New Roscommon full forward.

Am killed out working, have a really full diary for the next 2 weeks, hardly have time to breath.

The weekend was fun and depressing, fun in that the over 40's beat Tipperary on Saturday (I even scored a few goals), and Marys won thier Intermediate game (a few points) and then we won the senior match as well.

The frustrating thing was watching Roscommon on Sunday putting in an tired "could'nt care less" performance and getting beaten by Mayo, even worse was the fact that some of them seemed quite pleased with themselves afterward.

Anyway I am sending Val Daly the manager a copy of the "Little Prince" by Antoine D'Exubery.

In the tale of the little prince, our hero lives on a tiny planet, where his jobs each day include cleaning out his two volcanos and digging up any baobabs he sees.

Now a boabab is a small tree which has no interest in anything but itself, and if you don't cut it out of the ground when it is small and young. it will simply smother and take over everything on the planet, therefore the whole planet will be overrun by Boababs if you don't keep a constant look out for them and if you don't take the necessary action to dig them up and weed them out as soon as you spot one!

The Roscommon County board seems to have a policy of appeasing, watering and fertilising thier Boababs, they sacrificed a decent manager and a decent man for the sake of them.

Take heed Val, if you don't weed out the Boababs, they'll get ya.

What are you going to do about it?

They say women can multitask and men can't....... i'm not sure that multi tasking is all it's cracked up to be. have you ever tried to listen to a song and have a conversation at the same time? Or have you ever tried to have two telephone conversations at the same time. It's kinda impossible to do without focussing on one and letting the other one suffer.

Now we should not be in the business of making anybody suffer, least of all ourselves, therefore do one thing at a time, the trick here is not actually doing one thing at a time, the hard part is working out what really needs to be done now or next, and focussing on it without getting distracted by the 243 other things that need to be done.

We all have no problems doing the things we like doing, our motivation to do those things is high, but what about the stuff that we are not that motivated to do, but that will cause us a great degree of hassle in the future if they are not done.

I've had a pile of invoices that need to be entered on the system, this is a job i hate and keep putting off, doing anything else that's interesting in the meantime. the big problem is that nothing gets done unless somebody does it, and because I work on my own I have to delegate this job to myself, and while there are interesting people to be called and interesting articles to be written I keep procrastinating and putting the boring jobs on the long finger, and they are still there bothering me today, and will be tomorrow and next week, unless I do something about it.

And this is the key coaching question, we all know the answers for whatever it is in our own lives, What are you going to do about it? What I'm going to do right now is make a cup of coffee, and finish this blog and guess what, I can ask myself the same question on Monday next, and Tuesday next, and forever more until I either voluntarily do it, or someone forces me to.

I'll do it today!

Beware the Fundies!

Everywhere I turn this week I seem to notice the Christians taking over the world.....

The "Christian right" is surely the greatest oxymoron of them all.

If Jesus stood for anything he stood for social justice and forgivness, still we have these bible thumping arseholes all over the world hijacking Christianity to take advantage of people and propogate hatred.

There's a guy up north called Clifford Peoples, who was recently convicted of possession of pipebombs and distribution of inflammatory material. and you want to see the bould Clifford lepping and singing with his congregation.

And then you have this Bush guy, bombing the world in the name of the lord, and the other flutes bombing themselves in the name of Allah....

I have no bloody idea anymore, except to say that no one is perfect, and that those who think they have found the way, the ones who have "seen the light" they are the most dangerous of all.

Lord preserve me from fundamentalists.

Gazza!

I just finished Paul Gascoignes autobiography. It's a portrait of a talented selfish and attention seeking individual who has always looked to others to shoulder the responsibility of his own actions.

It's also the story of a kind generous person who was largely the result of a thoughtless and traumatic upbringing.

There's just no "perfect" in anyones life.

In this book it's easy to see that we all have two overlapping personalities, the one that is capable of wonderful gestures and extraordinary caring and love. and the one which in moments of self loathing is capable of desperate acts of hate and selfishness.

