S3E14 - Finding Clarity Within - Part 2 - w/Jamie Smart

Subscriber-only episode

This week in The Biz Dojo, we continue our conversation with Jamie Smart, who quite literally wrote the book on Clarity. Jamie is a best-selling author, renowned writer, speaker, coach and consultant.

In this second episode, we chat with Jamie about being a coach and locking in on your niche. We also discuss dealing with change - both positive and negative  - and managing stress. Jamie shares deep insight into who we are as humans, incredible personal stories, metaphors , and anecdotes. Heck - there's even a 50cent quote or two in here. 

So, take a moment to clear your mind, sip on a  Biz Dojo Coffee (Masters Medium - OR - Dojo Dark), and relax. Everything you need is already within you.

You can also visit us at the links below to join the discussion:
Website      |      Facebook      |      Instagram      |      LinkedIn      |      Twitter

Check out Newsly (https://newsly.me) and use promo code B1Z2021 to get a free month of premium description.

Also this week, we're sponsored by SearchHustle.com - check it out, and don't forget to choose "The Biz Dojo"  as where you heard about the program. 

The Biz Dojo - Podcast, Production & Professional Coaching
Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter

Transcript

JP Gaston: 0:00

Are you listening to us on the news the app? If not, you should be. Check it out news li.me

Voiceover: 0:07

This episode is powered by airdry DQ grill and chill, owned and operated by local entrepreneurs. Check out one of their three airdry locations today and pick up a blizzard ice cream cake for Dilly bar. The Biz Dojo is also brought to you by beyond a beaten path. If you're on the lookout for a personalized gift had to be on the beaten path.ca and get started on your custom creation beyond the beaten path. Personalize it, because everything else is boring.

Seth Anderson: 0:34

Okay, well, you

JP Gaston: 0:35

want to talk about this. Just going to talk. Wow. All right.

Seth Anderson: 0:38

All right. All right. All right. Did you know that he made that up on the spot? Mm hmm. We've talked about

JP Gaston: 0:44

this. I knew it then. And I know it now.

Seth Anderson: 0:47

You were there on set?

JP Gaston: 0:49

Yep. He was like, What should I say? Should I say okay, okay. Okay. And I was like, Nah, man. All right.

Seth Anderson: 0:55

All right. All right. All right.

JP Gaston: 0:59

That's good. Thanks. Like, make a career out of it, buddy. That'll be my

Seth Anderson: 1:04

so glad you were there. Because that inspiring moment, pop culture. So I was not expecting our friend Jamie smart to start reciting 50 cent quotes. But that might have been the highlight of this podcast,

JP Gaston: 1:25

there's a couple of highlights. There's, there's actually a time or two in this second part of our first two parter. Where you say, that might be my new favorite thing.

Seth Anderson: 1:38

Oh, when we talked about? We're just animals of shoes. Yes.

JP Gaston: 1:44

We are all just animals with shoes.

Seth Anderson: 1:48

We could really, we could really call this second part, like, stories with Jamie. I think that's that's where we ended up. And we just felt like it was so

JP Gaston: 1:58

it felt like its own episode. It felt like it's just we started talking about coaching and stress and anger. Like it's just a, it was all part of the same conversation. You share them together, and it flows. But there was just something about this second half that felt like it deserved its own space.

Seth Anderson: 2:15

Yeah, I remember when we got off the zoom. And I was just like, I don't want to bury this second half. You know, people listen to the first bit and then they kind of meander on with their lives. I'm like, this is this is too good. It's too good. Yeah, I and I, and I wanted you to do more editing. Because

JP Gaston: 2:32

i The nice thing, though, is Jamie is so well spoken that there's not, there's not a lot of, you know, editing little, it's mostly editing me and you making sure that we're not leaving, there was a lot of time where we, where we left a lot of space after Jamie said something. And I could just leave it. Because I'm sure listeners are experiencing the same thing we were at the time, which was wow. I don't even know what to say to that. Because it was just so inspiring or insightful, or we just needed a moment to catch ourselves before we could come up with our next part of the conversation.

