Sarah's Search for Success

Being on both ends of the stick!

Blimey what a week it's been - I hardly know where to start!

I spent three days last week coaching on the latest Inner Compass NLP Practitioner training, which was a fantastic experience.  It was wonderful to have the chance to "put something back", having had such great help from other coaches whilst going through my own training.  I also learned a huge amount, from stretching myself to coach people through their tests without actually giving them the answers, to re-visiting and re-learning some of the NLP tools and techniques.  It was also great fun, and lovely to meet up with some of the amazing people who have been a part of my journey to date.  The only down side was not being able to stay for the entire course, as I had another training course to go to at the weekend...

Squirrel of Death

I stumbled upon this story again a couple of days ago, which had me in tears of laughter yet again, so after obtaining permission from the author, Daniel Meyer, I thought I'd share it here.  This is one of the lesser known hazards of motorcycling...

Squirrel of Death

"I never dreamed slowly cruising through a residential neighborhood could be so incredibly dangerous!

Studies have shown that motorcycling requires more decisions per second, and more sheer data processing than nearly any other common activity or sport. The reactions and accurate decision making abilities needed have been likened to the reactions of fighter pilots! The consequences of bad decisions or poor situational awareness are pretty much the same for both groups too...

My Perfect Day

Last night I went to the Oxford Yes Group, where we enjoyed a great talk from Eric Edmeades on Perfect Day Planning.  Well I'm happy to say that today has been pretty darned perfect!  I started early at the Wantage & District Business Breakfast Club, where I had a lovely chat with Polly Vacher, the author of Wings Around the World.  Polly is an amazing woman who has flown solo around the world not once, but twice, and this book tells the story of her second circumnavigation, this time taking the rather more unusual route via both Poles.  To quote from the book, "Despite having only a few years of flying experience, Polly, a 59-year-old mother of three, had already completed a lateral solo circumnavigation of the world in 2001 for the charity Flying Scholarships for the Disabled; this second challenge, for the same charity, would make that achievement look like a casual jaunt."

What an inspiration!

Long Distance Award at the Brass Monkey!

I went to the rather aptly named Brass Monkey Rally at the weekend.  It was actually fairly warm for the time of year on the way down, thanks to some good old English drizzle.  Luckily it had stopped raining by the time I got there, which is always handy when putting a tent up.  I have to admit to being a little reluctant to go after last year, when sleet made for the most horrendous ride home I'd ever had - I stopped off half way home that time to drink tea and hot soup in an attempt to defrost.  That and standing under the hand dryer drying my hair and scarf helped immensely, as did the hand warmers that I put in my pockets to help keep my core temperature up for the last drag home.  I'm sure I provided some entertainment for the folk in the services cafe as I did my best impression of a shivering drowned rat!  The weather for those that headed South was even worse: they had full blown snow to deal with, which is not a lot of fun when you only have two wheels on the road.  We must be mad, riding motorcycles in the middle of Winter to camp out in a field with a bunch of fellow nutters!

Four Countries in One Day

Happy New Year, and what a great start I had to the New Year, too!  I had the great pleasure of being at the Happy House, where we joined the folk in the town square just before midnight to toast the Austrian New Year in with gluwhein and enjoy the amazing fireworks.  We gradually made our way back to the jacuzzi to toast the UK New Year with bubbly, followed by more fireworks let off by Tony.  Hmmm, rocket smoke and jacuzzi steam - an interesting combination!  And I can testify that you can get 10 people into an 8 person jacuzzi, as long as they're all good friends.  New Years day we had a bit of a lie-in, and skipped the usual rebounding to start with a leisurely breakfast followed by a good film.  Tony and Nicki suggested going to the Czech Republic for breakfast the next day (as you do), which we all thought was a great idea, so early on the 2nd Jan, we headed for the border, only to find that they had some strange rules for the South African member of our party.  Even though she had a Schengen visa, they said she could only come in on transit and would not be able to return the same way.  So we decided to go back via Germany.  Made for a bit of a magical mystery tour and a much longer day, which was entertaining!  Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and back to Austria - four countries in one day - someone ought to write a song about that...?!