Tour de France Hero

I’ve always been a fan of the Tour de France and I love following the progress of the British riders with interest.  This year I was fascinated by the attitude of Mark Cavendish who won the stage on the first Wednesday.  He came into the Tour claiming that he was the fastest rider in the world – quite a claim, and it could be construed as a bit arrogant (he said this himself), but he is absolutely convinced that he is the fastest, and set out to prove it.  He woke that morning and said to himself and his team “I’m going to win today”.  The team got behind him and helped to make it happen.  It looked like the win was going to get away from him as the peloton only caught the break-away group a couple of seconds before Mark Cavendish overtook to reach the winning line first.

 

Two things I have learned and been reminded of from this. 

 

Firstly that it is absolutely key to have the right mindset before we start off on a voyage towards a dream or goal.  It might feel arrogant to say “I will win” or “I will be very successful” and British culture doesn’t really teach us to have this sort of attitude.  I have to believe that it’s OK for us to be arrogant with ourselves, otherwise we won’t have the right mindset to achieve our best levels.

 

Secondly you don’t have to be very much better than the rest to actually win.  Cavendish didn’t have to be several minutes ahead, or even one minute, he was only a matter of seconds ahead of the other sprinters and yet he won.  We sometimes hold ourselves back from achieving because we believe we have to be so much better than our competitors or peers in order to achieve greatness, but the reality is that we only have to be a little bit better to get our noses out in front of the pack.

 

The Real Hero

 

It wasn’t my intention to write about Mark Cavendish as the Hero of the Tour de France, but Lance Armstrong.  I have been watching the Tour ever since he won the first time and no-one ever thought he would win again after being diagnosed with testicular cancer.  He fought back and went on to win a further 6 times – more than anyone else has ever won the Tour.

 

If his recovery from cancer is not great enough, it was absolutely astonishing to watch the techniques he and his team used to enable him to win so many times.

 

The most important part was the perseverance through all adversity, and then the mathematical approach to every aspect of his performance even down to the fabric used his clothing.

 

Even reaching the end of the Tour is no mean feat, but Lance Armstrong will always be one of my inspirational role models.  He displays the type of determination and lack of respect for potential hurdles that keeps me going when the going gets tough.

 

Who’s your inspiration?  What did they do to deserve your undying respect?

 

Next Story – Special Talents

 

www.YvonneEmeryCoaching.co.uk

On the wings of an Eagle

Welcome to my Success Blog and I hope you’re really going to enjoy this journey that I’m starting today with my first Blog.

 

I have been contemplating starting a Blog for ages, but I really couldn’t decide what to write about.  It was important for me to work out what would be the main focus of my Blog so that I could keep up a momentum once I started and continue to write.  So, I decided that it would be great to not only record my own successes during my life but also reflect on the many successes of others which have really inspired me over the years.

 

Some successes feel huge and others appear small until you put them in context and realise just what someone has overcome in order to achieve them.

 

The first success that I’d like to share with you is what I hold on to and rely upon when things aren’t going so great.  It’s a success that I didn’t appreciate for many years and just dismissed as no big deal – you’ll laugh at that when you find out what it is.

 

I remember sitting in my garden one day when I was about 13 and watching the birds flying around.  I lived near the Malvern hills and the birds seemed to be soaring high above the hills even though that was just an illusion.  I watched their paths and the smoothness of their flight and I longed to be up there with them, looking down on the world and being free enough to glide with ease through the air.

 

When I was 15 years old and teachers and family were encouraging me to make a career decision I knew that I wanted to be a Pilot.  You can imagine their reactions!  The most extreme was “don’t be so silly you’re a girl”.  Well I don’t know if that was ‘red rag to the bull’ but it really grated with me.  I did the career tests and they indicated that I should be an accountant or a librarian – yuck! (sorry to all you accountants and librarians – no offence meant).

 

Later the next summer after I finished my O’Levels (showing my age now) I was on holiday with my parents and I happened to be reading a Mills and Boon book I’d got from the library.  The heroine was a Pilot and suddenly my eyes opened up to the thought that it was possible for a woman/girl to be a Pilot.  I started to talk about my dream again and for my 17^th birthday I was able to go on a gliding holiday in Lasham, near Basingstoke.

 

It was on this holiday that I really fuelled my passion for aircraft and for flying like a bird.  I also met one of the best friends I have ever had – Josie (but that’s another story).

 

I found that I had a real aptitude for flying and nearly went solo that first week.  I fell in love with the feeling of freedom and just being apart from the whole world for 15 glorious minutes at a time.

 

The following summer for my 18^th birthday I was bought 5 flying lessons – this time in powered planes.  I started my training for my PPL at Manchester Ringway Airport in a small 2 seat Tomahawk.  I soon transferred to Staverton Airport (now called Gloucestershire Airport) and went solo in a Cherokee 140 before I passed my driving test.

 

I passed my final flight test when I was 18 and received my PPL (Private Pilot’s Licence) just after my 19^th birthday.  This was a huge success for me as I was studying for my A’Levels and B/Tec Diploma at the same time as my flying and driving.  I took 25 exams that summer and passed them all.

 

The biggest surprise for me looking back on this is that I took it all for granted.  I just assumed that I could do it and got on with it.  I never really saw the admiration of my friends or sensed the colossal achievement of an 18 year old with a dream they wanted to make a reality.  I simply got on with it because it was what I wanted to do.  I didn’t listen to anyone who told me I couldn’t do it, and I’m immensely glad I didn’t.  It is this grit and determination that I hold onto and look back on whenever I feel my emotional strength start to falter and this is now part of a process I’m trying to use in all areas of my life.

 

Next success story – Tour de France Hero

 

www.YvonneEmeryCoaching.co.uk