Seth Anderson: 3:09

It was like a surreal experience when you're just sitting there. And maybe it was because like for three days prior to I'd been listening to podcasts, I really listened to the little book of clarity on Audible. If you haven't checked that out, highly recommend it. And and then you're just sitting there with Jamie. And he's telling these stories. And I was just mesmerized that like to your point where I was like, I don't know what to say right now. But like, I want this to go on forever. Let's just keep talking.

JP Gaston: 3:38

Well, I'd like the all of the context of all of those things that he's worked on. And he's still that captivating when he talks. Like, it didn't go a direction. Like it's not some speakers will just they'll tell the same stories or they'll give the same anecdotes over and over again. And that's what they rely on to help their message. Jamie like Jamie doesn't need that. He's He's so well defined and what he is so clear on clarity. He he doesn't ever

Seth Anderson: 4:08

have it. Are you telling me the author of clarity? As clarity? Yes, when he speaks he does.

JP Gaston: 4:14

Yeah, seems it seems the methods work.

Seth Anderson: 4:19

Now, this was a lot of fun. And I learned a lot. And like I said, I just I just was not expecting to be dropping 50 quotes talking about animals with shoes. A human's the whole drunk guy in the dark like just sorts of stories that not only did I really like but selfishly I can. I can take a bunch from those and share them like I came up with them. So that's what I'm

JP Gaston: 4:46

I have this story about this guy in the

Seth Anderson: 4:49

Yeah, yeah. Awesome. So you know, let's just get let's just want to get into this. Let's just go let's go

JP Gaston: 5:07

This is part two of a two part conversation with Jamie smart.

Seth Anderson: 5:18

I think one of the things JP and I get asked a lot as we've started to take steps into this whole coaching space is like, Oh, well, what's your? What kind of coaching do you do? Who do you help? Like, what's your niche? What's your, this? What's your that and every time I think I figure that out, I'm like, it totally gets thrown on its head. And like what I've landed at, like I've had a client who's 23 years old and has dreams of playing in the NBA. And I've had some of the most profound conversations of my life, I have a client who's a 35 year old mom who works at a veterinarian that's trying to figure out what the next step of her life is, and like, completely different realities, completely different situations. But it just comes back to helping Pete like creating space to help people, that's where I, that's where I've landed, like, it could be anyone with anything, it doesn't really matter. And I'm just curious, like, what's your take on like, getting a very specific like niche or type of coaching or, versus like just being open to helping people.

