Woody Wonders

This week's blog was inspired by a healthy dose of ' yeah ... but' !  It came about after Mr Bob had watched his beloved Coventry City * win 1-0.  He was scrolling through the supporters Facebook page and checking out the comments after the match.  Apparently (I can't comment, I was out running) they played really well but so-called fans were moaning that they were useless, should have won 4-0 etc etc.  Erm, the last time I checked, you don't score any extra points for more goals, a win is a win and gets you the standard 3 points. This then started a conversation about how on earth some people get through life with that kind of attitude.  Are they ever happy with anything in life or do all their sentences start with 'yeah ... but '.  As Mr Bob succinctly put it, they wouldn't even be happy if someone gave them a gold pig as they'd be saying 'yeah ... but it's a bit heavy, do I have to carry it all the way home' . This then got me thinkin...

Have you ever sat down and really thought about your career values?  I was very lucky recently to have been invited to an event at work where we had a truly inspiring speaker.  One of the things he spoke about was 'non-negotiables', in other words what values would you not compromise on when it comes to your work life.   It set me thinking about all the jobs I've had throughout my working life and the values that were important to me.  I set about doing an exercise that would provide me with some valuable insight.  Amazingly, I've only had 10 jobs over the course of the last 33 years which doesn't seem many compared to some people I've spoken to - I don't know, is it? I started off by making a list of all the companies where I'd worked, then took my time to think about each one.  To protect the innocent (and a few guilty!), I won't be naming names but here's the industries and a few insights into how I felt about each one: Sewing factory - hated...

I've spent the last two weeks fully immersed in an Olympics bubble, and despite the fact I'll be glad to sleep at a normal time again, it will leave me feeling bereft when it finally ends, which it will have by the time I post this blog. There's been some amazing performances and jaw dropping stories of what the athletes have been through on their journey to Tokyo.  The lucky few have realised a lifetime's dream and experienced a high like nothing else. Sadly, the other side of the story is those athletes who are left battered, bruised and disappointed, their Olympics dream in tatters.    It got me thinking about disappointment, we've all been there but when things go wrong in full view of the eyes of the world, that's a whole new level of disappointment to contend with.  At the Olympics you have varying degrees of disappointment, there's those athletes who are disappointed with Silver and Bronze, because in their eyes only Gold was good enough (jeez I'd...

As you all know by now, I really don't like any kind of negative talk.  Life is difficult enough without putting ourselves down.  Here's another of my pet hate phrases "well, I'm going to have to admit defeat" .  I think the reason I don't like it is because 'admitting defeat' means you're giving up.  But are you?  Or is it simply the fact that whatever it is you're feeling defeated about is because it wasn't right for you in the first place?  This is exactly how I now look at it. We've all been there, "I can't do this any more, I'm going to have to admit defeat" and then starts a whole cascade of negative self-talk "I'm rubbish at this", "I can't learn this, I'm stupid", "why can't I make this work" .  Then there's the stubbornness factor to consider.  There's been numerous occasions when I've carried on doing something for way longer than I should have, inst...