SENNA – a name that evokes memories of a wonderful Formula One racing driver, arguably the best that ever lived. And reading Tom Rubython’s excellent biography (The Life of Senna) of a true legend of the track who died aged just 34, I was struck by a passage that bears testimony to Naked Leader founder David Taylor’s vision of how we should live.
In one Naked Leader Week, David spoke of a child who is on a voyage of discovery – that child being us, getting older and meeting different challenges. He maintains that striving to be better is something we can all do. We can achieve what we want if we want to. It’s our choice.
Well, here is that short passage from the book which is proof of that philosophy. They are Ayrton Senna’s fascinating thoughts on what made him tick.
‘The motivating factor is the discoveries that I keep having every time I am driving. When I push, I go and find something else. I go again and I find something more. That is perhaps the most fascinating motivating factor for me.
‘You are like an explorer finding a new world. You have this desire to go into places you have never been before. The situation is extremely absorbing. And perhaps, because I have experienced on many occasions the feeling of finding new things, even if I thought “OK, that is my maximum”, then suddenly I find something extra. It is the challenge of doing better all the time. That process is something almost non-stop, in terms of excitement and motivation.’
Senna’s take on the subject of the sub-conscious versus conscious mind is illuminating too. He summed it up in this one sentence. ‘The perfect lap is achieved when the driving becomes automatic because your brain controls the throttle.’
So, this is a lesson for all of us. We have all been given natural talent – we should maximise it. We have all been blessed with a uniqueness – we should sell it. We have all been given a life – we should live it. We can all go and achieve if we don’t let our conscious, perhaps negative, thoughts stop us.
As the Naked Leader advocates. Just Do It!