I'm excited to share with you the news that I have teamed up with Planet K2 to take on monthly challenges in my quest to maximise how I perform, and help you do the same. K2 helps people like you and I prepare and perform for our work and life, like elite athletes. By applying what their expert coaches know about how top sportsmen and women achieve what they do, they help us learn and understand how we can consistently raise our own bar and achieve amazing things.
Basically, they believe that though you can’t always choose the result, you can always choose the performance – the things you need to do to maximise your chances of success.
They have the skills, knowledge and expertise to help us understand how we can realise this and they're going to start sharing all of that with you, using me as a kind of guinea pig!
Each month they will be setting me a challenge to work on. These will revolve around goal setting, motivation, control and risk taking and mental preparation. I can't wait to get cracking!
I love this from K2's website, have a browse around and let me know what you think:
If you're reading my blog, you already believe it's important to challenge yourself. You are not satisfied with standing still and you have a curiosity to keep asking for more.
Yesssss!!
This is amazing and I wholeheartedly believe in you. My mission is to do everything I can to help you on your journey, whilst also sharing everything I learn on mine.
I'm excited that K2 are keen to be part of this journey and although I don't know where it will lead, I'm intrigued to find out.
Why is it important to challenge ourselves?
By creating situations in which you truly test yourself, you learn about yourself and your limits.
Each time you challenge yourself, you realise you can do whatever it was you previously thought was off-limits.
By achieving something you thought you couldn't do, you learn to trust in your abilities and believe in yourself. As a result of this, you question and challenge the limits and restrictions in your life.
You let this confidence fuel your drive and you consider how you can improve the way you perform as a colleague, employee, leader, parent, sibling or partner. And as an athlete.
You let yourself dream and you ask yourself
What if I could... (run that fast)?
Maybe I could...(start my own business)?
How could I...(live in a way that would make me happier and more fulfilled)?
I once met Chrissie Wellington MBE and 4 X Ironman World Champion. For those of you who are into triathlon, you'll know her. For those of you who aren't, she's an absolute hero and inspiration to many, by leading an ordinary life until the age of 26, when she took up triathlon and preceeded to dominate the global stage thereafter.
She signed my book with the words "Go build your palace."
I thought about this and what she mean't by it. She could have said go win your race, go smash your PB... but instead she chose to use these words and I have no doubt it was deliberate.
Building Your Palace
I believe each and every one of us can build our dream palace. I think Chrissie Wellington chose to use these words because we're all on our own journey and success looks different to each of us. What for one person might feel like loosing, is another person's win. My PB might be finishing the race, whereas yours might be crossing the line first.
How do you set about designing, engineering and building - brick by brick - the life you dream of living?
We work at it.
We set goals. We take risks, put ourselves out there, create opportunities and challenges. Sometimes we win. More often than not, we fail. We pick ourselves up and try again.
We work at it some more.
In the end, we'll get there. We may not know where there is, and I actually love this part of the journey. Although I have goals, dreams, plans... call them what you like... I know some of them will turn into reality but others will lead me down another path, to a door I've not yet imagined.
The magic in life comes from daring to travel the path where you cannot see the trail let alone the door it leads to.
Along this whole journey, we are learning. Building our self-awareness and understanding of who we are and where our place in this world lies. We want to be ourselves, but we have a burning desire to improve.
How far can you really go? I don't know, do you?
I'm intrigued to find out. And I have a feeling you are intrigued to challenge your limits, maximise your own potential and what you can make from this life.