“You are the whole, because the rest – all the rest – is the same energy.”
– Sydney Banks
I’m doing the final proofread on The Little Book of Results this week, and I came across an excerpt I’d like to share with you. It’s about who you really are. This perspective informs all my work, and realising this for yourself can have a profound impact in your life. Here’s the excerpt (Little Book of Results ©2018 Jamie Smart): Read More →
“The Master doesn’t try to be powerful; thus he is truly powerful.
The ordinary man keeps reaching for power; thus he never has enough.
The Master does nothing, yet he leaves nothing undone.
The ordinary man is always doing things, yet many more are left to be done.”
– Lao Tse, Philosopher
In a few months’ time, I’m doing a collaboration with my dear friends and colleagues Michael Neill and Garret Kramer. I’ve known Michael since 2003, and Garret since 2010, and while we’ve each collaborated as pairs, this is the first time the 3 of us have done something together. I’ve learned lots from both of these pioneers (in fact, both of them got a mention in Chapter 19 of my book CLARITY: Clear Mind, Better Performance, Bigger Results). Here’s an excerpt from The Little Book of Clarity (©2015 Jamie Smart) around the whole domain of performance and results. Read More →
Photo courtesy of Oleg Zaytsev and Flickr
Last week, my colleague Emma McDevitt and I conducted a two-day workshop with a business’ leadership team. One of the things we explored with the group was the whole domain of ‘connection’. This week’s article is an excerpt about connection from my book, RESULTS: Think Less, Achieve More. Get ready to get on to the ‘transformation superhighway’:
DISTINCTION: The fact of connection vs the experience of connection
In his fascinating video, A Universe From Nothing, cosmologist Lawrence Krauss gives a brilliant, eloquent and elegant proof that the universe has arisen from nothing; from a sea of formless energy. The fact is that we’re each made of the ‘nothingness’ from which the universe sprang. On one level, we can experience ourselves as separate from each other, and distinct from our physical environment. This is a practical matter. But on another level, we are all made of this same formless energy. Like waves in an ocean, we are all part of the same undivided wholeness. Just as waves don’t leave the ocean and ‘go solo’, we are never disconnected from this infinite ocean of energy. This is the fact of connection. Read More →
Photo courtesy of SparkCBC and Flickr
“Don’t confuse correlation and causation.
Almost all great records eventually dwindle…”
– Charlie Munger
On 7th December, the UK’s Independent newspaper published an article called “How to behave like a natural born leader”. They proceeded to interpret a recent study to suggest that “anyone can behave like a leader if they want to.”
This is a classic case of confusing correlation with causation, and I talked about it during a recent module of the Clarity Coach Training. We’ve released a two-minute video of that session which a lot of people found very funny and are sharing with their friends. Read More →
Photo courtesy of Denis Dervisevic and Flickr
“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery
This week’s article is the 5th and final part in my series, The 5 Paradoxical Clues To The Work You’re Here To Do. Over the years, I’ve regularly heard people say things like, “I’d do what I love, if only I knew what it was” and “I’d do what I love, if only I knew how to do it.” Read More →
Photo courtesy of Win_Photography and Flickr
“I have no idols. I admire work, dedication and competence.”
– Ayrton Senna
This week’s article is part 4 in my series, The 5 Paradoxical Clues To The Work You’re Here To Do. Over the years, I’ve regularly heard people say things like, “I’d do what I love, if only I knew what it was” and “I’d do what I love, if only I knew how to do it.” Before the holidays, I did a Facebook Live broadcast on my business page called “The 5 Paradoxical Clues To The Work You’re Here To Do”. People really loved it, so I thought I’d share the 5 paradoxical clues here in the JST. Here’s clue number 4: Read More →
Photo courtesy of Christopher Fynn and Flickr
“All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer.”
– Ira Glass
This week’s article is part 3 in my series, The 5 Paradoxical Clues To The Work You’re Here To Do. Over the years, I’ve regularly heard people say things like, “I’d do what I love, if only I knew what it was” and “I’d do what I love, if only I knew how to do it.” Before the holidays, I did a Facebook Live broadcast on my business page called “The 5 Paradoxical Clues To The Work You’re Here To Do”. People really loved it, so I thought I’d share the 5 paradoxical clues here in the JST. Here’s clue number 3: Read More →
Photo courtesy of linspiration01 and Flickr
‘What is essential in war is victory, not prolonged operations.’
Sun Tzu
My dear friend and colleague, Michael Neill was one of my early mentors, and the person who introduced me to the principles behind clarity. His new book, Creating the Impossible launches this week, and it’s brilliant. It’s all about how to get dreams out of your head and into the world. Here’s an excerpt:
Beyond Busyness
A couple of years ago I was chatting with the über-author Jack Canfield and I asked him if he was busy at the moment. He took a few seconds to consider his reply. ‘I’ve got a lot on,’ he said, ‘but I’m not particularly busy.’
This points to a key distinction made in Cal Newport’s insightful book Deep Work: busyness is often a substitute for productivity, not its cause.
According to Professor Newport, one of the reasons we spend so much time on email, social media, and ‘available’ to interruption is because it creates the experience of being continually engaged in activity, which leads us to the false conclusion that if we’re busy, we’re being productive. Read More →
Photo courtesy of Kevin Dooley and Flickr
“Anything on earth you want to do is play. Anything on earth you have to do is work. Play will never kill you, work will. I never worked a day in my life.”
– Dr Leila Denmark (the USA’s oldest doctor)
I hope you’re having a peaceful and relaxing time over the holidays. At this time of year in particular, I often hear people saying things like, “I’d do what I love, if only I knew what it was” and “I’d do what I love, if only I knew how to do it.” So last week, I did a Facebook Live broadcast on my business page called “The 5 Paradoxical Clues To The Work You’re Here To Do”. People really loved it, so I thought I’d share the 5 paradoxical clues here in the JST over the next 5 weeks. So here’s the first clue: Read More →
Photo courtesy of Jason Thibault and Flickr
“It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
-Marianne Williamson
Spiritual Author
I’m out of the office doing CEO 1:1 intensives this week, so we’re re-running one of my most important articles to date.
Many of us have been told we need to “find our purpose”. But what is purpose, and how do you find it? It turns out that a more valuable question to ask is, “What gets in the way of it?”. In this article, you’re going to discover six key insights into the magnetically motivating power of purpose (by the way: this article has a number of links in it, so if you can make the time, I encourage you to read it slowly and explore the links so you can get the deepest possible sense of what I’m pointing to). Read More →