Jamie Smart: 6:16

But I think the, the search for a niche is probably one of the things that really messes a lot of coaches up when they're first starting out. Because, because when you're first starting out, you don't know enough about yourself, and who you like working with what you're good at what you're not good at, and all that sort of thing. Choose a niche Well, in my experience, and so I think what works way, way better, is just having a lot of conversations with different people and seeing what emerges. Now it can be useful to do what I call choosing an experimental audience, like if you want to learn some of the skills of, you know, marketing or engagement and that sort of thing, it can be useful to have an experimental audience to do that with. But the thing, the other thing I've seen happens to a lot of a lot of coaches, when they're asked to come up with a niche, is they think they've got to identify themselves with it, they've got to go from being, you know, Jamie, or Bob, or Steve, to being the confidence coach or the, you know, Saturday morning shakes coach or the, the, you know, the public speaking to groups of people over 6067 coaches, and it's, it's like they're they've own, they're still learning to occupy the identity of being a coach. And now they're being asked to kind of shoehorn themselves into some idea that they're not even sure it's gonna work yet, right? Because it's, it's, it's speculative. So I think what I've seen with almost every coach I know, who has a kind of well articulated niche that they're serving in a successful way, is they were almost always successful coaches first, and their niche kind of found them. They kind of they realized over time, oh, you know what, I really love working with entrepreneurs, or I really love working with authors, or I really love working with this group. So for instance, I love working with coaches, and therapists and trainers, I just, I really, I understand that group of people so well. But when I started out, I didn't have a nation. I wasn't really looking for what I just, I was doing the stuff that I was interested in and passionate about. And then I got a feel for it. Now here's the thing, a marketing specialist because Oh, yeah, but if you've nailed that niche two years earlier, you could have made this much more profit. I'm sure that's probably true. But I got into this work, because I love doing stuff I'm passionate about. And I love the adventure and I love the feeling of it, not sort of thing. So I think the other thing is, I think a lot of times, coaches are drawn to coaching. Because because it's calling they're called to do story they feel inspired by and understandably they want to make decent money from it, and that's absolutely fine. But then they try and apply approaches, like if you stop and think about it, almost every coach values connection and relationship and authenticity, and integrity and honesty and that's where a lot of times people are trying to use approaches and techniques that are the opposite of that to build their their business. It's like well, that's not gonna work. You got to do stuff, that that's the connects with your values and what matters to you. My rule of thumb for coaches when it comes to the whole How do you build your business thing is, the more you can make any sales or marketing type activities you do Like what you already love doing, the more it's like coaching and the more like, I love, one of my favorite things in the whole world to do, that I'm really, really good at is coaching people in front of a group, I call it laser coaching. So I'll get a group of people, and I'll coach people one after the other. And I'll unpack the coaching I'm doing. So the more I can make the marketing activities, an expression of that kind of stuff, and working with groups and that sort of thing, the more enjoyable it is because they get the the experience of you doing something you're great at, rather than you doing something you don't like doing something like that. So make it like the stuff you already love doing. But you guys, I can tell you enjoy doing podcasts. So it would make sense that as coaches, you want to make some of your promotional activities aligned with your podcasting skills and talents, like obviously, because you already are good at it, you already enjoy it, you already have a platform for it. So, for instance,

JP Gaston: 11:01

I think a lot of people default to what have I done in my career like for you? I don't think you ever had the thought that you wanted to be like an IT leadership coach, as a niche, but I think is where people go?

Jamie Smart: 11:13

Well, it's funny, though, when I first started out, when I was first retraining, I thought, well, I guess maybe I could train people in project management. And so I went and tried that I ran a couple of project management trainings in the company, I was working, but pretty soon as like not I want to do that. I want to go and try other things and that sort of thing. So it's it. I think the number one thing I'd say to any coach, and anyone actually was wanting to start a business experiment, try things. Don't try and figure it all out first, like you, you were much better at experimenting, and tinkering and doing things than we are at figuring stuff out in the privacy of our own heads. Because when you when you experiment and take action and do stuff, you get real world feedback, and we learn we're built, you know, we're built for reality, and we learn from real world feedback. So try stuff, experiment and have fun with it. Right? Like, it doesn't cost any extra to have fun.

Seth Anderson: 12:15

One of my favorite quotes, and I don't remember, I think it's Brene. Brown, the were funny. Anyway, something to the effect of us being more afraid of our light than the dark like, and I think this is an interesting thought like, and I guess do you think it's true? Like do people get caught up? In fear of failure? Fear of not being successful or fear that, Hey, Mike, this might actually work out and then like getting overwhelmed with the thought of like, doing really well? Or what do you see? Do you see kind of a combination of those things? Or