The woes of Gazza largely stemmed from his inability to accept and love himself. It's a place we all regularly find ourselves. (I had a row with my daughter this morning and am in that place right now). There are times when we can't see the good side of ourselves at all, this leads to despair and then there are times when we can clearly see our value in the world and to those around us.

At 40 I've seen enough to know the "perfect front" is just that! a perfect front. If you don't believe me just watch a few episodes of desperate housewives. and never envy anyone what they are or have, you have no idea what's going on in thier lives, you have no idea the price that has been paid.

Tuesdays with Morrie

I found this on a fabulous blog called www.postsecrets.com

I regularly take the days for granted, the small stuff getting on top of me. The girls won't go to bed, another bill wanders through the letterbox, somebody makes a throwaway comment, I see something on the news or a thought of an unpleasant memory drifts into my head.

I get myself into knots when I over analyze things. When I put huge pressure on myself or when I deny myself the things I love in my life.

I can think of nothing sillier that those Saints who used to flog themselves, tie chains around thier bodies and starve themselves for weeks.

Makes no bloody sense to me to deny yourself the enjoyment of the pleasure that is life, sure we all have to have boundaries, but feck it, do your best and don't hurt anyone along the way will do for me.

Jumping for Joy (and Cathy)

Jump

Today I feel incredibly grateful for all the stuff that adds up to my life.
I feel grateful for the body that has served me well regardless of how I abused it (and boy did I?)
I feel grateful for the mind that although muddles at times has brought me great clarity.
I feel grateful for all the "shit" in my life that has thought me the lessons I needed to learn and for all the difficult people that have informed decisions I have made about what's important in this life.
I am thankful for my family, my friends, my children, my work, my customers, my suppliers, my coaches and for you (whoever you are).

There's a terribly damaging misunderstanding out there of what it means to be an Optimist, people think we are just pollyannas who pretend to keep smiling no matter what rubbish comes our way. The major difference between optimists and pessimists is the way we view our lives.
Optimists understand that life is full of crap but we know that it will pass, that it's temporary and that we will be capable and happy again.
Pessimists believe that the bad stuff in their lives is both permanent and pervasive and they justify this by calling themselves "realists". It's bollix really, we all have strengths and weaknesses, good times and bad times.

I'm glad today that I can focus on what I have rather than what I don't have ......yet. I liked this presentation very much...have a look and see if it sparks off some gratitude in you. www.thesurvivormovie.com

Planting a tree!

I got a lovely apple tree from TJ and Eileen for my birthday recently, whi8ch was really thoughtful of them. I left it sitting in a pot for the last 3 weeks cos I could never get round to planting it, but I put it in the ground today.

I wonder whats in front of it, I wonder will I ever get to see it grow, When I move house I wonder whose children will get to play in it or taste it's fruit, and I wonder will they ever think about how it got there, will they know that it came through friendship, will they know that it symbolised such a lot for me.

The moment of revelation that Newton had under an apple tree, my business and the courage it took to begin it, the constant learning that I must go through, the pain that grows things. or will they just think "hey nice apples"

Probably the latter, and if they do well fair dues to them....I hope i get to enjoy it, my children get to enjoy it and when I am long gone that others whom I've never known will sit beneath it and think "life is good"

Sleepy Saturdays

Today was great..... a bit too busy to be a relaxing saturday but still a lot of fun... the funniest bit was sitting down on a couch in a large store and being woken up twenty minutes later by a security guard who was wondering what the hell i was doing snoozing on the furniture.

am too tired to write a long blog....so i'll pick up after i've had a good snooze in my own bed.... hope no security guard interrupts that

A Tom Waits Kind Of Day

As Gloomy as Tom!

Today has been one of those testing days, bad weather, bad news, bad traffic, bad vibes and just a general Tom Waits kind of day.

The sort of day when I would really like to curl up in a quiet corner with my favourite Tom Waits albums and not face the world at all.

I feel like having a scatter of pints today for the first time in ages, but running away is not the answer, the answer is probably in accepting that it's ok not to feel on top of the world 24/7 and allowing myself to feel crap every once in a while knowing full well that it will pass.

Cut stuff to do back to the bare essentials. only doing stuff that will prevent big complications if it's not done.

