Jim Lawless has more strings to his bow than a company of concert violinists.
He is one of the world’s leading inspirational speakers. Over half a million people on five continents have been entertained and inspired by Jim’s presentations and many more by his bestselling book “Taming Tigers”.
As CEO of The Velocity Corporation, Jim has advised companies globally on creating organisational Cultural Change and elite teams. With his team, he has implemented successful change programmes in companies including Apple, Barclaycard, Atos, Axa, BT, Aramark, Skrill Group and Badminton England.
In August 2010, he became Britain’s deepest freediver, the first Briton to dive below the magic 100m barrier on a single breath of air, while in 2003 he became a televised jockey within 12 months. At the outset he was 3 stone (20kg) too heavy and could not ride a horse.
So what’s this guy’s secret? Here’s some snippets of wisdom from the man himself.
Stop planning (or just dreaming) and do something
Don’t sell your house or quit your job just yet, but do the next boldest thing you can think of.
Wherever we are in our lives, we’re generally “in a rut” of acting comfortably. The ‘Bold Act’ gets us out of the act and gets us started on the new path. It creates a change. It gets us meeting new people.
It’s like jumping into the pool instead of wondering whether it’ll be cold. We’ve been taught to “get it right” – but there is no “right” for what you are planning, just the best you can do. Start it.
Write down the reasons why it can’t be done
That’s right – why it cannot be done. Just ‘thinking positive’ by itself never got anything done. Let’s get real here.
Then go through them carefully one by one and ask if you could defend these statements in an interview with a really tough TV journalist.
Ask a friend to play the journalist if you wish. What you’ll usually find is that you can’t defend any of them. They are a bunch of assumptions and excuses to stay safe from facing some tough choices and hard work. Once you’ve got rid of these reasons – Do Something!
Something’s got to go
What the quick-fix salesmen miss out is the unsexy word – “sacrifice”. If you want to be fit and beautiful, you have to cut some couch and chocolate time and introduce some exercise.
No other way works.
If you want to hit a goal, something will have to go out of your schedule. The trouble is, however, as much as we moan about it, we love what’s in the schedule – it’s keeping us safe!
That boring meeting you hate? It keeps you in the boss’ good books doesn’t it? That’s why you go! Now the Tiger really starts to roar.
Everybody you admire has been through this before. You’ve been through this before! Time to do it again.
To find out even more you’ll just have to go along to the Berocca Brain Boost seminar on February in the Science Gallery in Dublin.
Luckily enough, we’ve lots of tickets to give away for this event.
All you have to do is answer the simple question below.
