“With the correct technique you can tackle anyone!”

This was the last thing a rugby coach told me before I tackled a guy twice my size and weight. I bounced off him, hit my head on the ground and ended up with concussion. I never played rugby ever again and it left me with a lifelong distrust of coach’s!

Sidenote: Afterwards Andrew told me that people with concussion die eight hours after it occurs. I stayed up late that night watching the clock tick down to my impending death! Jools Holland was on TV and I my “death” was going to occur half way through the show which really annoyed me as the band I liked was due to play last!

The coach was correct, I could tackle anyone but he forgot to mention that sometimes I will fail no matter how good my technique is.

When doing events I look back at this and thank the coach for unintentionally giving my a good perspective on events and challenges. Yes, I can train hard, yes I can have the right technique but that doesn’t mean I’ll succeed.

Years ago, I climbed Kilimanjaro…actually I got 9/10ths of the way up. I stopped as I’d had enough. I’d reached my summit! When people asked afterwards whether I was disappointed not to get to the top I’d reply:

“No, the walk up was a boring queue of people trudging up a path but when I went down by myself it was amazing! I had the whole mountain to myself and got excellent views of the sun rising over africa.”

So the lesson is – I don’t worry about whether I succeed or fail. I just worry about whether I enjoyed trying because sometimes failing offers up much better experiences!