Jamie Smart | Archive | Coaching with Clarity

JST 219 – The ultimate objection-destroyer

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Jamie Smart

Whether you’re parenting your teenager or applying for a job; enrolling a client or pitching for a new project… if you’re inviting people to make changes, decisions or investments, you’re going to run up against objections and concerns. Last week, I ran a poll asking what the number one objections and concerns people got when enrolling clients. The top 2 got more votes than all the other options combined! Here they are:

1) It’s too expensive / I can’t afford it.
2) Let me think about it and get back to you.

So how do you ‘handle’ these concerns? I’ve worked with a lot of people helping them answer this question, ranging from coaches, therapists and consultants to salesforces in large organisations. My answer points them in an unexpected direction. I’ll unpack it in a moment and reveal the ultimate objection-destroyer, but first I want to tell you a story. Here’s an excerpt from my Sunday Times bestselling book RESULTS: Think Less, Achieve More..(©2016 Jamie Smart). Read More →

TTE 140 – Horror, romance and the house of love

Posted on March 22, 2018 by Jamie Smart

1. A quote I’m resonating with
This one’s from author Robin Hanson during his recent interview with Sam Harris:

“We have this part of our brain that’s all the time thinking about what we’re doing and trying to explain why we’re following good motives. And that’s in a sense the conscious part of your mind. You are the conscious part of your mind and you aren’t necessarily the one in charge of your mind. There’s this idea that instead of being the president or the king, you’re the press secretary. You don’t actually know why you do things but you’re supposed to make up a good excuse. And you do that. You’re constantly looking at what you’re doing and asking yourself, ‘What would be a good explanation for this thing I’m doing.’ And you’re good at that, you’re good at coming up with excuses for what you’re doing. But you don’t actually know what you’re actually doing, but you don’t realise that you don’t know.” Read More →

JST 218 – How much should you charge for your services?

Posted on March 20, 2018 by Jamie Smart

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”
– Warren Buffett

I’m currently doing a series of Facebook Lives about ‘money beliefs’ in the Profitable Coaches Group. Last night’s video will be relevant to you if you charge for your services (or if you wish to charge for them). In this excerpt, I answer a question from Doreen Ritchie who said, “There seems to be a median price charged round here for coaching. It would be very difficult for me to charge a lot more than that…” If you want to watch the full video this excerpt came from, you can see it in the group here. Read More →

JST 217 – Money and power

Posted on March 13, 2018 by Jamie Smart

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
– Seneca

I’m currently doing a series of Facebook Lives about ‘money beliefs’ in the Profitable Coaches Group, and a particular section of one of them seems to really be impacting people. If you want to watch the 90-second video of this, you can find it HERE.I decided to transcribe it here as a blog post because it reads almost like one of those modern poems 😉

Cash is totally neutral; it has no power.
It has no power to give you a feeling.
It has no power to give you a good feeling.
It has no power to give you a bad feeling.
It has no power to give you a feeling of security
It has no power to give you a feeling of discomfort Read More →

JST 216 – Who you really are

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Jamie Smart

“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 →

JST 215 – Stay in the game

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Jamie Smart

“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 →

JST 214 – The transformation superhighway

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Jamie Smart

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 →

JST 213 – Leadership, correlation and causation

Posted on February 6, 2018 by Jamie Smart

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 →

JST 212 – The elusive obvious

Posted on January 30, 2018 by Jamie Smart

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 →

JST 211 – Dedication and competence

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Jamie Smart

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 →