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    The Great Gordino Newsletter - Issue 354 - Mon 20th Feb 2006
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    Archive Issues online at - gordonbryan.com/archive

    Hi There,

    I hope Monday finds you well.

    I had a great chat with a friend last week.
    I was telling him how I was still watching the Olypmics to see
    if there were any events I thought I could do.
    I reckon pretty much the only one would be curling, plenty of
    possibilities for old duffers.

    The game came from Scotland, and the British teams have always
    been made up of Scots, the reason being lack of facilities in
    England.
    I went online, and found the English Curling Association.
    It said that there is only one single purpose built curling rink
    in England, and it just happens to be less than 30 mins away
    in the car.
    I may well pop along to have a look!

    As I was telling him about the sports, he came up with a telling
    comment -
    "Yes, but you're not a sportsman!"

    Hmm...

    The thing is, he's right.
    I'm out of shape, fast approaching 40, and as for huge natural
    sporting talent as a child, er, none.

    To be successful at the Olympics despite those 'handicaps' would
    be an achievement indeed, but it does bring up 2 questions which
    you should always ask yourself when you go about goal setting -

    1. Is it a realistic goal?
    2. What are your real motives behind it?

    In my case, the answer to number 1 is no, it isn't realistic.
    There is a reason why 40 yr-olds are not at the top of sport, and
    it's biology.
    Or is it physics.
    Anyhoo it's scientific, simple facts about muscles, etc.

    As for the 2nd question about motives, am I more interested in the
    end result than the process?
    The answer would have to be yes.
    When you look at world class sports people, they have been doing it
    for year after year (after year!), because they love it.
    The results they get are almost the icing on the cake.
    They are also prepared to put up with injury.

    Over the weekend I saw a footballer break his leg and dislocate his
    ankle at the same time, I saw a long jumper's leg crumple underneath
    him, and in the ice skating I saw a man wobble underneath his lady
    partner, slamming her from 6 feet into the ice right on her hip.
    As entertaining as this is to watch as a spectator (come on, it's
    not just me), injury is part of the life of a sportsman, and I'm not
    sure I fancy it.
    Also, have you ever seen those speed skaters?
    They've got thighs that look like they've been blown up by a bicycle pump!
    I hope they have some teflon in those lycra suits, because with thighs
    like that, there must be some serious chafing going on downstairs...

    What I do fancy though, and my friend asked me outright about this,
    is the entertainment.
    You don't tend to see so many injuries in the world of entertainment,
    although I remember the rock band ACDC once explaining why they always
    played so fast and loud.
    They said that in their native Australia, the pubs they played in the
    early days were so rough that if you didn't play loud and fast, you were
    likely to get a baseball bat around the head.
    I suppose you could call that a professional injury!
    Having entertained both professionally and for fun, I know that when I am
    doing it, I feel like I am in the right place for me, so that's where me
    efforts should lie, and any goals in that field are far more realistic.

    So that's helped to sharpen my focus a bit.

    I thought about something else when I was reading an online newsletter.
    I've often said that if you enjoy this newsletter, you will enjoy
    'Kickstart Today' by Martin Avis, Kickstart Today.

    I'm pleased to say that a recent issue of his had me shaking my head shouting
    'No! Wrong!' at the computer.
    I say that pleased me, because it's the first time I've not agreed with him,
    and it allows me to give an alternative view.

    He wrote that some goal achievement theory is broken down too easily into
    nice sound bytes, one of them being the importance of taking action - any action.
    Martin argues that as he knows so many cases where people havn't reached
    their goals despite seeming to do nothing *but * take action, that theory
    isn't right, and that it should actually say take 'directed' action.

    That's where I'm not sure I agree.
    People who take undirected action may not seem to be getting closer to
    their goal, but in fact they are, because they are finding out what doesn't work.
    True, they may have saved time, effort, money of whatever by focusing their
    efforts a bit better beforehand, but are they better off than people with the
    same goals that sat at home doing nothing?
    Yes, by a huge mile.
    Actually, I'm not sure there is such a thing as a 'huge mile', in the same way
    that you can't be 'fairly unique', but hopefull you get the drift!

    It's very very easy to be so worried about the outcome of the action that you
    over-analyse and end up doing nothing, when it would have been much better to
    just get on and do something.

    Email Martin and me to let us know what you think!

    Another aspect of the 'taking action' theory is that although it's been a few
    weeks since I had my idea of The Great Gordino's Fame Game, my actual activity
    on it has been woeful.
    That's usually a big signal that the goal isn't the right one, and it might be
    true with me.
    I'm not actually sure I do want to be famous.
    Most famous people work themselves to the bone, only to find that fame doesn't
    bring the self contentment they thought it would.

    I wouldn't really say that sums me up.
    I can say I was brought up to believe I could do anything I wanted, but paradoxically,
    I was also brought up to not speak unless spoken to, and even then I'd better
    say the right thing!

    I'll be doing some serious thinking this week about why I've taken so little
    action towards this goal.

    Ok, that's it for today, and remmember to let Martin and me know your views on
    our 'action' comments!

    'Til Next Time,
    Health and Happiness,
    Gordon
    email me at gordon@gordonbryan.com - you'll have to copy and paste
    thanks to the idiot online spammers!



    
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