By Paul McGill from NICVA
Published on 06 Mar 2008
Achieving your dreams is about a lot more than jockeying for position but Jim Lawless found the job of jockey was just the way to prove you can achieve remarkable things.
Jim was the motivational speaker at NICVA’s packed management seminar at its offices in Duncairn Gardens, supported by the Sector Skills Development Agency as part of Management Month in February.
Recently he grabbed media attention when he accepted the challenge to re-train as a jockey within 12 months – a formidable challenge for an over-weight man who hadn’t sat on a horse before. But he did it – see his first race and after-race television interview on www.jimlawless.com.
This image (left) shows Jim up on a chair showing how to ride a horse – he even got the the participants to join in – to illustrate his Ten Rules for Taming Tigers, inspired by Yann Martel's bestselling book Life of Pi.
But it didn’t come easy. He had to start at 5am, was allowed to eat almost nothing, was banned from alcohol and followed a gruelling regime to lose weight and build up strength.
Taming tigers is unique. It is a practical, proven way to help people achieve their dreams. “But beware,” warns Jim. “Taming Tigers is not about idle dreaming. It is about dreaming, planning and acting courageously and creatively to start achieving what you deserve to achieve.”
The large audience may have been overawed by Jim’s harsh diet but they ate up his words. Many left with firm resolutions to tame their own tigers, silence the niggling voice of doubt and go for the things they want to achieve.
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