No Regrets - The Walker Brothers

Lyric:- ‘Now just beyond the darkest hour and just behind the dawn’ - Rush

Song Choice:- Call me sentimental, but The Walker Brother’s version of the Tom Rush classic is the one I can remember from 1976 - where it peaked at #7 in the UK chart, rather than the rather stark and dark electronic, Midge Ure version of 1982. 

Have a listen for yourself and you’ll see where I’m coming from today as I explain my thoughts on measuring ‘Success’.

Now before I give my thoughts, I thought I’d ask ‘Google’ about 'Success' and it came back with a quote from the famous American author, R Collier.

‘Success is the sum of small efforts. Repeated day in, day out’.

Sounds about right - but he also said, ‘The first principle of Success is Desire’. Which I also get even more and is probably nearer to my own philosophy. But in search of further research I thought I’d ask my peer group how they measure ‘Success’.

The answers fitted the following themes:-

• Measured by Personal Bests
• A general feeling of well-being
• A self-acceptance of personal reality. 

All of them are quite valid and are perfect reflections of how people have gauged their own 'Success' over the years. The interesting thing of me though is how ‘Success’ is measured historically and how ‘Success’ in the future is muted in case of failure. It's part of being 'British' perhaps not to shout too loudly about your hopes and aspirations and therefore underachieve and regret things later on.

Hopefully, I have many years ahead of me and I’ll be able to say that I’ve had ‘No Regrets’. In reality, it will be more like a 'Few Regrets’, but there won’t be too many as I’ve ticked most of my ‘Success’ boxes and will continue to achieve more in the time I have left.

I believe the brain can be trained to be liberating, rather than limiting over time... 

I’ve been very fortunate over the years’ not to be depressed about my ‘lot’ and feel that even when things have been tough, I’ve come out fighting. I mean let’s face it, no one is going to fight your battles for you and if you don’t believe in yourself - then no-one else will. I’ve encountered a lot of this over the past week and I've worked hard in helping folk change their thought patterns. It's amazing how much the sun can shine in, on even the darkest of times.

The lyrics say that it’s darkest just before dawn - and how true that is. The darkest time people experience, I call it ‘Point Zero’, if recognised can be totally empowering if it’s embraced and given a fresh direction. It's there for the taking - it's up to you if you want it.

Maybe today’s a good time to analyse your achievements, health and well-being? Do they match your 'Ability' or ‘Life-Blueprint’? Or do you need to up your game?

Then you can live life to the full with ‘No Regrets’…

1,023 Marathons - 248 Ultras - 15 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records