Successful or Not.....

Victoria Beckham is a woman I admire. 

She worked hard and become a famous singer.  Not only famous but part of one of the most successful girl groups in history – The Spice Girls.  Victoria Beckham married David a very famous footballer.  They have a marriage that has survived for 15 years which is very unusual for famous couples.   Mrs Beckham changed careers and became an award winning fashion designer with an estimated £30 million business fashion empire and a couple of weeks ago opened her first store in London. Only last week she was made a special ambassador for the UNAIDS.  I think you can call Victoria Beckham successful.

Now let’s look at a woman I know who is 55 years old.  Her body is riddled with arthritis and she struggles with everyday activities.  Her doctors tell her she should be in a wheelchair but she refuses to use it or even a walking stick.  Instead, she pushes herself to live as normal a life as she can with daily walks and an exercise regime.  How many people would call her successful? 

The sad truth is not many. Yet this woman is very successful in her own right.

The dictionary states the definition of success is achievement.  The 55 year old has a goal to continue walking unaided as long as she possibly can.  Everyday she manages to walk is a day of achievement or success.  So why don’t we recognise this and call her successful?

Have we become so conditioned in society or blasé that we only recognise success if fame and wealth comes with it?

Maybe it’s time to take a step back. Look at all the successes around us and give genuine praise where praise is due.

Three skills......

As a teenager trying to build a career as a tennis player November and December were the months of no competitions, rest and time to plan the coming season. The process involved reviewing the year’s performance and putting a plan together to improve in the coming year. Although injury put an end to the tennis dreams, reviewing and setting goals is a habit that stayed with me for life.

For me, goals are something I work on every day but in November I put in that extra special effort to make sure they can all be ticked off my list as achieved by December.

This year my key goal has been ticking along but not with the gusto it needed for me to reach the final target. The main reason for being behind has been lack of focus. It’s easy to make excuses but the second half of 2012 has been traumatic, with my focus shifted to family issues the goals got left behind. November was a wake up call. Reviewing my goals I realised I was about to fail big time with my key goal. The main problem was the amount of work I still needed to do in a very short time to achieve my targets. Quite frankly, there weren’t enough hours so help had to be drafted in. It was time to start thinking outside the box.

I pride myself on being a good planner, well organised, focused and determined. Yesterday 30th November, I achieved my goals 100%. Looking back I see there were three skills that helped me achieve them with the assistance of my husband and daughter - begging, nagging and bribery!

Do I or Don't I?....

Do I or Don’t I?…


It was a dilemma, do I or don’t I cancel the training for Wednesday? It was a small crowd of 15 people coming from around Wales and England. Was it fair to let them down by cancelling at the last minute?

My step-dad died on Sunday after being in hospital and care since Christmas. It was unexpected. He had a temperature Saturday night and was taken into hospital. Seemed fine but within a couple of hours was gone.

In addition, we are still reeling from the burglary and all the repercussions that involves with the police and insurance companies. The thought of trying to put on a smiley happy persona in front of 15 people was the last thing I wanted to do.

I decided to go ahead and turned up with my folders and pen in hand. It didn’t take long to realise what a great, motivated and enthused crowd we had.

I’m really pleased I made the decision not to cancel. The session started quietly, as they always do, as people wary of one an other at the start begin to relax. Within 40 minutes there was a buzz around the room which grew for the remainder of the session. It was a good crowd and fun and the energy was so infectious I thoroughly enjoyed the training.

So I have to say a big thank you to everyone who turned up. I hope you got something from the training. I know you gave me a lot.

Yuk! It's School Time Again

After two weeks of half term holidays it is back to school again tomorrow. The daily grind of up at 6:00am begins again. But this second half term will be different. The clocks have gone back to GMT time and it will be dark when I collect my daughter from school.

