…..well that’s the theory anyway!!

Can anyone do anything? I don’t think they can.  I’d like to do a flick flack – you know one of those things where you leap backwards and turn upside down – I’m 51, I’ve got a bad back, my knees are shot, I’ve never been particularly athletic and need to lose 10kg (and some).  The chance of me doing anything of any merit gymnastically is slim to non-existent.

I could try to do something a little better – actually, I could try to do everything better, but here’s a gymnastic example (well, it’s as gymnastic as I’m ever going to get – I have never actually recovered from having to do gym in big green knickers and all the boys watching through the gym hall windows at Golborne Comprehensive – I was so huge and ungainly and everyone else was lithe and bendy!!).  A couple of years ago I decided to go to Pole Dancing classes – it was too long ago, now I think about it and I’m going to go back again! I loved it.  I was also twice the age of everyone in the class and I wasn’t the worst – hurrah!

As part of the routine we had to hang off the pole and then the teacher showed us this thing where she did a handstand and hung off the pole upside down. My oh my. No-one else in this novice class could do it – or stand on their hands for that matter.

Hanging off the pole was a step too far I thought, but I could learn to do a handstand. So I did try and try and try – and I can still do one.

It led me to ask myself – what can I do better every day?  Not just gymnastically, but in everything.

After writing a couple of paragraphs, I now think that I’ve failed miserably in my attempt to show that I can do better gymnastically – as I still need to lose weight, I could do more exercise and I bet if I really, really tried – with assistance, I could manage that flick flack! (Maybe a hoist or a cherry picker, or something they use in the zoo for getting large animals back on their feet!)

Getting back to the rest of life and the original question – What can I do better?

Well, the only way you’re going to find out is by asking yourself.  Self-coaching and reflection.  I’m not one for self-help books – I’ve got the attention span of a small invertebrate and I can’t see that getting much better, no matter how hard I try – but I can try a little bit!

Over the years I’ve tried lots of techniques – keeping a food diary, keeping an exercise log, following all the new diets. Wearing the latest gadget that tracks everything I do – in fact, I’ve got a new one on now!!  I last a couple of weeks and then something new and shiny comes along.

The one thing that has stayed with me is asking myself “how could I have done that better?”  I concede that for me this mostly works with other behaviours rather than eating and exercise – I can ask myself the question – answer the question and then ignore the obvious thing that would create some improvement – but then, after all, most things in life are impacted by the choices one makes.

In a business context, I think I’ve been quite successful at coaching myself to create improvements – “why did I say that like that?” “how could I have phrased that better?” lots of things that with a little reflection, one can start to improve.  It is a never ending journey though, as quite frequently I end up kicking myself as I am prone to putting my size 41 in where it doesn’t belong.

So how did I start off with pole dancing and get to leadership behaviour? It’s about continuous improvement.  Trying to be a little better every day by asking yourself questions – listening to the answers and acting on them is the next step. But every journey has to start somewhere!