Barcelona, August 2011. I am about to go to bed after an intense day of NLP training. I have here a bombshell which is going to explode in front of my face. The artefact has a book form, The Little BIG things, by TOM PETERS. I read it with curiosity. It is full of shaking phrases, where slightly chaotic arguments and original reflections are mixed at times. The reading keeps me amused and makes me forget that Real Madrid has lost against Barcelona once more time (the comfort that “we were better” doesn’t work for me) And there, on page 54, the book causes me a “click” (it is also called an “aha!” or “peek-a-boo!” moment in coaching) Inwardly I hear “ñossss!” (Interjection from the Canary Islands to express amazement) The deflagration takes the form of a phrase: “Strive for excellence. Ignore success”. I become silent for a few seconds. The saccadic movement of my eyes stops. Now I repeat louder “ñossss! What a good phrase!” I underline it using one of these tiny IKEA pencils I borrow every time I go to buy some furniture.

I read the sentence again and take delight in it. The minutes go by and I go to bed. The phrase stays on my mind until I fall asleep. I get up several hours later and it is still there. While I am taking a shower, I think about the remote possibility of making an article with this sentence some day. Yeah! It would be terrific! And, maybe Sabrina could help me a little with the translation...

How many times have we become obsessed with the need to reach the end of the way and, because of that, we have got impatient and have suffered during the journey? How many times has the idea of achieving results made us fill with anxiety, stress, unease and anguish? I believe increasingly that happiness is not in the winning post, but in every point along the way. The idea that we find the happiness eventually, after blood, sweat and tears, has been sold to us (and we have bought it) Further, It is usually said to us that the feeling of happiness will be directly proportional to the difficulty of the road. The more difficulties there are the greater happiness. The key is to suffer. However, this is still a belief and therefore may be moulded and subjected to the most effective analysis:

Does thinking that way yield any benefits to me? I imagine a world where people enjoy the ride and I also like to believe (because it produces me a lot of psychological profits) that the results (the success according to Tom Peters) come into its own. For that reason, my focus is on the present time, on doing things better and funniest right now, knowing it is one of the ways to achieve my goals. Except that this one makes me feel happy during the journey. What the hell! Who said that I cannot enjoy the ride?

I go out for a walk along the port of Barcelona, enjoy the morning sun, the landscape and take pleasure mentally in the steps I would take to write the article. The watchword is to do it slowly, relishing every moment. That’s it! I already have the beginning! I will start by comparing Peters’ book with a bomb. Some words from Canary Island shall appear and, of course, any references to the Super Cup match. I have already enjoying it. Who knows? Maybe, if I stay focused on present, I will succeed in publishing the article in You, Coach! Ah, yes, and also in making Sabrina translate it for me.