The 29th Oct is always a poignant day for me as it was the date that my mother went out and never came home. She died at the hands of Peter Sutcliffe.

Earlier this year I discovered that Peter Sutcliffe would remain behind bars for he rest of his life as his appeal against his whole life tariff was unsuccessful. I was asked what my response was by Sky News and I did a live piece outside a venue I had spoken at a few minutes earlier, and believe me it was definitely outside my comfort zone.

Whilst I was there I spent some time having a chat to the lovely reporter Tessa Chapman who was interested in how I became a  motivational speaker .  She asked me for some advice as she was to give a presentation to a college in a few weeks’ time.  After I had shared a few ideas I then asked her a few questions.
I was intrigued at how she became a presenter for Sky News.  What she then told me I thought was fantastic, and I wanted to share it with you.  When she was six years of age she wrote to ” Jim’ll Fix It “.  This was a weekly programme presented by Jimmy Saville, a retired Radio DJ and TV celebrity.  I should probably explain what the show was about for any younger readers.  Members of the public wrote to Jim and asked him for help to achieve a dream or ambition that they had.  He chose half a dozen on each show to help fulfil their dreams.

Depending on what age you are, you may or may not know of Jimmy Saville and it doesn’t really matter.  What is important here is that Tessa had some idea where she wanted to be in the future and it was something that was meaningful to her.  She had wanted to read the news for most of her life, and some might call it luck that she did indeed get to read the news, but I would suggest that it’s more than that.  When we know what we want to be, do, or achieve, our brain is on heightened alert to look for ways in which we can make it a reality.

 

 

If you rang up for a pizza and the pizza shop owner asked what type of pizza you wanted I doubt there are many of us that would reply with ‘Don’t know’ or ‘Surprise me’.  But that is what happens for many people.  They go through life not knowing where they want to be and they stop in a job they hate for fifteen years.

I met a woman in York a few  weeks ago after she had sat in on one of my talks, and afterwards she told me a story of being made redundant after working for BT for  many years.  She soon discovered that it was a blessing in disguise as she wasn’t fulfilled in her job and she now works with the local authority helping young people who may have had issues to deal with in their life.  She’s never been happier.

If you were to write to “Jim’ll Fix It” who could give you anything, what would you ask for?  Go on, write it here instead…, but then write another, this time from Jim telling you that the show ended 20 years ago, but here’s what you need to do to achieve that thing…, you’ll be surprised what you might come up with.

I wrote this piece a few months ago but today with Jim’s passing I felt is appropriate to highlight at least one person who he had inadvertently inspired.

I bumped into him in my local Indian restaurant and couldn’t resist having a chat with him. Myself and my good friend Ayd Instone approached him and he gave us his take on the youth of today and how he first got started in the music business. I’ll never forget the conversation and his willingness to speak for so long to complete strangers.

RIP Jimmy Saville died 29.10.11