A couple of weeks ago, Kev and I went to the Superyacht Charities Ball in Southampton. We were invited by our lovely clients.
We had such a fab time - and I had seven coaching clients at the event in total, all of whom were equally lovely, and who I’ve got to know really well over our sessions.
Our amazing hosts looked after us and I love that I’m able to have a good giggle with them even without the freely flowing booze, the Notorious Duo (“Notorious” is the prefix Kev and I have given them for the guarantee we will end up with hangovers after an evening with them), so I felt very comfortable and relaxed at the event.
Those yachty types certainly know how to party!
I successfully remained upright and coherent for the whole evening, as I didn’t want to embarrass our hosts, but I certainly put away a good few glasses of bubbly and ended up in some kind of strange photo booth with two of their team where we decided to be Charlie’s Angels.
(I cannot publicly release those photos, but they would definitely have ended up on the front page of the Daily Mail if I was a politician.)
It was well past 1 am when we rolled out of the venue, and taxis were rather thin on the ground.
Having just completed a marathon walk, I decided Kev and I should easily be able to walk the two miles back to the hotel.
I also vaguely recalled a conversation I’d had earlier that week with a client who had recommended I try special trainers that mimic barefoot running - very thin soles where you can feel the terrain under your feet, when I told him I was taking up running.
Now, in fairness, he’s a bit of a loon and he’d freely admit he’s not like most other people.
He regularly goes on expeditions in the middle of the night to satisfy his hunger to be in nature, but I like that about him!
I get inspired by people who do things differently.
So, having been inspired by the Notorious Duo, Charlie’s Angels and The Barefoot Loon, I whipped off my high heels, donned my barefoot Prosecco Slippers, and Kev and I set off in the general direction of our hotel.
Kev knows better than to try to rein me in when I’m on a drunken mission, and waits for me to come to my own conclusions about the validity of my judgement, which I started to question about a mile into our street-lit walk when we entered a dodgy area, and the pavement became increasingly littered with broken glass.
Before we encountered any hypodermic needles, I accepted his gentle suggestion to hail an oncoming cab.
You’ll be pleased to hear we got back to the hotel safe and sound, and feeling that warm glow you get after spending time with great people, with or without alcohol.
There are a couple of coaching points to this story:
The first one is you don’t always make the best judgements when you’re pissed. As fun as Wine-Walking in Prosecco Slippers is at the time, my feet were sore the next morning, and I don’t recommend it as a sport.
The most important point is you are influenced by who you spend your time with.
I feel very lucky that I get to spend time with great people who inspire me.
Even when I’m not under the influence of booze, I feel the people I talk to every day, both my own mentors, coaches, clients, friends and family, inspire me to do things I wouldn’t usually think of doing.
(Admittedly, after a few sherberts, my impaired judgement causes me to push things in strange directions, but I’m OK with that now and again.)
Are you spending time with people who inspire you or who keep you in a box?
You can’t eliminate everyone from your life who don’t inspire you, but you can choose to spend more time with those who do.
And, if you want to find out more about your capacity for good judgement (when you are sober) then you can see a scientific measurement of this in the Judgement Index assessment, which you can email me for more details of.