The goal set: Walk on hot coals

Status: Achieved

Exactly how it was done:

1. Googled walking on hot coals in my local area which brought up a charity site who were doing a sponsored firewalking event with experts http://blazefirewalking.com just over a week away.
2. Sent an email to ask if I could join in.
3. I received the registration form etc the day after I sent the email. Filled in and returned. Set to go.
4. I set up an account at http://www.justgiving.com which is a site where people can donate/sponsor you using their credit/debit card. No chasing or nagging to do later!
5. I then created an event on Facebook and added the details of how to donate, including a link to my justgiving.com sponsor page. This made it really easy for my mates and family that chose to contribute. I only had a week to raise a minimum of £100 but I just managed it. Thanks to those who helped me out.
6. Turned up for the event and successfully expanded the old comfort zone. Nice.

What happened when I got there:

I arrived to a decent sized crowd of sponsored firewalkers and we all sat in a type of function room where we were all provided with Mencap t-shirts to wear for the event (couldn’t help thinking shoes might have been a more sensible bet!) and was treated to the relevant training and a kind of mini motivational seminar.

It would have been worth going to just for that really, I reckon. The seminar covered body language and how it affects the mind and how your mind affects your body. There were a few things we did, but the best was something which I’ve read about a few times in different books but to be honest never fully believed.

It’s the experiment that shows the effects of positive and negative self talk on your body strength. When you tell your body you are weak, you lose strength. When you tell yourself you are strong, you gain strength. The difference in the strength is pretty amazing. Click here for an exact how-to for this. It’s worth doing yourself. If you hear of or even see someone else do it, you won’t believe it’s real.

What made it better than I expected:

1. Was well chuffed to be on the receiving end of the gratitude from the charity. Now that it’s done, I realise that doing it purely for the charity without gaining the experience, would still totally be worth it as well (suppose that’s the goody two shoes in me).The good people who volunteer for Mencap deserve a mention. Consider them mentioned… and appreciated.
2. The aforementioned seminar and its content.
3. The decent banter between everyone and the support everyone gave each other. That sound a bit girly?

Lasting effects:

It feels mega to have found it, booked in and done it all in the space of about a week because I have literally had this written down on a list of goals to achieve for a few years now and haven’t done anything about it ‘til now… and yes… it was that easy. It took nothing but 20 seconds of research and a tiny bit of action. That alone has helped reinforce my belief/knowledge that

1. It’s no good setting a goal and not trying to achieve it.
2. There’s no point procrastinating. I obviously could have done this years ago along with loads of other cool stuff.
3. The timescale of achieving a goal can be a tiny fraction of what you expect it to be.
4. A goal can be loads easier to achieve than you expect.

There are obviously psychological effects too (which is the reason firewalking is so popular). You can’t help but realise the one thing that is staring you square in the face…

That things which at face value appear to be frightening and presumably painful experiences, can easily be the exact opposite, i.e. liberating, confidence building, fun and rewarding.

Also the Positive/negative self talk experiment we did has at least quadrupled my awareness of what I think and say to myself. I think positively about myself as often as possible anyway, but now I’ve seen incontrovertible proof… I am a shit load more vigilant.

Summary: An all round wicked experience which I would recommend.

 This is part of an ongoing project in goal setting and achieving outside of my comfort zone to aid personal development and growth. See category Comfort Zone and Goal Setting Project to check out what the hell I’ve been up to. I will be achieving goals which are outside my comfort zone in all aspects of life, e.g. mental, fitness, strength etc.