Jamie Smart: 12:51

are a couple of things I think I think some people have fear of failure, some people have feel fear of success, a lot of people have fear of criticism. A lot of people have fear of the unknown and uncertainty. I you know, I I once asked a teacher what the most powerful force in human beings was, and this guy had asked Virginia Satir, who was sort of the grandmother of family therapy, the same question. He said, Well, I asked Virginia Satir, that question, and she said, the most powerful force in human beings is the desire for the familiar. I was like, How do you like guys, like I thought about it, like, people do like things to be pretty much the same as they were yesterday, but maybe a little bit different. And, and so I noticed that that it stands to reason, actually, that we have a because the familiar has a proven track record, right? Like, you may think, oh, I want to do this, or I want to do that or the other. But what'd you do yesterday got Elyse got you safely to today? Whereas doing all kinds of other stuff, maybe not so. So I thought, well, that's an interesting idea. But that's because she thought that that was what kept people stop. That's what kept people changing. So anytime I met a new teacher, I would ask them this question, what's the most powerful force in human beings? And people either didn't have answers or had variations on familiarity? And then I was speaking to one of my mantras, Christina Hall, is very brilliant. I, I told her this story, and I said, What do you think, the most powerful force in human being? And she said, Well, I know one more powerful familiarity. I said, What's that purpose? The desire for purpose and direction can inspire us to transcend the desire for familiarity. So I thought that was really interesting, but it's real interesting. But then I think about that Marianne Williams, I think it may be the Marriott Marianne Williamson quote, that our deepest fear is not that we're inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we're powerful. We'll be on measures all right, I think she's talking about something a little different. And I think it's this, I think that is just my theory, right. But the fact of the matter is, you know, I believe that the two most valuable things a person can discover and number one, how experience is created, we're living in the experience of this principle of thought taking form in the moment. And number two, who we really are. And it's my assertion that who we really are, is this incredible source of creativity, and wisdom, and intelligence, and love and resilience and beauty. And we see, can see examples of that all over the place. But we're born into a world, and we're, you know, enculturated and raised, being told that we're not that that were, you know, were stupid, or were clever, or were lazy, or were head of the class or bottom of the class. So we get all these labels, all these ideas of ourselves. So you know, there's one that each of us uses, you use a label, which is Seth and Jamie, so, say, I am Jamie, or I'm sad, or I'm angry, or I'm happy, or I'm sad. So we're saying all these I am. And we think that on some level, who we are as a conglomeration of those level, those, those labels, those, those ideas about ourselves, but here's the thing, are, we're not our ideas of ourselves, right? Those ideas, they're just a map. And you wouldn't confuse a map of New York with New York City or a map of London with one view. But we often confuse our map of ourselves with who we really are and and how it looks to me is that who we really are is, is this incredible power is this incredible? Creative energy. And we've been told most of us from very early ages, that it's not okay to be that we should be something else or somebody else, that we shouldn't just show up and call it like we see it be ourselves. There's a wonderful quote by Curtis jocks and 50 cent. He said, Yeah, he said, I can, I can see my book results on the shelf over there. But I'll pull it up on screen because it gets quoted in the introduction, let me just say, I want to read the whole thing, if I may,

Seth Anderson: 17:54

please cut me anytime someone's gonna bust out a 50 quote on the pod all the time and space. I love it.

