This is not a Pilates-based blog today. It's more a life learning for me, and I hope you, too, may learn from my mistakes and rise from the ashes of a crash.
Suffering a setback forces us to be resilient to ride it out, and to learn from the experience. It's either a good experience or a learning experience, right?
As many of you know I'm a semi-pro drummer and singer. And a life coach. My audition for Hampshire Music Service on Thursday gave me much room for reflection. And no, I didn't get the job.
I learned how distractions can be fatal when preparing. Why did I want to download Windows 11 at the cost of all my music? The backing tracks I needed ended up unusually being on a USB stick. The USB stick stayed at home when I most needed it, due to haste in packing. Oh, how vital that music would have been for the second half of the teaching part of the audition! When under this added pressure, well laid plans can fall by the wayside. Especially if you haven't got a watch and your phone is otherwise being occupied. The result was a fragmented drum class which achieved less than it had promised.
So what's my point? Rehearsing is the thing! Whatever the event may be - a presentation you need to give, a road trip you plan to do, a visit to a hospital, or an audition - one needs to walk the journey through well in advance and ensure that the checklist is ticked off exhaustively. For that, the mind of a creative or more logic-driven person needs to calm and find a 10 minute slot to list all the elements of the coming event. Then another 10 to write down what gear is needed for each part and the time in between. WIth my coaching clients I walk them through this process and it helps them, but when it comes to myself, I sometimes forget the very methods I have rehearsed many times!
Do you benefit from listing things? If you are a spontaneous person do you write down the ideas from your lightning mind so you can prioritise them over a cuppa later? Perhaps we should talk and share some ideas!