Does early success help or hinder later success?

Colin ChambersBusiness, coaching, competition, Psychology, Strategy Leave a Comment

It is often assumed that great success in youth will translate into the same success in later years. Though I couldn’t help noticing that Gael Monfils won 3 junior slam titles in a row yet at senior level the closest he has come to winning one is reaching the semi finals of Roland Garros. Huge success at junior level had no effect on …

e=mc2 Einsteins famous equation

knowledge is literally power!!!

Colin Chamberscompete, competition, Education, Learning, Make you strong, steps Leave a Comment

I am considering an equation to explain the value of knowledge that is based on Einsteins famous e=mc2 equation. Energy from mass and light The equation e=mc2 basically means: energy (a measure of power) is equal to the mass of an object, multiplied by, the speed of light squared. The whole explanation for this is not my ball park, I understand …

Margins

Colin ChambersBusiness, competition, Strategy, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

How well you play has a lot to do with how well you stay within your own margins and how well you push your opponent beyond theirs. they idea is that with any shot there is a way you can play it reliably. That is your comfortable level. As you increase the difficulty through adding power, aiming to tougher targets, …

close up photo of person holding tennis racket and ball

Want to win: Pick your battles

Colin ChambersBusiness, coaching, competition, Psychology, sport, Strategy Leave a Comment

Sport reflects the competition inherent in life and picking your battles is the lesson we learn from watching Tennis. From Stanislas Wawrinkas recent success at the Australian Open to Novak Djokovics dominance over Rafael Nadal, through to Rafaels and Roger Federers ongoing rivalry. Each of these battles has been a series of campaigns with each combatant having periods of dominance …

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Strategy: Did you lose or were you beaten

Colin ChambersBusiness, competition, sport, Strategy, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

All top competitors hate to lose but they can accept being beaten. That’s how I see the general reaction from players like Serena, Federer, Rafa and others. If they feel they could have played better and might have won they are annoyed with themselves because they let themselves lose. If however they gave everything. That’s the best they could have …

Relaxing under pressure: Trust

Colin Chamberscompetition, tennis Leave a Comment

Building on my article Relaxing under pressure I can explain the benefit of my focus on trust. Do you believe in yourself under pressure? If you don’t it will show, both to you and your opponent. Trust in yourself will intimidate your opponent and keep them caged, holding them back. They will fear your response and thus check themselves. My ability to …

snow bird people dark

The Plague and the benefits of Horizontal Gene Transfer

Colin Chambersbiology, compete, competing, competition, DNA, ecosystems, evolution, steps Leave a Comment

How do you express the concept of Horizontal Gene Transfer in a way most people could understand and also see where it could be useful? In fact I have several related concepts and questions I think I can express in one idea: Is  horizontal gene transfer natures software update? Can viruses can do good? Can programming teach you about biology? Is biology …

Judy Murray tossing straberries on a tennis racquet

It’s not about the talent, it’s about the opportunity

Colin Chamberscoaching, compete, competing, competition, Education, Physical Education, politics, spectacular performances, sport, Strategy, training Leave a Comment

In the article  Legacy of son’s success motivation for Judy Murray Judy points out that despite her sons incredible success Scotland has yet to take advantage of the major opportunity this presents. Building the sport in Scotland and improving the nations health and life opportunities as a result. She says: I want to help inspire another generation of kids, I want …

Sexism or Professionalism?

Colin Chamberscompetition, politics Leave a Comment

Martina Navratilova feels sexism is still rampant in tennis. I can see her point but don’t agree that men have it easy. I feel the women just don’t understand how to play the media and political game as well as the men. She says how Roger argues with an umpire and nobody notices, Serena does this and its front page …

woman wrapping man s leg with bandage

What I am learning from my injuries

Colin Chamberscompete, competition, injury, Learning, recover, training Leave a Comment

I am active therefore I get injured. That’s probably the best way to think about it. So injury is part of life and something I need to learn about and overcome. To that end I have started to document what I have learned from my injuries The other posts focus on specifically treating that injury including: wrist sprain, ankle sprain, toe …

woman in salwar kameez teaching pre schooler kids sitting inside a classroom

Learning is Innate: How the changing world can help you adapt better

Colin Chamberscoaching, compete, competing, competition, Education, evolution, Learning, Physical Education Leave a Comment

My view is that learning is innate and the changing world can improve education. What this means for competition is exciting. I see ways to vastly improve the process of understanding your opponent even before you have met them. Moving competition to a whole new realm. I’ll introduce my ideas for an ideal education experience later. Here I just wanted …

a woman blowing a gum while taking exam

Do GCSEs favour women?

