Yesterday was a good day. OK, every day should be viewed as a good day as we will never have that day again. I can’t remember who said it (probably Zig Ziglar) but “never judge the day by the weather†is a favourite quote of mine. Likewise today – October 7th 2007 – is still a good day, even though there is nothing (currently) for me lined up that is going to make it significant.
Yesterday was significant (and good) for two reasons. In the morning I took part in a Harvest Workshop, helped by one of my daughters and my mother in law. This is at our local church (the one I got married in twenty two years ago!) and, in our case, involves bread making with the young children who attend. I say “makingâ€, but I get up at 6.30am to make the dough for the children to shape and then paint with egg wash.
There are many other things for them to make and do, but there is always a queue when the bread is out of the oven and cool enough to eat. For the children, they spend their time creating things that are put on display in the church for the harvest service, or they can take home (or eat!).
Although I don’t always look forward to these workshops (I also do hot crossed buns at Easter and biscuits at Christmas) because of the preparation, they are always rewarding. Getting children involved in a creative process where they make something is great for their self confidence. Perhaps we should do a workshop for adults – as many could benefit from doing something creative.
Just writing the above made me realise I need to do something about my own automatic thoughts. Rather than linking the workshops with the positive images of children having fun and engaging in a confidence building activity, my automatic thoughts leading up to the event were negative – getting up early on my day off, having to buy in ingredients, what might go wrong…. Silly, but it’s so easy to do.
The other thing that happened yesterday (Antipodeans look away now) was watching the Rugby World Cup on television, and see England beat Australia (then France beat New Zealand). Although holders, England were easily the underdogs after poor performances earlier in the competition.
What I find interesting watching sport on television is how often the commentators refer to confidence as a factor following mistakes or brilliance. Early in the matches yesterday all spot kickers missed crucial kicks that could have turned the course of the game. But does a miss immediately equate to a loss of confidence? As I said last time in habits and routines, these guys have a set routine they go through thousands of times in practice – and part of that routine involves visualising the ball going through the posts.
I don’t think confidence affects kickers as they do something that is quite controlled and can be replicated in practice. Where confidence is a factor in sport (and life generally) is when things don’t go according to plan. I’m sure the Australian and New Zealand players did lack confidence at various points in their matches because both were expected to win convincingly, but never got going. The opposition teams controlled large parts of the game and prevented them for playing the way they wanted. At one point the commentator used the word “panic†to describe the action of an Australian player! Whatever game plans they tried to use, they didn’t work.
So today has nothing as significant happening, but its up to me to make the most of the day. I’ve a busy week ahead, I’m on a course that will entail 7 – 7 days, plus homework. Ouch! I’m also committed to writing a post for Bob Clubb’s Desiderata, and I still want to rewrite my “About†page which is very thin. Having got some momentum with this post, I think today will be a day of writing.
