Blog
I’m sat in Dubai airport ready to head back home to Nottingham, and what a good 5 days it has been.
The last time I was here was in March and I had 11 meetings in 3 days. It was a whirlwind of activity and I did make 2 good contacts out of those meetings. This time I only had 3 meetings set up, but it is often better to have quality than quantity. I had a meeting on my first day here on Monday with a bank who I met last time I was in Dubai, and this was a follow up meeting.
It went very well and the HR deputy head said that he was pleased that I had come again so soon as the meeting was well timed. I put a proposal to him and we in are in discussions. What worked really well was the fact that because I followed Julie’s gut feeling and booked the trip I ended up giving an interview to a major newspaper for its weekend magazine which came out last Friday.
3-page feature in the Khaleej Times magazine
I had asked my hotel to get me some copies of this and they had them waiting for me when I arrived on Sunday. I was both surprised and shocked to see that I had been given a 3-page feature in the magazine and was able to take a copy to the bank for my meeting. When the HR deputy head saw this he was quite impressed and this helped the meeting.
The next two days were quiet and I managed to get a lot of work done in my hotel room in a relaxed manner. I have been aware recently that I was a little worn out and I took the opportunity to rest as much as I could during this trip. The fact that I couldn’t get many appointments worked in my favour and I feel refreshed.
Amazed to be here
The temperature here has varied from 38 degrees to 41 degrees and about 36 in the evening. Surprisingly I quite enjoyed the heat spending most of my time in air conditioned places, but also walking for short distances in the sun. The Mall of the Emirates is right next to the Doubletree I have been staying at, and I spent each early evening there enjoying the diversity of the flavours in the food court.
Several times during this trip I had to pinch myself that I was really here. I remember decorating to pay my bills and visualising Dubai on my Dream Board every single morning, trying to believe that it would happen. Now, just two and a half years later, I have been twice and it looks like there may be more to come. I was in my hotel room last night not quite believing what is possible when you have a dream and you don’t give up.
UKTI – an honour to present to their team
Yesterday I gave my presentation on Mental Resilience to the staff of the UKTI (United Kingdom Trade and Investment) team on their staff training day. It was in Abu Dhabi so I had to get up at 5am and catch a taxi to a Mall then get picked up in a mini bus to go to Abu Dhabi with some of the staff.
It took one and a half hours to get there and there wasn’t a lot of room for my long legs but I made it. We then arrived at this very posh British Club by the sea. and I was led into the very nice room to set up my presentation. I had about 5 minutes to set up before the Director jumped on the microphone and started the training day.
Great fun presenting to the team
An hour later he introduced me, and I was on. It was great fun and a great audience. The time flew by and they lapped up the relaxation and visualisation practical exercises. Before I knew it I had finished, which then allowed me two minutes to give out my feedback forms. I got a bus back to Dubai and was back in my hotel room by 2pm.
The feedback was very positive indeed which is really important as this is a different country with a different culture. It felt really good to have had very few meetings but for all of them to go well. A couple of days ago I had a reporter from another magazine called Arabian Business magazine come to my hotel to interview me and that should be in next week’s edition.
Following our gut feelings
All of the above happened because I followed Julie’s and my gut feeling. Like Julie said to me a couple of days ago – I could have still said no even though she was encouraging me to go. We both felt this was the right thing to do so we went for it. We have suffered being apart and we really hope we never have to be apart again but this was the right thing to do.
A few thoughts for the week:
1. What dreams to you have that you have put away thinking they are impossible?
2. When I was a young boy I tried to spin the basketball on my finger and thought it was impossible so I gave up. Then a little later I went back to it and after many months of trying I finally managed it. What I really believed was impossible – wasn’t!
3. I challenge you to go back to the dreams that you had in the past and revisit them.
4. Pick out one of them and start by visualising yourself achieving that dream. You need to be able to see yourself achieving this dream in order for it to become a reality.
5. William Arthur Ward an author, teacher and editor 1921 – 1994 said: “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.”
6. Keep practising listening to your intuition and gut feeling. I really believe that the vast majority of decisions made using your gut feeling are correct.
7. Dreaming is fun and you never know where you may end up if you follow your dreams
Dubai was great fun and I’m looking forward to more adventures ahead. If you want to learn more about my Dream Board and Visualisation, then you can find the details in my book Off the Wall which you can order here. Or copy and paste this link: https://www.jdmindcoach.com/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/. I’m extending the current special £10 offer which includes free postage for a few days. Just key in the code 10POUND when prompted
Well that’s it for this week, have a great weekend and stay positive.
Warm regards
John