When we are on British Summer Time (BST) our after school activities include walking the dog along the canal to a local playing field where he gets a run; bike rides around the boating lake or up to the Open Hearth Pub; Walks around Tredegar House Park. The activities only last half an hour or so but it is wind down time for all of us. For me it's the end of a busy day and my chance to get out of the house. For my husband it marks the time to switch off the phone which rings non-stop everyday and relax with the family.  For my daughter it's a break before starting homework. For the dog it's his chance to be let off the lead and have a free run. Sadly, due to the darkness, these activities become reserved for fine weekends only until it starts getting light again..



The other thing I dislike about school is the whole school system.  Don't get me wrong, school is important as our daughter needs to learn the basics reading, writing and arithmetic but unfortunately school is aimed at producing the next generation of employees and not the next generation of entrepreneurs or investors. Although only 12 years old our daughter already has a long list of business opportunities she wants to develop. Some will be consigned to the waste bin within a year or two but most have real potential to be outstanding businesses of the future. Her knowledge of investing is growing and will I've no doubt, exceed mine within a few years. (Especially now we have Junior ISA's which allow her to become her own investor). To me school holidays are the time when we work on the skills she will need to run a business or become an investor or both. While having fun we manage to plan, organise, research our trips. Play games that encourage investment and creativity such as monopoly and cashflow. All the while her business list ideas gets longer and her knowledge becomes greater.

For us school holidays are such and important time. As a family we decide what we will be doing each day of the week for the duration of the holidays with contingencies if the weather isn't appropriate for the planned activity. We schedule a morning a week for dealing with work after that it is total activities. These holidays we managed along with our bike rides and walks, mini golf at Celtic Manor; Halloween Party; Cinema; Guy Fawkes party; Visits to Fleet Air Arm Museuem; Haynes Motor Museum and Cadbury World. Two home movie nights and numerous games of Cashflow; Monopoly; Frustration; Articulate and Charades. And our ladies trips to the beauty salon and hairdresser. And while they seem simple enough activities they are building entrepreneurial skills which we hope will support her in her future career whatever it might be.

And so we are back to the school routine tomorrow.  The count down to the Christmas holidays has began.  Six weeks and we're back on holiday again. Six weeks and we are back into the realm of business, investment learning and fun again.

Saturday 23rd January 2010 - Karting at Llandow

This was a trip that had been planned for a long time but cancelled numerous times due to the heavy snowfalls we had seen over the past six weeks. So it was with relief that we opened the bedroom curtains on Saturday morning and saw bright blue skies and snow free gardens. Karting was on.

Its ten years since my husband quit karting and I haven't missed the weekly grind of nights spent building engines, weekends of travelling around the country practicing and racing or the continual hunt for sponsorship. It has been so pleasant to relax with friends and family over late night dinners, go to the cinema or just enjoy other activities together as a family. So my major concern was will my husband get the bug and want to start racing again.

Saturday's trip had been planned with some friends, Rhys and his two boys, who have just discovered karting. It is also an opportunity for our ten year old daughter to have a try at karting and see if she has the motor racing bug or not.

The day doesn't start too well with our daughter waking up with some viral infection. Her temperature is up and she is vomiting. 'Do you want to stay home?' I ask.

'No way' is the reply, 'I want to go and even if I don't drive I want to support the others'.

Llandow is an old air base and the runways have been modified for racing. It offers owner/driver racing and corporate karting. The routine is simple kids go out for one session, corporate have a session and then adult owner/drivers get their chance to shine. Very informal, everyone is friendly and helpful.

We arrive at lunchtime. I was up very early Saturday morning baking bread and cakes and making a picnic but it's not appreciated and everyone is more concerned with karting than eating. So much so that there is no time for eating during the day and the picnic is saved for our evening meal which we finally eat at home in the warmth of our kitchen.

As for the karting, Ron, Rhys and the two boys have a fantastic time. Debbie & I spend the day freezing cold trying to smile and be as encouraging as possible. Our daughter spends the day in the club rooms being sick. A great family day out!

Did my husband Ron get the karting bug again? Don't know he's full of aches and pains this morning and very non commital.

Does our daughter have the racing bug? Don't know she didn't get a run in a kart too busy being ill

Will we do karting again? Probably