Monday Morning Musings

Morning team!

A very Happy Monday to you all and I hope you had a lovely relaxing weekend.

What I LEARNED

This week my 10 year old sons football team starts back up. On Saturday we had a pre-training session, and I took this time to create a survey to ask the boys what they were excited about for this season, what position they want to play etc, in order that I can use this feedback and ensure they get the most out of their time playing for the club, and have fun, develop and learn new skills with their friends.

One of the questions I asked was regards to game day on a Saturday, and how they like to prepare and warm up ready for the match. The consistent response was around how nervous they get before playing a game. It wasn’t to do with their own ability, but nearly all the boys that said they got nervous, had this feeling because they felt the other team were bigger and stronger than them. I personally found this really interesting that even as 10 year old boys, they had learned to fear others who are perceived bigger and stronger than them, even though this may not be the case. It’s almost as if they have lost the game before they even step on the pitch! Having this kind of nervousness / anxiety surprised me somewhat, and is something I will be working on with them to overcome, but I found it interesting how even as adults we all have different degrees of anxiety about various situations we face every day, and different coping mechanisms, but the fact this group of 10 year old boys were already having these feelings surprised me.

There is a quote from one of my favorite books some of you may know (The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse) which has never been so true and says:  

‘Isn’t it odd. We can only see our outsides, but nearly everything happens on the inside’

What I LIKED

During my time on holiday, I got to ready a number of books, which I loved! One of which was Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell in which the author dives into the data to examine the factors that contribute to high levels of success. One of his key findings was around purpose in that if you feel like there’s a purpose to your work, you’re more likely to work hard, put in the hours, and become a master. One study in Gladwell’s book followed immigrants and their offspring, discovering that the emphasis immigrant parents put on the value and practice of hard work inspired their offspring to find more meaning in their work. As a result, many children from immigrant parents became more successful in mastering their profession.

Music to kick start your week

I use to enjoy listening to Jamiroquoi back in my earlier days (I realise some either love him or hate him), and started listening to some of his old tracks over the holidays. Here is one I thought I’d share to kick start your week –

 Click here for a bit of Virtual Insanity

Final thought:

Feedback is a gift, and I’m always trying to improve or understand what’s working and what’s not. Please leave any constructive feedback that you feel can help me improve or continue with what’s working.

Thank you for reading and I hope that you have a successful and fulfilling day.