I was extremely fortunate the other evening (Friday 16th April) to be invited to attend the IMechE/IET Midlands Engineering Dinner as a guest of my employers. This good fortune, in my mind, has several facets; I had been awarded the IET Mentor of the Year award at work (a great honour in itself), this had led to my invitation. I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful dinner, with good food, good company and great atmosphere and to listen to James Cracknell OBE speak and given my interest in success, achievements and goal setting this was serendipitous. For those of you who are perhaps not familiar with James Cracknell, he is a double Olympic gold medallist and laterly an adventurer of some note, who has taken on a number of high profile and extreme challenges. To learn more take a look at James’ website.

During James’ speech, as he spoke about his rowing career and subsequent adventures that vision, goal setting, planning and taking action were ubiquitous characteristics in the successes and achievements. Whether that was visualising the 6 minutes of the Olympic race or the 2400 mile row to cross the Atlantic. However, what was even more interesting, particularly around the adventures that James has carried out with Ben Fogle (@BenFogle), was that a key focus was always on being the best that they could be, working the hardest that they could and pushing themselves to the limit; therefore, focussing on the things that were within their control, not on the things that they could not. This worked extremely well for them.

One notable quote, that I would like to share:

The Mind is more powerful and the body is more resilient than we think

James Cracknell

Take a look at James Cracknell’s biography and the successes and achievements that are listed there, it makes for an impressive read. I, having had the opportunity to listen to him speak, can see how his achievements are a testament to the application of ‘success principles’ and his inner drive and motivation.