It’s Thursday, and I’m resting before a weekend with my Clarity Trainers and the students on the Certified Clarity Coach Training Programme. I’m very enthusiastic about – more details below. Please let me know what you think via twitter at @jamiesmartcom, on my Facebook page here, or in the comment section. At the end, I’ll tell you how you can get one of your #enthusiasms featured in a future edition.
1. A couple of sentences that really touched me
I was listening to a story by Ryan Knighton, who started going blind when he was 18 years old. Ryan’s story is of going to sleep in a hotel room, then waking up the next morning, to find himself in what seems like a completely different room. Here’s the comment that got my attention. Why? Because it seems like it applies to all of us, and how we get innocently trapped by the partial pictures and maps we make of the world.
"When you're blind you just can't assume anything. And the problem is you get a picture in your mind, and if you get it wrong, you just live inside the mistake"
2. The podcast I was listening to when I heard those sentences
This American Life is one of my favourite podcasts. I’ve mentioned it in a previous TTE, but it’s so good it deserves another mention. This episode doesn’t just contain the Ryan Knighton story I mentioned above; it’s also got my favourite Tig Notaro monologue (the one where she repeatedly bumps into 1980s pop diva Taylor Dayne). This is podcasting at it’s best.
3. An audiobook which is truly wonderful
We Learn Nothing by Tim Kreider is one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to in the past couple of years (I’ve just finished listening to it for the second time). This is great writing; both economical and poignant; funny and insightful. Here’s a taste: “The Soul Toupee is that thing about ourselves we are most deeply embarrassed by and like to think we have cunningly concealed from the world, but which is, in fact, pitifully obvious to everybody who knows us.” Enjoy here.
4. A TED Talk with a difference
Here’s a TED Talk by ace record producer, Mark Ronson, How sampling transformed music – if you want to get a deeper understanding of why sampling signals such a turning point in the evolution of music, this is a great place to start. It’s also an incredibly creative demonstration of what’s possible.
5. This week’s 3-minute miracle
OK. There’s one more thing. Mark Ronson produced Amy Winehouse on her album Back to Black. I was ambivalent about Winehouse until I saw a live, acoustic performance of the song Valerie, and I realised she was one of the greatest singers I’ve ever seen. I’ve just watched it again, and tears are running down my cheeks. That woman was made of music. You can watch the live acoustic version of Valerie here – if you like that, you can watch her do it again at the Brit awards, but this time with a full band led by Mark Ronson. The sheer joy and freedom she shows in this performance is breathtakingly beautiful. Try not to cry too much.
That’s it for this week. If you have questions, suggestions or want to let me know what you’re enthusiastic about, just tweet one of yours and put my twitter name @jamiesmartcom and the #Enthusiasms hashtag in there so I can find it. If I’m enthusiastic about something you’re enthusiastic about, it might just get featured in a future TTE.
Big love
Jamie
PS. Over the past year, we’ve run four sold-out Coaching Package Power Conferences for professional coaches and 1:1 workers. You won’t have seen any advertising for these conferences – we’ve done it all under the radar on an “invitation only” basis – but at the last one we were joined by 120 people who are passionate about making a difference as Professional Coaches and Changeworkers.
And here’s a cool thing: 60 of the people joined us from 12 countries around the world via our new, leading-edge live-streaming facilities, while the other 60 joined us live in-person in London. The conference is focused on exactly what has to happen for you to migrate to a “coaching package” model so you can increase your income and make it more stable. The results our clients are getting are far beyond our expectations, so…
We’re running the next Coaching Package Power Conference on 28-29 May. Once again, we’ll have people joining us live in London, and via our live-streaming facilities. We’ll be sending out a call for applications in the next few weeks, but for now, we just want you to save the date and indicate your interest, so email me at info@jamiesmart.com if you want the chance to apply for a place when we open the doors in the next week or so.