Jamie Smart: 18:01

Right. So I came across this, I was reading a wonderful book, written by 50 cent and Robert Greene called the 50th law. 50 cent says, the greatest fear people have that of being themselves, they want to be 50 cent of someone else, they do what everyone else does, even if it doesn't fit where and who they are. But you get nowhere that way. Your energy is weak, no one pays attention to you. You're running away from the one thing that you are, what makes you different, I lost that fear. Or once I felt the power that I had by showing the world I didn't care about being like other people, I could never go back. Now, to me, that's what she's talking about. And that quote, is talking about the fact that each of us have been born into this world with a unique pattern of who we really are, to bring into being and then we get enculturated and we get conditioned to believe that we need to conform and fit in and there are good reasons for that societally, like we wait. Society needs people to kind of toe the party line, right? And so when and this is often the case, you know, when you when you go to start your own business or go to do your own thing, you'll get family and friends and society pushing back saying, Oh, that's not a good idea. You shouldn't be different. You should do what everyone else is doing and sure, but it looks to me like that's where our power is. It's it's in being ourselves and being true to ourselves. However weird that may be, however. Eccentric that may be, however, divergent from the societal norm that may be. That's where the action is. So I think that's what people are scared off. When they're scared of success or scared of failure. That's where they that's certainly what they're scared of when it comes to success when it comes to failure. They're not really, can I tell a story? Oh, please, please. So I was speaking at a conference in the UK called The three P UK conference, big conference, but a bunch of people there. And I'm doing a coaching them at the front of the room. So coaching this woman who I'd never met before, I knew the audience and sitting in the front of the room with me. And so I said, What do you want? So well, I'm working on my business. She said, I keep procrastinating. I keep you know, she was doing the business equivalent of coloring in her timetable kind of thing. Just keep procrastinating. And she said that. The reason is, she said, when I'm thinking about my business and thinking about the future, I get scared. And so I procrastinate rather than working on it. But then she says, I know I shouldn't i She says, I get worried that it's not gonna work out, okay, but I'm going to fail. She goes, and I know, I should be telling myself that it's not going to fail. And I go very successful and all that sort of stuff. She said, but sometimes I get scared that it won't work out. So I said, Well, let me fix that for you. It might not work out the way you think it's gonna. She's like, you're not supposed to say that. You're supposed to be like, you're supposed to tell me it's gonna work out. I said, No. Are you kidding me? Have you seen how many businesses fail? It's, it's, it's it might not work out. I said, That's not the issue. She's like, it's not to know the issue is you don't think you'd be able to handle it. If it didn't work out. You worked, you can handle it, you're built for reality, you have a source of resilience and creativity within you that can totally handle it. That might be the best thing that ever happens to you might have it not work out the way you're thinking and then something new comes along, and you pivot, and it's a huge success. The issue isn't that it might not work out a certain way. The issue is you don't believe you could handle it, if, unless it works out the way you want it to. And it's not true. It's not true. You know, Sid banks, who I referenced at the beginning of the session, once said, If the one thing people learned was not to be afraid of their experience, that alone would change the world. You can handle it, we're built for reality. And the we're even here having this conversation means you know, everyone listening to this has evolved from a long line of people who managed to at least survive until breeding age, hook up with someone at least once and produce a kid who did the same thing over and over and over again, millions of times in a row over millions of years. And we're so in a very tangible way. We're built for reality, we've evolved for life on this planet, we're far more, you know, we live in a world where at the moment, people are being told in all kinds of ways that, you know, they're they're easily harmed by things that people say and that they need safe space. And that's where the fuckin kidding me. We we've, we've we're on animals with shoes on and, and we've got claws and teeth. And we've evolved for a world that's rough like these, like until the last couple of 100 years, man, like the murder rate in London was 35 times higher than it is now even like 200 years ago, this were built for a tough world. And we were getting the message that we're very, very, we need to be wrapped in cotton wool and all this sort of stuff. And it is bullshit. We're built for reality we can handle it. And the more we realize that the more we know, we will realize that we can handle what we might define as failure or success or anything else that comes our way. We're Beltre. We

Seth Anderson: 24:03

were animals with shoes on might be my new favorite

JP Gaston: 24:16

Hey everyone, if you didn't already know this episode is sponsored by search hustle.com. Your resource for digital marketing training. It's taught by digital marketers at the bleeding edge for digital marketers at the bleeding edge business owners and fresh marketing grads and it's free for a limited time at search hustle comm forward slash beta dash group. That's B E T A hyphen gr o up the holidays coming. If you're looking for that special something for that special someone, it's time to go beyond the beaten path. Visit beyond the beaten path.ca for unique and custom gifts that say I didn't wait until the last minute to think of you and get you this thing that you don't need The under beaten path.ca Because everything else is boring.

Seth Anderson: 25:04

So we, we do a weekly questions with Mama Seth. So my mom provides a question. Should I keep back that we need to incorporate listeners more? So I've put her on the spot. And so her question for you, Jamie, is she? Hey, Jamie, I'm a CEO of a small company. And we're heading into our busy season, they create custom gifts. And Christmas is their their crazy time. So they get slammed with a bunch of orders. How can I get through this Christmas season? And manage my stress load? Because the last few years have been really tough on me? And do you have any tips or tricks on how I can get through it?

