Procrastination, Wisdom & Crowdsourcing

How to come up with cool names for things in spite of yourself.

“None of us is as smart as all of us.”
― Kenneth H. Blanchard

In this week’s shot of clarity, we’re going to be looking at something almost everyone can relate to at least some of the time; procrastination.

Here’s the backstory…

My beloved Emma and I were scheduled to go for a quick pre-lockdown break this past Monday, and I wanted to get my team to work on something while I was away.

It was something pretty straightforward (a registration page for a free, online masterclass I’m planning) but I just couldn’t seem to make any progress with it.

And I was feeling frustrated!

After all, I knew what the masterclass was going to be about, and I had a good sense of what I was going to be covering, but I just kept staring at the blank page with nothing to put on it.

So once I’d exhausted all other options, I made a counterintuitive move…

I gave up on it.

And the moment I gave up on it, I had an idea…

I thought, “At least I can get some help from my community in picking a good title for the masterclass”, and I wrote a post in the Clarity Life Community…

I’ll show you the post I wrote, but I was wholly unprepared for what happened next. Here’s what I wrote…

Q: Can you help me with this? I need your advice…

I’m planning to do a free, one-off Masterclass this month on the topic of language. Here’s the background…

From 1998 to 2009, my main focus was exploring, learning and teaching people how to use language in powerful ways…

– To capture the imagination and guide people on a journey
– To ask questions, get someone’s world and deepen the connection
– To engage people, dissolve objections and enrol clients
– To transform their beliefs, and help them have breakthroughs so they could get the results that mattered to them

Then, in 2009, I stumbled across the principles behind clarity (as articulated by Sydney Banks). I changed direction and spent the next 10 years focusing exclusively on waking people up to the truth of the inside-out understanding and supporting them in awakening others.

And that’s still my purpose today: awakening people and supporting them in awakening others.

And here’s the thing: On the one hand, we know it’s not about the words. On the other hand, there’s a way in which language is ‘the water we’re swimming in’. So last year I decided to do an experiment that started with this question…
What if I took a group of people who already have a deep understanding of the principles, and teach them some of the linguistic and non-linguistic distinctions I use to ‘go upstream’ fast with my clients?

I did the beta-test of the Clarity Advanced Coach & Facilitator Programme, and the results were off the hook! In fact, the word-of-mouth was so good that all 12 places on this year’s programme sold out in a heartbeat!

Because the experiment was such a huge success, I’ve decided to start dipping a toe in the water sharing ‘the language stuff’ with a very specific focus…

How can you use language more effectively to help create the conditions for insight, realisation and transformation?

So that’s what this one-off masterclass is going to be about; creating heart-to-heart connections and creating the conditions for insight so you can have a big impact in the lives of others.

And here’s where I need your help…

Q: What’s a great name for this one-off masterclass?

Please select the option(s) you like best from the poll below, or add something you think is better.

Looking forward to seeing what you think!

Thanks and big love
Jamie

I followed the post with a list of titles that seemed good to me, and sat back to see which one won, but here’s when some unexpected things happened…

First of all, people started adding their own ideas to the poll about what might be a good title for a post. Some of them only got voted for by the person who added it, but one of them started shooting up the rankings.

Within a couple of hours, we had a clear winner, dreamed up by Clarity Coach Richard Mitten. Here’s the name he came up with:

“Masterclass: The Language of Insight & Transformational Change”

Richard’s title got nearly SIX TIMES as many votes as the best name I was able to come up with (The High-Impact Language Masterclass).

And here’s the next cool thing that happened…

I suddenly realised that in the process of writing the post giving the background to the poll, I’d created 95% of the text I needed for the registration page! I copy-pasted it into sections, added Richard’s title and sent it to our designer.

(You can see the design he came up with and register for the Masterclass here)

I suddenly realised that what had seemed like procrastination was actually wisdom in disguise.

And here’s the funniest thing of all…

You know that realisation? That what had seemed like procrastination was in fact wisdom in disguise…

It came as a surprise on Monday, but it was actually nothing new to me. I wrote about it in my first book, CLARITY: Clear Mind, Better Performance, Bigger Results back in 2013. Here’s a brief excerpt (© 2013 Jamie Smart published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd).

“People love closure, the feeling of “knowing” and being right. But, if we’re willing to spend some time “not knowing” and looking to wisdom, the results are often remarkable. If you’re willing to wait, your wisdom will often provide an answer very quickly. At other times it may take longer, but the more you’re willing to “not know,” the more you’ll realize how many things aren’t actually as urgent as we sometimes pretend.”

Have a wonderful weekend!

Big love,

Jamie

Jamie Smart, Sunday Times Bestselling Author, Speaker & Executive Coach

PS You know how most people have a lot on their minds? We teach subtractive psychology, an understanding that automatically clears your mind, and gives you the clarity and confidence to solve your problems and enjoy life to the full.

Plus, whenever you’re ready… here are 6 ways I can help you get the clarity and results that matter to you:

1. Listen to the ‘Get Clarity’ Podcast www.jamiesmart.com/claritynow/

2. Book me to speak at your event: http://www.jamiesmart.com/book-jamie-to-speak-about/

3. Enroll on the Career Transition Blueprint self-study programme <link>, our rapid-implementation programme to help you move to do work that’s more fulfilling and on-purpose for you.

If you’re a coach, interested in becoming a coach or just passionate about sharing the principles behind clarity…

4. Join The Clarity Life Community on Facebook.

5. Listen to The Thriving Coaches Podcast

6. I have room in my practice for 2 Apprentices, starting in January 2021. Apprenticeship with me takes courage, as well as a significant commitment of time, energy and finances (the investment to become one of my Apprentices is currently £50,000 + VAT), so it’s not for everybody. If you think it might be a good fit for you, hit reply to this email and write “Apprentice info please” and we’ll get back to you with some info and questions to help you get clear on whether or not we’re a good fit for each other.

7. Believe it or not, there are only 2 places left on the 2021 Clarity Certification Training, and the programme doesn’t even start until the end of January. You can save up to £2,000 when you book your place by midnight Pacific time on Monday, November 30th, but realistically… there’s no way these 2 places will be available by then. To be clear: we will not be adding any more seats on the programme. Once these 2 are gone, the programme is full and we’ll be opening the waiting list for the 2022 intake.

>>> CLICK HERE for full programme info and to register for one of the 2 remaining places.

Or if you want to talk to someone to find out if CCT is a good fit for you, you can schedule a call with Deb on my team here (she’s lovely).

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