Colin Chamberscoaching, compete, competing, competition, Education, Learning, steps, Strategy, success, truth Leave a Comment

You know. I never really thought about it that much. I first came across this notion during my A levels studying education as part of sociology. Since, at the time, women and girls had had such a long time being the second class citizens of education and work it didn’t really bother me. I did notice that in all the …

people looking at laptop computer

Education: New Rules

Colin Chamberscoaching, compete, competing, competition, Education, evolution, Learning, steps, Strategy Leave a Comment

Lifelong learning is a topic close to my heart. I’m very frustrated that mainstream education is only provided for the young rather than for every age. That was appropriate in the last century. Not this. It supports a culture where if you don’t take your opportunities when you’re young then you miss out. So I’m interested in the discussion I …

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A message for life

Colin Chamberscompete, competing, competition, Follow your dreams, Life advice, lifestyle, mind, Psychology, steps, Strategy Leave a Comment

My philosophy is that ‘The way you think defines what you achieve‘. By that I mean that your philosophy determines the decisions you make to any given situation and thus the outcomes you can expect. It is through these decisions that you define the life and accomplishments that you end up with. Of course there are other factors but I …

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Adapt: Is there evolution in business?

Colin ChambersBusiness, compete, competing, competition, ecosystems, evolution, leading 2 Comments

For me the answer is a definitive yes. The more I apply evolutionary principles in thinking about business the more I see it fits and the more I feel I understand business. It’s why I like capitalism. It’s a very harsh approach, which I don’t like, but then is’n’t natural selection. Natural selection is about competing for energy and essential …

photo of girl watching through imac

Learning on demand (LOD)

Colin Chamberscoaching, compete, competing, competition, DNA, Education, Physical Education, Strategy, training, Virtual body Leave a Comment

Following on from a previous article on 21st century learning I feel we’re moving to an area where learning on demand will be as normal as Video on demand (VOD). I see the emergence of 24-7 tutorials and motuto as early attempts at this. I can’t vouch for the quality and economic viability yet but I do see that the learning market is biased towards young …

person using black and white smartphone and holding blue card

A vision for 21st century learning

Colin Chamberscoaching, compete, competing, competition, ecosystems, Education, Learning, spectacular performances, steps, Strategy, training Leave a Comment

So I had a vision over Christmas of the kind of learning and teaching I’ve always wanted. As I wrote it down I became more and more convinced that this is possible right now. It also pulls together my passion for understanding human excellence with my experience in taking ideas to deliverables. It’s still very much a work in progress but I’m …

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Neural Darwinism: is this how we learn?

Colin Chambersbrain, coaching, compete, competing, competition, Education, evolution, Learning, memory, mind, Physical Education, recover, sleep, Strategy, training, truth Leave a Comment

I’m excited to have just discovered Neural Darwinism through an interview with Gerald Edelman on all in the mind. The idea that our brain constantly adapts to our environment using the same evolutionary principles described by Darwin is what I’ve been coming to believe. It’s clear that we create and remove connections every day during sleep and that our brains are constantly evolving from the …

man in black and white polo shirt beside writing board

An ideal education: My thoughts

Colin Chamberscoaching, compete, competing, competition, Education, Learning, Physical Education, Strategy Leave a Comment

It’s very much a time to look at existing ways of doing things and reinvent them with all our new knowledge, tools and skills. The essence of education is, I feel, a service that changes the way you think. As you become more educated you see the world differently than before, your mind is opened. You can do things and …