managed into a safe refuge for more than 1000 refugees of caught up in the atrocities that happened in the country during the early nineties. I guess we all have our opinions on this sort of tragedy. What stuck out for me though was the way that the massacres were fuelled by a radio station pouring vitriol and hatred into the airwaves and people being gullible enough to listen to and believe what they were hearing. It also hit home to me that although I bang on every month about the choices we all have in our lives I wonder how I would react if the choice of whether I was allowed to live or die was made by someone else and was purely judged on the width of my nose.

On a lighter note, Kung Fu Panda rocks and there is already a "Jackie 2" CD collection of music from the 70's.

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What do I know now that I didn't know a month ago?

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and make a decision, then just be prepared to accept the consequences.

Do you recall what I told you about my new camera last time? To refresh your memories I said...
"...the new Olympus M850 SW. It is fantastic. Completely waterproof to 96 metres (OK that's probably a fib but it did go fairly deep more than once) and shockproof to boot. The quality of the pictures is brilliant as is the anti-shake feature. All for less than £200."
Well it doesn't work if you forget to charge the batteries.

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Actionstep

Are we just being "busy fools?"

How often have you spent hours, days or in some cases years doing things that have little or no impact on what you achieve as far as goals are concerned? Do you recall a time when you have spent an incredible amount of time and effort to improve a skill or talent with minimal effect only to decide that, had you spent that time on something else, your progress would have been much more rapid? I have, more times than I care to recall.

The reason I bring this up is because I was asked for some advice recently and, as usual, I declined to give it. I tend not to give advice but I will give my opinion or my perspective on any given situation if requested to do so. Who asked me and what they asked me about is not important. What I thought I would share with you though is the story I related to them which I thought would help them make a decision.

As most of you know I used to be a half decent triathlete. Shortly after completing my fastest ever Ironman event in 9 hours and 36 minutes I was competing in a race in Las Vegas. Around this time there was an American triathlete called Scott Molina. He was one of 'the big four' and was known as 'the animal' due to his excessive training regime which reputedly included 200 mile cycle rides and 50 mile run sessions. He was also one of an elite group of athletes who were pushing close to the eight hour mark for the Ironman distance. After the Vegas race, myself and some of my team mates decided we would have lunch and a few beers in the Hard Rock café. We hadn't been in there long when in walked Scott Molina who, it turned out, had been competing in the same race. I wasn't about to let this opportunity pass me by and as soon as he had finished his lunch I approached him and asked if I could speak with him for a while. He of course said yes so I bought a few Budweiser's and set about picking the great man's brains.

To give you some background, at the time my best time for the two and a half mile swim section of the Ironman race was 1 our and 16 minutes. People like him were getting out of the water after around 50 minutes which put me almost half an hour behind the front guys even before I climbed on my bike. With that in mind I had been focussing my attention on getting some time off my swim section by doing extra swim sessions on top of my 'normal' training routine with little or no effect. So my main question to Scott was "how do I get my swim times closer to you guys?" His reply has held me in good stead ever since, not only as an athlete but in life and business too. Here is roughly how the conversation went from here...

SM - What is your swim time now?
Me - 1 hour 16 minutes.
SM - If you do an extra hour swim training every day for the rest of your season how much time would you expect to take off your best time?
Me - Hopefully around ten minutes.
SM - What is your strongest discipline in the Ironman?
Me - Cycling
SM - If you spend an extra hour a day doing specific cycling training every day for the rest of the season how much time would you expect to take off your cycle time?
Me - Hopefully about half an hour
SM - So why not concentrate on your cycling and let the swimming take care of itself?

And that was it, the moment I realised that we just can't be brilliant at everything; some things we just have to make do with being mediocre at - as I was with competitive swimming. I have learned similar lessons in my business life as a professional speaker. As with many speakers when they start out in this business I tried to be a Jack of all trades. That meant that I would consider any offer to speak regardless of what the clients requirements were. It didn't take too much negative feedback to help me to realise that I couldn't be brilliant at everything, but that I was outstanding at being an inspirational humorist. So that's what I decided to become, and that is ALL I do today. I accept speaking engagements that I know I can deliver outstandingly and leave the stuff that I could be ok with to those who can do it outstandingly.

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Achievements Inventory

This year I have tried with some difficulty at times to be totally authentic in everything I do. I admit that occasionally I have fallen short but for the most part I think I made it.

This was underlined when I found my values as to what I believe professional speaking is all about compromised by my continued membership of my professional body the PSA. So I resigned my fellowship and my membership in order to retain my authenticity and I am rightly very proud of myself for doing so.

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Feedback

Well as usual you didn't let me down. I threw out a request to find out why my pillow cases always end up inside my duvet cover in the tumble dryer and indeed why the duvet cover always turns inside-out. Here is the most believable explanation that I received. Thanks Peter...

"For a man who knows so much you seem to know so little. Every tumble dryer has a little family inside who dry your clothes but they HATE duvet covers as they are so big. To get their own back on you they hide your pillow case inside the duvet cover - EVERYTIME. They also have cousins, the Bark Family who are closely related to the Gravel Family. Both of these other two live in your garden and day by day take away your lovely new bark or gravel, you add some more wondering where it all goes to (the gravel eating monster is an urban myth) and they take it away again, you buy some more wondering where it has all gone to, they take it away again. There are many other little people like these so don't wonder - just accept it!"

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This months adventure

This months adventure did not particularly require the usual physical ability of my previous adventures and only lasted a little under two hours. It was nevertheless as brilliant an adventure as most of my previous ones. I saw 10cc live and in the flesh. This was not some poxy tribute band; this was the original lead singer Graham Gould accompanied by a more than able guitarist in Mike Rayburn who has played for, among others, Cliff Richard. The event I was attending was the Professional Speakers Association national conference at the Forest of Arden hotel and golf course. Our out-going president, Alan, pulled a few strings with his next door neighbour (Mike) and, hey presto!, a small intimate group of around 130 were treated to a veritable feast of nostalgia. 10cc are one of those bands who you listen to and say "I didn't realise that they recorded that one" and these guys treated us to all of the hits. "I'm Not In Love, Dreadlock Holiday, I'm Mandy, Fly Me" to name but a few. And of course they finished off with the one that (for me) epitomises not only 10cc but the 70's as an amazing time in pop music "Rubber Bullets." And as if that wasn't enough, Graham, who has written for the likes of Eric Clapton and Herman's Hermits (ask your dad) played some of those hits as well. All in all, as live concerts go, this was up there with the best I have ever attended, including all 34 of the Quo concerts I have been to. We were close enough, in days to come, to be able claim (after a few beers!) that we sang 'with' 10cc live and sing we did...well Kenny and I did anyway. For those who recall this great band their greatest hits is now available. For those who don't have a clue who I am talking about have a listen to their greatest hits and I bet you say "Oh...that's 10cc. I didn't realise."

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If...

Questions to stimulate conversation either in the office or over dinner.

Q1. IF you could make one fantasy figure (like Santa for instance) come to life who would you chose and why?

Q2. IF for the next twelve months you were to focus on the one thing that you are outstanding at, what would you focus on and what results would you achieve?

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