The thing is it's OK. This is just the way life is, there are 51% days and 49% days and today is a 49. Still when I hear the opening chords of "Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis" I'll know that I'm not alone.

Hang him high??????

This is the crazy frog.... this guy has made over 30 million for his creators, he has been downloaded millions of times and now he's number one in the British charts. He's also my first solid real evidence that I'm getting old. Why? Cos I don't understand him thats why! I don't understand the attraction and so find myself in the position my parents were in when the Boomtown Rats came along. and do I like it?.....not one tiny little bit.... will i stop my children downloading him? of course not....just cos I don't understand something does not give me the right to either ban it nor criticise it. this fella obviously has a huge attraction to todays children,but then we had hula hoops and raleigh choppers, and in fairness St Winifreds school choir, Renee & Renata and Joe Dolce got to number one too and they haven't aged that well either

NEWTON!

This is the old logo from the time apple computer tried to get a march on the palmtop market!
I love it cos it reflects what I try to do when i'm working with people. Get the lightbulb to go off, so people can think...feck yeah... that's it.

Dirty morning.

The slipway, 9.30am.

Dirty Morning - It's a miserable morning in the west of Ireland, it's raining!
Maggie is gone to the states for the week and my knee is swollen like a small balloon, making simple things like walking upstairs a major challenge. I'm seriously going to have to think about giving up football, the knee is not up to it. It's going to be a time for changes again over the next few months.
Changing anything that has been part of your life for almost ever is really challenging. There is always going to be a period of grief for the "old" way, and a period of re-adjustment as the "new" will feel uncomfortable at first and take a bit of time to get "used to".
The most important things to have at that stage are committment and stickability. I have a lot of myself tied up in my footballing ability, even at 40 It's still what I daydream about at mass! Yesterday during the first half I scored points with left foot, right foot and fist and at half time I was glowing, so I'm going to have to leave all that in the past, I'm going to have to create new daydreams and I'll find that tough because I've been enjoying the same ones for years and they are almost automatic at this stage.
My work is great, have a lot of encouragement from various people who have been on some of my courses. Today is a day for invoices and ideas. Part 1 of the day is admin, which should take the next hour and that will free up some time where I can begin to design new programmes in both coaching skills and study skills.
time to rock and roll

Paul.

Cathy loving life!

This is my daughter Cathy enjoying life by the sea beside where we live.
That's her sister staring at america on the left. Watching them is a great lesson in the up's and downs that life just is.... about ten minutes after this there was a huge row.
It's wonderful to feel like this, but it's insanity to believe that you can have your whole life like it. Simply because it's the awkward and difficult times that give the good times thier context, In otherwords if we we're on a high all the time we'd simply take it for granted and it would lose it's power to make us feel like Cathy does in the picture.
I used to be amazed that people who we're very wealthy and who had all the things I admired as a young man, flash cars, celebrity, beautiful friends, huge houses, I used to be amazed that they would take to drugs, alcohol, despair or even suicide.
It's taken me years to figure out that it's not outside things that give you that feeling of elation (not unless you want a huge low afterwards) it's just the up's and down's of life.
You might as well try to live a life without kidneys or lungs as try to live a life without joy and pain, cos they are the stuff life is made of.

the man

the laws of physics - the laws of life

The more I read on the life of Issac Newton the more amazed I am with the relevance of what he came up with over 400 years ago to life today, and particularly in terms of coaching and peak performance. Newton looked behind the stuff that was happening for the reason it was happening and tried to use this information in order to predict future events. He discovered "universal laws" which always apply, whether you agree with them or not. For example if you jump of a building you will move rapidly in the direction of the ground, regardless of whether you believe in or accept gravity - you'll still get hurt.

there are also immutible laws of human behaviour,

• If you don't plan you cannot succeed.
• you will harvest what you have sown.
• Not trying hard enough will always ensure that you fail.
• Trying too hard at anything will decrease your ability to get it.
• We will continue to encounter the same obstacles until we change our approach.

The bold Issac had laws that are vital to human potential development.

