“On March 29th, 1981, 7,747 runners took part in the London Marathon. 20,000 applied and of the 7,055 who took to the starting line, 6,255 completed the course.”
It’s the ride home from school and my youngest is spewing out facts from her recent homework assignment.
When I asked my kids about what they had learned.
My eldest, said, “lots of people must have been scared.” When I asked her why, she thought that, she said “London is big, and 20,000 is not a lot of people.”
My youngest said, “ I’m sad for all the runners who had not been able to take part.”
And with that my eldest changed from thinking people were scared to seeing an opportunity. “Maybe.” She said, “We could make London Marathon a bigger event, and sell more spaces for other runners.”
We spoke about why it is important to start with what you know, facts. To know our emotions influence how we see situations and why it’s important to give people room to change, as my eldest did, as she developed and explored the idea.
And a reminder for me that coaching is to set the conditions, not the content.