If you’re bored of the Olympics, look away from the blog NOW.
After securing his place as the ‘greatest British Olympian’, Sir Chris Hoy tearfully thanked the team behind him, stating that while he got to be the one that was at the front getting all the glory, it wasn’t a one-man effort. Mechanics, coaches, other team members and of course, the support of his friends and family had helped him get to the top of his sport and become a legend with lovely thighs. He knew what he wanted to achieve, he communicated it to the people around him and they clubbed together to help him achieve it.
A couple of weeks ago, a few of us Marketing Academy alumni chums got to leave our sweaty offices behind for a few days and escape to the peace and tranquillity of Bath. We travelled from all over – London, Zurich, Devon, Slough – and we came by plane, train and automobile. I like to think it was like an awesome superhero montage from a summer blockbuster.  It starts with Cam shouting “Marketing Academy 2011 scholars – Assemble!” into an on-desk receiver and ending with us all stood in circle, facing each other in readiness. Helen steps into the middle of the circle, says “Achieve Breakthrough… Let’s do this!” and the collective let out an almighty roar before running at full pelt into a conference room, sitting down, picking up our branded pencils and looking up at the facilitator with expectation and endless enthusiasm.
Now Lauren wrote an ace breakdown about what the course was about last year. You can read it here. In a nutshell, Achieve Breakthrough is a course designed to get you thinking differently in order to hit your goals. It’s a great course and what I found the most interesting and moving was the fact that every person there was not only committed to achieving breakthrough for themselves, but also to helping others on their journeys as well.
Our situations varied greatly. Some had goal s in mind and had to deal with the realisation that we needed to fully commit to them in order to make them happen. Others had massive aspirations, but no clue where to start. And others needed to fight through the cloud of negativity in order to see what they wanted. I know that we all found it tough in different ways. But in each and every case, the group pulled together to help the individual. Picture (another cycling legend – can you see my theme yet?) Bradley Wiggins and the rest of the Team GB Road Cycling team fighting with all their strength to keep the challengers back and to push Mark Cavendish out in front, towards the medals. Yes, yes, I know that ultimately he didn’t win any, but that’s not really the point, is it?
 Whether it’s asking a load of questions in order to ensure that you’ve crystallised your vision or dishing out bollockings when you have let the evil little voice in your head take over and put the brakes on, you are going to need support to help you hit your goal. And if your network is made up of good, honest, brilliant, clever, fun, challenging people, like mine is, you cannot fail.