Jamie Smart: 25:42

Well, the thing that occurs to me is that the the busy seasons going to be busy, right. And, and she knows that heading into a busy season. So the issue isn't, it seems to me there are two things. There's the volume of activity, right? And that's going to be high. And so that's going to be engaging. But but my guess is that the experience of stress, but that's going to be common from some very like, I don't know the specifics, but it's going to be some variation of things aren't going to be okay. Unless everything goes perfectly. But I bet that if she looks back to previous busy season, a bunch of stuff has gone well. And a bunch of stuff has gone badly. But she's made it through to the next year. And the next year. So my question to her is, after the busy season's over, and she's looking back, is she going to be stressed then? Because if she's not, maybe he doesn't need to be stressed in the process either. And here's the thing, we all get stress. That's natural. But yeah, I guess the other tip would be, this isn't a This isn't something this is something she can do. It's not, but it's not a technique per se. You can always ask yourself, Where do I believe my experience is coming from? Because I bet that in the moment, it'll seem like the experience of stress is coming from a delayed order, or an angry customer? Or a an increase in shipping costs, or a employee who calls in sick or it'll be it'll genuinely seem like it's coming from somewhere other than inside. In that moment you ask yourself in, but it's asking yourself, and with a sense of genuine wonder, Where do I believe that experience is coming from? If you genuinely wonder about that, you'd be amazed that she can try it out? Let me know,

JP Gaston: 28:06

we've talked about this before, but it's like I'm just putting together now. One of the things that my mother used to do for me, we're on the mother topic. I don't know, if that was intentional here.

Seth Anderson: 28:17

You guys got a monster he can show. Yeah.

JP Gaston: 28:21

We'll jam on. We'll jam on the mums for a while here. But my mum used to always say, you know, there's two types of things in the world, there's the things that you can do something about, and you don't need to worry about them, because you can do something about them. And then there's the things you can't and you don't need to worry about them because there's nothing you can do about them. And I think that that set me up internally for making those associations and having that insight and knowing that whatever I'm experiencing right now, I don't need to stress about it, because I can either do something about it, or I can't. And in either case, the stress doesn't matter. And I like I think that's put me in a really good position. But as I hear other people's stories, I'm like, wow, like I wish I could transfer that to them in some way.

Jamie Smart: 29:04

Well, here's the funny thing. I think you hit the nail on the head. A JP, sorry. I would be willing to make a prediction. Your mom wasn't much of a warrior. Is that correct? She didn't worry much.

JP Gaston: 29:15

Yeah. Not not a tightwad. I mean, she's a mom. So she worried but I think she she probably far less than most mothers. Yes.

Jamie Smart: 29:23

My guess is you picked up on that. Because while while the thing she told you, I really liked that. What you'll have learned most from is how she related to life. And so So I guess the other thing I'd have to say to Seth swum is typically with when people have stress, it's often either related to the future or the past. And in those moments, it genuinely seems like this feelings of stress are coming from future circumstances. And if you can just take a moment to go again, where does it seem like that's coming from? Does it seem like it's coming from the future? You're like, yeah, it's like, well guess what the future doesn't even exist. It's a psychological construct, which is strange, right? Like we, we know that on one level, but on another level, we genuinely act as though our feelings are giving us information about the future was not possible. Not possible. There's no such thing as the future. But while it looks real to us, it'll seem like our experience is coming. Can I give you can I give you an example to kind of bring this to life?

Seth Anderson: 30:32

Yes, absolutely. Like Seth,

Jamie Smart: 30:34

if if a tiger walked into your office, right? Right, you would become very, very obsessed with the tiger, you're like you would you wouldn't take your eyes off it all your attention would be there. And you would be thinking about what can I do to get safely out of the office? What am I going to do this? Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to hear a word I'm saying because you'd be paying attention to that tiger in a very, very focused way.

Seth Anderson: 31:01

Very small room. So yes, yeah.

