“Everyone is born a genius but the process of living de-geniuses them.”
Buckminster Fuller
Inventor, designer, architect, visionary
This afternoon, I spoke at the 3PUK Conference in London about how the principles behind clarity have changed my work as a coach. People came up to me after the talk to say thanks, make comments and ask questions. One of the questions that I was asked was “How do you get yourself into a motivated, high-performance state?” In this article, we’re going to be exploring your zone of genius.
A few years ago, I watched the nail-bitingly intense documentary, TT: Closer to the Edge. The film follows the fortunes of TT motorcycle racers as they negotiate 60 kilometres laps through towns and villages at high speed. At one point, a racer says (I’m paraphrasing), “When I do my first practice lap, I’m not doing my best thinking. But by the second or third time round, my mind settles down, and I start getting exactly the thoughts I need, exactly when I need them.” This is the zone of genius. Some people call it “flow”. Athletes call it “the zone”. Musicians call it “the groove”. I call it “clarity of thought”.
So what is clarity of thought?
Here’s an excerpt from my forthcoming book (to be published by Wiley-Capstone, Autumn 2016):
Clarity of thought is a predictor of high performance, valuable insights and impactful communications. Unsurprisingly, clarity of thought is also correlated with a deeper sense of connection. When you’ve got a clear mind, you’re free to give your best, whatever the context. We all have times when we’re clear-headed, present and available to the moment. We also have times when we’re preoccupied, with a lot on our minds. Clarity of thought is the variable that determines where on that spectrum you’re showing up. When we’re caught up in contaminated thinking, our clarity of thought is low. The moment you wake up from the outside-in misunderstanding, clarity of thought returns.
“How do you get yourself into a motivated, high-performance state?”
When a young man, well-versed in the “norms” of personal development and positive psychology asked me this question today, he was surprised when I answered “I don’t.” I explained that clarity of thought is natural for us when there’s nothing getting in the way. And the only thing that ever gets in the way is contaminated thinking, arising from the outside-in misunderstanding. I told him, “Your mind is a self-correcting system, designed to restore you to clarity of thought.” The only thing a self-correcting system requires is an absence of external interference.
This is why Clarity of Thought is one of the 3 elements of the Clarity Impact Model. When you’ve got nothing on your mind, you’re more connected to your true self, to others, and to the intelligence of life. Like the motorcycle racer, you start getting “exactly the thoughts you need, exactly when you need them.” This doesn’t just make you incredibly resourceful when you’re working with others; it also means that you’re leading by example; modelling a high-performance “zone of genius” state of mind for the person or people you’re working with.
So it turns out that a more useful question is “What gets in the way of your zone of genius? What interferes with clarity of thought?” The outside-in misunderstanding is the only thing that ever takes us away from clarity of connection and clarity of thought. The moment we believe our experience is coming from anything other than Thought in the moment, it appears to us that we’re separate from life, and our heads fill up with contaminated thinking. But you’re always living in the feeling of Thought in the moment. You’re never experiencing anything other than your moment-to-moment thinking. The moment you insightfully realise this fact, you fall out of contaminated thinking and into the moment; into reality. And that’s where you find your zone of genius… In reality! You’re built for reality; you’re optimised for results. As you wake up from the outside-in illusion, you discover you have what you need, every step of the way.
By the way, if you’re already a transformation professional, then you may be a good fit for something I’m doing later this month. Here’s what I’m looking for:
– You have at least one year’s experience of working with clients (either paid, pro-bono or both)
– You probably charge by the hour, but want to use a “coaching package” model to increase your income & make it more consistent
– You have space in your practice to work with at least one longer term contract client, starting in June
– You’re an enthusiastic, friendly people-person
– You have a coachable spirit, and are willing to step out of your comfort zone if necessary, and
– You can keep a secret
If that’s you, then just email me at jsmart@jamiesmart.com, and let me know where you’re located and a little about yourself (if you don’t know what to tell me about, look at the list above for inspiration). Make the subject line “Project Glasswing JST”. I’ll be choosing people in the next couple of weeks. Talk to you soon!
Big love
Jamie