Avoiding Jonny's Regret Zone
I was fortunate enough to cadge a ticket to Twickenham on Saturday. First weekend of the Six Nations rugby, and could England put three years of misery behind them with the return of Wonderkid Jonny Wilkinson.
Luckily the answer was a resounding ‘yes’! And it was a pleasure to see the Sweaties put convincingly to the sword. Whenever they do manage to beat us, I hark back to the Saturday I was at Uni, in a bar watching Gavin Hastings interviewed after Rob Andrew and slotted a drop goal with the last kick of the game to seal victory in their Murrayfield backyard. I can still see the ball rotate perfectly around its axis as it sailed over in the rain. As soon as they came off, the telly interviewer asked our Gav how he felt. He paused for a moment, then broke down in tears without uttering a word. Beautiful. I’ve never heard a pub erupt in such unrestrained rapture since. Not even for England footie ‘success’. Anyway, I digress, so before I have to write something like ‘my best friend’s scottish….’….
This morning I was crammed like a sardine into a Virgin train from London to Birmingham for a meeting. What a total disgrace they are. They should be ashamed of themselves. If you’ve a choice, never travel Virgin as they don’t care in the slightest about their customers. Twenty years ago I remember having to stand for the same journey. How on earth can the same state still apply today?
At least I managed to get some work done sitting on a suitcase rack and saw a paragraph of an article reviewing England’s (Jonny’s) fine comeback. To finally get to the point of this rant, salespeople often take inspiration from sport stars, and Jonny has a lot to give in this regard. Here’s a direct quote that should kick anyone out of an under-performing rut…
“What I wanted to do was put in an acceptable performance. I didn’t want to go into the ‘regret zone’; I can’t stand having ‘what ifs’ in my head, things that keep me awake until five in the morning.”
What a winner……