Jamie Smart: 31:03

Yeah, I guarantee it. And that's not prone, that's normal, that's healthy. That's because you're built for reality. And you have come from a long line of people who didn't get eaten by tigers, because they made good choices in that decision. And part of that good choice was, don't ignore the tiger. So when something is now if an imaginary Tiger walked into your room, you're not going to pay much attention to it. Because you know, it's not real. Like if I said, Hey, Seth, I've just dreamed up a tiger and I'm sending it right in front of your office right now be very afraid. You're not going to buy it because you know, I'm just bullshitting. Right. So that's that, you can tell the difference between a real tiger and an imaginary tiger. The problem people have with stress is they can't tell the difference between a real future and an imaginary future. They believe they get stressed about the future. And they believe that feeling is giving them information about the future, it looks real to them. So it can be very arresting to realize, Oh, no dots of minds made construct. As soon as you realize it's not real, it we, as human beings, we're very interested in stuff that's real and have very little time for stuff that looks irrelevant. Just a build

Seth Anderson: 32:16

on that a little bit. I know. It's funny, because in my last coaching session, Justin was talking quite a bit about the form and the formless. And I know that's a big part of your book. And I'm still like trying to wrap my head around this. If he and I had a little bit of a banter back and forth about this, could you maybe just share a little bit about like what, how formless becomes formed energy and like the whole construct of that,

Jamie Smart: 32:38

give me my take on it like, but I'm getting used metaphors because formless as no form so the the if you've ever if you've ever played a DVD, you like my favorite movie is Fight Club, right? So I get the DVD and fight. Does anyone even have DVD players for this metaphor, we made DVD players, I get a DVD of high club, I can put it in the DVD player, I can play it. And I get totally engaged in the film. And there's Tyler Durden as well happening. But actually, what I can see on the screen, it's totally an illusion that that's just light on a screen. In illusion, but it's tangible. Like there's a plot our connects characters and and I can engage with it, I could watch it, I get totally drawn into that reality. Now, the DVD, if I pull that out, and I look at it, it's just a little dots on a silver disc. It's not very entertaining at all. It's it's it's very dull compared to the movie. It's less tangible, but it's more real, that that disk with dots on it is what gives rise to the movie on the screen. But it's not much in this metaphor. There's not much information that I can enjoy on that disk that the the tangible illusion is more engaging than the intangible reality. And so with, with the the the, the understanding that I teach is that we live in a world of form, which is tangible. But it's not where our experience is coming from. Experience is coming from a deeper reality. That's intangible but far more real. As far more real, and because, you know, there's this there's this old joke about a drunk guy on a Saturday night. It's like two in the morning. And he's on his hands and knees in the grass by the edge of a lamppost and he's looking around in the grass, and clearly piste drunk and this policeman comes walking up to me. He goes, what what's up and the guy goes I'm looking for my, I'm looking for my keys. And so the cops like, Okay, well, I'll help you find them. He goes, where did you drop them? He goes, couple of streets over. And the cops like, Well, why are you looking here, a guy goes, the lights a lot better here. But we, we tend to look for the things we want, like, you know, fulfillment, the love and success, and joy and confidence and peace and security, we tend to look for them in the world of form. That's why I was looking for them in Whistler, we look for them in, in accomplishments or in money, or in relationships or in jobs or in, you know, six pack abs or whatever. The light because the lights so good there. But that's not where they come from, they come from within, they come from an intangible domain, somewhere less tangible, but more real, that resides at the heart of everyone's being and this, this is the, you know, the gift of gifts that people have been referring to throughout the ages, you know, the, the pearl of consciousness, or the the wisdom that resides within it's there in everybody. But the lights not so good there. So it's easier to look in seven top tips or, or a, you know, a yoga retreat or whatever it might be. But it's always you can't find something where it isn't. Right. So. So, you know, every everyone, what everyone's looking for, is that which resides at the heart of their own being. But we innocently get tricked into looking where it isn't.

Seth Anderson: 37:06

Oh, the hours I've spent under that lamppost. I tell you,

Jamie Smart: 37:10

me too, all right. Me too. Me too. I feel very grateful to even you know, the funny thing is, I feel very grateful even to know where it is to know where it is not that I'm always looking there. Not that my attention is always there. But just knowing no matter. You know, there's another wonderful, I think it's a Spanish proverb that goes like that. No matter how far you've gone down the wrong road. Turn back. And I go down the wrong roads. regularly. I go look in where it is. But because I know where it is, at any point, I can Oh, yeah. Turn back. And yeah,

Seth Anderson: 38:02

that's, I think a hard thing for a lot of people is to Yeah, it's like, I've already put all this energy, time, money, whatever into this thing. I got to see it through. And I mean, yeah, the other side of that is you don't know like, maybe you're, you're this far away from the thing.

