JST 209 – The paradox of improvement

Photo courtesy of Gabriel Rodriguez and Flickr

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”
– Mahatma Gandhi

This week’s article is part 2 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 2:

Paradoxical Clue 2: You keep improving
My dear friend, colleague and early mentor, Christina Hall PhD, once told me a story about the virtuoso cellist, Pablo Casals in the later years of his life. As the story goes, a reporter went to interview the 83-year-old Casals at his home. The moment he arrived, the reporter could hear the sounds of beautiful cello music filling the house.

Casals’ assistant invited the reporter to take a seat, saying the maestro would be with him shortly. As the reporter sat waiting, he was captivated by the enchanting music, and before he knew it, 45 minutes had passed. The music stopped suddenly, and a few moments later, Casals emerged. He introduced himself and apologised for the delay, explaining that he had been practising.

“Practising!?!”, the reporter exclaimed. “But you’re the greatest cellist in the world. Why on earth are you practising?”

Casals stopped and reflected then said, “Because I think I am making progress.”

As you may recall, clue number 1 was that the work you’re here to do is fascinating to you; you enjoy it. The cool thing about clue number 2 is this; because you enjoy it, you seek out opportunities to do it; you practice and improve.

So where’s the paradox?

The paradox is that you don’t necessarily start out being very good at it. If you were to see a video of the first workshops I ever ran, or the first talks I gave, you would be shocked at how bad I was at it.

One of my favourite things to do in the world is coaching people in front of a group of other people, and working with the individual and the group simultaneously. But I didn’t start out being good at that. I got better with years of action, practice and experimentation.

So that’s the paradox: if you want to be great at something, you’ve got to be willing to be a learner.

And the reasons this is SO essential when it comes to transition is this: I constantly meet people who tell me something like this:

“I’d love to follow my heart / find my vocation / hear my calling… I really like doing X but I don’t know if I’m good enough at it.”

Here’s the truth; I don’t know how good you are at it, but you’re likely to get a lot better at it if you’re doing it a lot; if you’re seeking out opportunities to experiment and practice.

In fact, one of the main pieces of feedback I get from people who I’m working with on their transition is that when you make the decision to start moving forward with it, you start finding opportunities to practice doing the work you’re called to do.

The simple key is this: just take the next step. You don’t have to do the whole journey at once. One step at a time is just fine.

By the way, if you want to transition from full-time employment to something more fulfilling and on-purpose for you, you may be a good fit for the next intake of Project Jupiter (starting at the end of this month). Here’s how you’ll know if you’re right for Jupiter (and vice-versa):

– You are currently in full-time employment, but…
– You want to transition from your job to something more fulfilling and “on-purpose”
– You sense that it’ll probably take 1-3 years to complete the transition, but…
– Your goal hasn’t been getting much closer; it seems to stay the same distance away
– You want to make progress, but lack clarity about either the ‘what’ or the ‘how’
– You know that if you were clear on those, with a solid plan, you’d do what it takes to make it happen
– You’ve been thinking about it for long enough, and you’re ready to do something about it NOW

If that’s you, hit reply to this email and tell me where you are and what your current job is. Type “Project Jupiter” in the subject line, This intake of Project Jupiter is the last time I’m going to be doing all the laser-coaching group sessions personally, so if you want to get 1:1 coaching from me, now is your chance, and I look forward to reading a little bit about you. Remember to change the subject line to “Project Jupiter”!

To your increasing clarity!

Big love
Jamie

Jamie Smart
Sunday Times Bestselling Author, Speaker and Executive Coach

PLUS: Whenever you’re ready… here are 3 ways I can help you get the clarity and results that matter to you:

1. Hire me to speak at your event
If you want an entertaining and impactful keynote speech or breakout session for your conference, offsite or town hall meeting, click here https://www.jamiesmart.com/book-jamie-to-speak-about/

2. Join the Profitable Coaches Group
Join the Profitable Coaches Professional Group and connect with the growing community of like-minded transformation professionals who are passionate about exponentially increasing their grounding, impact and their livelihood. You can join for free at https://www.jamiesmart.com/profitable/

3. Join the next intake of Project Jupiter
If you want to transition from full-time employment to something more fulfilling and on-purpose for you, you may be a good fit for the next intake of Project Jupiter (starting January 2018). Here’s how you’ll know if you’re right for Jupiter (and vice-versa):

– You are currently in full-time employment, but…
– You want to transition from your job to something more fulfilling and “on-purpose”
– You sense that it’ll probably take 1-3 years to complete the transition, but…
– Your goal hasn’t been getting much closer; it seems to stay the same distance away
– You want to make progress, but lack clarity about either the ‘what’ or the ‘how’
– You know that if you were clear on those, with a solid plan, you’d do what it takes to make it happen
– You’ve been thinking about it for long enough, and you’re ready to do something about it NOW

If that’s you, email Nikki at info@jamiesmart.com and type “Project Jupiter” in the subject line.

PLUS: check these out :

Get your free Profitable Coaches Scorecard book www.JamieSmart.com/scorecard

Listen to the Results Mindset Podcast www.JamieSmart.com/resultspodcast

Listen to The Profitable Coaches Podcast www.JamieSmart.com/pcp

Read the first 2 chapters of my Sunday Times Bestseller RESULTS: Think Less, Achieve More www.JamieSmart.com/instantresults