• Nothing will change (inertia) unless someone or something (force) pushes it.
• Force = Mass X Acceleration which means the results we achieve are a consequence of the skills we have X how much we apply them.
• Every action has an equal and opposite reaction (nuff said)

I've just got a phone call giving me a huge amount of work for June...... life is good and busy, even though today I'm gloomy because of Martin O'Neill leving Celtic, We shared som many good times together - The inside of my head is like one of those slow motion soft tone memory scenes you get at the end of movies - where I remember the day he got the job, The 6-2 rangers day, the heartbreak of seville, the night at Juventus, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, This one little man brought us so much - and now he's gone to look after his sick wife - not to another bigger club or for more money or any of that - Martin you're one in a million.

This is Issac, the man who started it all off!

sport cruel sport

There I was, watching Man United suffer on Saturday after the penalty shootout, and I was beaming, gloating, delighted. Little did I know that the great god of Karma was looking down and taking notes, and that my team Glasgow Celtic were to suffer a far crueller fate before the weekend was out. 1-0 up with 2 minutes to play, the league flag ready to unfurl, we all watched in anticipation, wondering how best to celebrate this great achievement! and then 2 minutes later it was all gone, and gone to our deadliest rivals. Nobody could stomach watching them celebrate, it's funny how people deal with things like that, some people tried to laugh, some people cried, some tried to shake others out of it, but most just stood there - stunned - disbelieving - not wanting anything but to be left alone with thier pain -

I know it's only a game - but many people (including me at times) have given it the power of an emotional washing machine - where we can be tossed and wrung and sometimes spun to pieces. I had to go to two communion parties afterwards - I dragged myself to them - when people asked about the match i said things about it being "only a game" and "sure nobody died" and other such stuff - the fact is that to most fans it's much more than a game - it's a microcosm of life itself, where we get to experience the most acute ups and downs, where we learn about hope and expectation and dissapointment - where we understand that nothing is forever - that the only constant is change - and that for most of us - life just goes on - whatever mountain we happen to be on top of today - whatever valley we are slumped in tomorrow - all will change - everything passes.

so what have i learned - I've learned never to take anything for granted - the good times, my friends, my family, my health - to always appreciate what I've got right here right now-

And I've learned that the only failure in life is a loss of hope, to stop believing that we will bounce back, to accept that the way it is now is the way it will always be, it won't and I know why it won't, because that big fooking god of Karma is waiting way up there wondering what is the best test he can throw at you next.

Hail Hail - We'll be back.

ages and ages and ages

life's been a bit crazy and busy so I seriously need to get to a nice quiet place in the next while. I got a bit drunk on sunday evening and monday was a washout, i hate when i lose days like that, and then on tuesday the electricity was out again in the office, I am now 40, I am in the process of making big decisions on my life, I need to get more time with the girls before they are all grown up and i have that sad "cats in the cradle" syndrome. This summer we are going to do some daft exciting stuff, i am going to work very little in august, i will have several courses set up ready to rock in september. I am going to see a new coach about straightening out some of the stuf that has me in knots and I would like to do some sports work over the next few months.

on tour

out of the office all this week, all round Ireland, so not the normal level of access to e-mail and stuff which is great and bad at the same time. Have made a big breakthrough today regarding the minimising of distractions during coaching, people will turn to any "distraction" in order to avoid answering the "hard" questions, so it's great to get them to a place of little distraction.

I had the most wonderful weekend including my surprise 40th, it was really brilliant.

Am inspired by mick mccarthy.....more later

so so busy

Not in my maddest dreams did I really believe that I would ever be as busy as I am at the moment, I really thought when I started this blog that I would have a few minutes each day to write it up, but that time is really difficult to find on many days, I have a long drive in the morning and am looking forward to using it to relax and to catch up on some phonecalls. I love the work but still get humoungous butterflies when I am either speaking to a new group or am not just as prepared as I would like to be. I'm really being pushed into practicing what I preach on time management. The stuff that's not on the list just does not get done.

My daughter has her big confirmation day on Sunday and we are so keen that everything will be as right as possible for her, we are having a big party in the house and I'm really looking forward to it, I have an early start next day so I will be the perfect host, next week is going to be really interesting, I will be dealing with new companies and new people and must see the downtime at night to get prepared whilst I'm away.