Jamie Smart: 38:19

deed, indeed, I can relate, you know, I, I, I built a very successful NLP business looking in the other direction. I saw this, I'm like, oh, turn back.

Seth Anderson: 38:33

When you know, you know,

Jamie Smart: 38:35

exactly.

Seth Anderson: 38:36

This has been absolutely inspiring, Jamie. And I guess, a couple things. On the way out of here. What are you working on for personal development? And how are you feeding your mind? Well, it's

Jamie Smart: 38:49

funny, you asked that I wrote a post just just the other day, and I, I've, I've been doing this for a long time. And I love my work. And my, my desire is to have a business where every aspect of the business feels as good as the work I do people the impact we have with our clients. So that's kind of a new inspiration to me to make every aspect of the business as as pristine as the impact we have in our trainings and with our clients. And so, I've got a saying, which is the feeling you're doing business in is all you get, the experience you're doing business in is all you get. So that's my kind of yoga always is that I'm doing an adventure to find out what happens when I make that our number one priority. Our number one value is to be bringing the the feeling and the ethos of everything we bring to our clients into every aspect of our work from business. To that's kind of that's that's That's where that's what I'm in, oriented towards, at the moment, in terms of my own development, I, I put a weight room in my Garriage, the about about a year into lock down, I suddenly figured that one out. So I love, I love lifting heavy, I love not, you know, working out on the Olympic bar and stuff and doing a bit of yoga, in terms of other development, really just looking with and looking within. And, you know, I mean, I always have coaches and teachers that I'm working with to continue developing, but it's really just seeing more, and then bringing that into my, into my life, my business.

Seth Anderson: 40:43

Amazing. And for those and then you've got clarity to that you're working on as well.

Jamie Smart: 40:49

Yeah, the second edition of clarity is going to be coming out next year. So I'm looking forward to that. I'll probably record the audiobook version of that, because a lot a lot of that have changed from the first editions. So yeah, looking forward to doing that.

Seth Anderson: 41:03

That's exciting. I can't, can't wait to dive into that. And hopefully, pleasure to have you back on the show once. Once that drops.

Jamie Smart: 41:10

I'd love to and then other stuff we've got going on. We've got our clarity certification training, which runs January to July. So we're, we're over half full for that. But we're looking for the other people who are going to join us on that journey. And yeah, running some master classes and that sort of thing. Lots of fun,

Seth Anderson: 41:30

incredible and how can people learn more about the clarity, certification and all that other stuff you're working on?

Jamie Smart: 41:38

I mean, you find everything at James smart comm J. E. SMA rt.com. If you want to find out about clarity certification, go to Jamie smart comm forward slash coach. You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter. My handle is Jamie smart COMM And I've got a couple of podcasts and get clarity podcast and the thriving coaches Podcast. I'm guessing that your listeners like podcasts and podcasts might be a good place to start. And then my my books are on Amazon and on Audible. There's audio books of three or four of them already on Amazon. So yeah, all the usual places.

Seth Anderson: 42:20

Thank you. Thank you so much for your time today. Jamie, this was this was awesome. Oh, it's

Jamie Smart: 42:25

been great to meet you. Lovely to meet yourself. Lovely to meet you, JP,

JP Gaston: 42:29

I have like 10 pages of notes. So this is something

Seth Anderson: 42:33

I tried to just be here and like fully absorbed. So I didn't take as many notes but that was amazing. Thank you.

Jamie Smart: 42:40

Right on.

JP Gaston: 42:43

Hey, thanks for listening to today's episode.

Seth Anderson: 42:45

If you like what you heard today and you'd like to tap into your inner wisdom, check us out on the biz dojo.com, Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook or send

JP Gaston: 42:55

us a message for a free discovery session to coaching at the biz dojo.com.

Seth Anderson: 42:59

We hope to hear from you soon. See you next week.