I found inspiration recently through a great corporate event speaker. Jim Lawless has worked closely with our team for over 5 years, delivering inspirational presentations and co-creating engagement experiences.
Jim has developed the Ten Rules for Taming Tigers – a practical model for helping people ‘write their own story’ rather than being constantly deterred by the fears and limitations imposed by their personal ‘Tiger’.
If I remember correctly the ‘Taming Tigers’ inspiration came from the book ‘Life of Pi’ by Yann Martel (a recommended read). Pi, a young Indian boy, gets stranded on a lifeboat after the ship carrying the contents of his family’s zoo across the Pacific Ocean sinks. Pi shares the lifeboat with a small collection of animals, the most notable being a 450 pound Bengal Tiger. The choice for Pi – jump and swim for it, risking starvation, exhaustion but more likely becoming Shark fodder, or adapt to the circumstances. Do you choose to face up to the Tiger (your own personal tiger) or bury your head and hope it will all go away?
The 10 Rules:
1. Act boldly today – time is limited
2. Re-write your rule book – challenge it hourly
3. Head in the direction of where you want to arrive – every day
4. It’s all in the mind
5. The tools for Taming Tigers are all around you
6. There is no safety in numbers
7. Do something scary every day
8. Understand and control your time to create change
9. Create disciplines – do the basics brilliantly
10. Never, never give up
More on Jim’s 10 Rules can be found here - though I’d recommend catching him at a live event if you get the chance (you can also buy the book).
Jim applied the 10 Rules himself after being challenged by a conference delegate to become a professional jockey within 12 months. I’ve since learnt several colleagues have used the rules to push themselves - learning to sing and performing live, running marathons, bungee jumping, pushing for promotions and enrolling on further education.
The Rules resonate with us as a business – ‘adventurous’ is one of our 3 core values.
