founder of naked leader

During Dinner…

Time to Read – 3 Minutes, 3 Seconds

During Dinner I delivered a talk!

During dinner I delivered a talk

Yes, not before, or after, but during! – in London for top technology leaders – I loved it, I think they liked it, and it was a really strange and hungry experience.

After I spoke, Nick Shuttleworth, a leader with Hewlett Packard, shared his dessert, and the following:

David – what you said reminded me of something that happened last summer. I was sailing in a European Yacht Racing Championship with some old University friends.

We sail together 3 or 4 times a year and we seem to regularly finish in the middle of the pack. Having managed that on the first two days of this regatta we were sailing out to the start of the third race and one of the guys said ‘expect we’ll end up in the middle again like we tend to’ – for some reason this comment triggered something in my mind and I replied ‘if we have that as an expectation guys – that’s just what the outcome will be……. why don’t we just assume we can win and let’s just see what happens?’

We approached the start line with this ‘winner’s attitude’ and guess what? We got the best start and were away in clear wind and in the lead. We won that race with some margin much to the rest of the fleet’s amazement.

We then celebrated so hard in the bar, that in the final race next day we came second to last!

Our lesson – same people, same boat, same experience – completely different outcomes. The difference ? – Our attitude, desire (and alcohol!).

Thank you Nick

With my love and best wishes
David X

9 Responses to During Dinner…

  1. Thanks for sharing David.

    Really remind me of 2 things:

    1. The Henry Ford quote “whether you think you can, or think you can’t – you’re right!” and
    2. The book “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne and the law of attraction – always worth a good read or re-read…it helped me alot.

  2. Hi David,

    This is a great story.. I totally believe attitude plays a huge part in our experience of life and the outcomes and results we achieve!

    Thanks for sharing..

    Have a great week!

    Hayley x

  3. Joe Johnson. Remember him? He’s a friend of the family……and one time Embassy World Snooker champion. Humble to a fault, he very rarely talks about his own snooker career and indeed only played part-time up until his big win – a lot of his time was taken up runing an ice cream van in the parks of his native Bradford.

    We once asked him, in an opportune moment when he seemed agreeable to speaking about the subject, how, having never even won a match in 6 previous visits to the Crucible Theatre, he managed to improve his game so much that it led to winning a World title. (Joe was 150-1 rank outsider when he won).

    He smiled gently and answered ‘During the quarter final, I was losing badly. I decided I was going to win the match and I thought, if I can win this, I can win the whole thing’. He won that quarter final and trounced none other than Steve Davis in the final.

    A year later, he almost defied the odds again – no first time winner has ever defended the world title, but Joe came within a small margin of doing that, losing narrowly in the final once more.

    What about that year? We asked. ‘I decided I was going to defend my title’, said Joe. He almost did

  4. It is all about setting your sights high and having a positive attitude.
    i have read Tony Westwood’s thoughts on this for the naked Leader Golfer.
    He basically says the same type of stuff about the conscious and subconscious mind.
    If we say we can’t do something, then we won’t do it.
    If we say we can do something the subconscious mind will just get on and do it.
    Simple.

  5. Hi David,

    I was the organisor of the dinner that you gave your talk at, and I have to say that the response has been FANTASTIC. The delegates loved the challenges to the normal way of thinking you gave them and we’ve had great examples of people using your formula in their work and personal lives.

    Thanks again for spending time with us, I look forward to the next time.

    Cheers
    Colin.

  6. I agree with one of the comments in that life is about the attitude you take. If you think you are going to have a great life you will. Or at least you will have a better chance of doing so.

  7. Here is an extract from The Naked Golfer.
    It is about the subconscious mind. It ties in with this NL Week article.
    The lesson here is think more positively and you will achieve more!

    LET THE CAPTAIN, THE CONSCIOUS MIND, TAKE THE LEAD

    The captain can’t be everywhere at once after all. The captain just has to give out the orders and leave the unconscious mind to do it. Like walking, like driving. If the captain said, ‘This is going to be tough’ the crew go in to red alert. They go into panic mode when they are hoping they are going to get it right. So you’re the captain and the crew at the same time. If the captain says, ‘Team, there’s a chance we could hole this, get ready’. Whew! You’ve got a different person holding that putter.

    I know your chances of holing a 30-footer are pretty slim but I know who I’d rather have standing there holding the putter. And it isn’t the ‘tough’ guy.

    So step up and be the best version of you, you can. See what you need to do. The worst thing that can happen is you’re going to miss the putt. In the grand scheme of the world, it isn’t that important. Even Tiger Woods isn’t playing the game placing that much importance on what he’s trying to do. He is just doing what he’s been programmed to do since he was very, very young. And it works. And as long as it works he’ll keep doing it. Interestingly enough he wants to get better at it. He is trying to become the Naked Golfer. Where he can understand everything that happens. So that he can control his world. That’s all he is doing. Being in total control of his world. Isn’t that what we’re all trying to do?

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