The Little Book of Clarity. Smart Jamie
author). But while the majority of Amazon reviewers gave the book 5 stars, explaining how CLARITY had transformed their lives, a full 10 % of reviewers gave the book 1 star, with criticisms ranging from “too simplistic” to “too complicated” and various points in between.
This polarity was not unexpected. I've been sharing the principles behind clarity with individuals and groups since 2009, and the response to the book mirrors those of my public speaking audiences. In fact, it's quite predictable given the core message of CLARITY – that a clear mind is your natural state, and there's nothing you need to do to clear it; that our misguided attempts to clear the mind often result in more of what was clouding them in the first place. This assertion flies in the face of the personal development norm of telling people “what and how to think and do” in order to have the results you desire.
But some of the most fascinating feedback began arriving six months after the book's publication. People started coming up to me after talks and telling me in hushed tones that when they first read CLARITY, it hadn't made sense to them, but when they went back to the book a few months later, something strange had happened. They discovered that it not only made sense, but that they'd incorporated the lessons from their first time reading the book without even realizing it.
This makes perfect sense. While most personal development approaches offer “additive” advice (tips, techniques and concepts to remember, practice and apply) the principles behind clarity are ruthlessly subtractive…
Understanding these principles takes things off your mind rather than giving you more to think about.
The revelation that the mind is a self-correcting system resonated deeply with many people. Liverpool striker, Daniel Sturridge, scored his first Premier League hat-trick against Fulham in May 2013, then arrived at his post-match interview carrying a copy of CLARITY. One of my clients, Bluecrest Health Screening, started including a CLARITY Quotient section in their screenings, empowering corporate clients to take charge of their engagement and stress levels. Demand for training in the principles behind clarity has continued to increase, and a growing community of professionals are being certified as clarity coaches, practitioners and trainers.
Which brings us to an important question: Why a little book of CLARITY?
The acceleration of technology, information and communication has continued to increase since CLARITY was published. People are even busier and assailed by even greater demands on their precious time and attention. In the face of this, the idea of a concise version of CLARITY pared down to the bare essentials started becoming more and more attractive. It would provide an opportunity for me to further simplify and clarify the central message of the book, and to refine some of the terminology. Perhaps most importantly, it would mean that new readers could be introduced to the principles behind CLARITY, and start experiencing the benefits in their work, their relationships and their lives as a whole.
Believe it or not, I receive messages most days from people telling me what an enormous difference understanding these principles has made in their lives. While some have found new relationships, careers and life circumstances, the more universal discoveries are new peace of mind, clarity and freedom. The promises of a clear mind, better performance and bigger results are underpinned by something that's there for all of us: the discovery of where your experience is coming from, what you're up to in life and who you really are.
Introduction
“What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients.”
Herbert Simon, Economist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1978
“If a pond is clouded with mud, there's nothing you can do to make the water clear. But when you allow the mud to settle, it will clear on its own, because clarity is the water's natural state…”
Clarity is your mind's natural state.
For many years, I've been sharing this simple metaphor in workshops and seminars with business leaders, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, therapists and private individuals. As people allow their mud to settle, clarity emerges, and they discover they have what they need for the job at hand.
So what is clarity, and why does it matter? How does clarity work, and why do so many people struggle to find it? Most importantly, how can you find the clarity you need and start benefiting from it?
It's well known that outstanding leaders in every field, from Olympic medal-winners to visionary entrepreneurs, profit from the flow-states that a clear mind brings. With clarity of mind comes the qualities that drive sustainable results. These qualities and results are what individuals and organizations are searching for. But, due to a simple misunderstanding, we've been looking in the wrong place until now.
The purpose of this book is to correct the misunderstanding and help you experience greater and greater clarity, with all the benefits it provides. The book asks and answers the following questions:
1. What is clarity? It turns out that clarity is a kind of “universal resource”. When we have a clear head, we have everything we need for the job at hand. Ask a nervous speaker what's going through their mind when they're onstage, and they'll explain their fears, worries and anxieties. Ask a confident speaker what they're thinking about onstage and the answer's almost always consistent: “Nothing!” This is the case in every field of high performance, from the classroom to the playing field, from the boardroom to the bedroom; when you've got nothing on your mind, you're free to give your best.
2. Why is clarity essential? You're going to discover why clarity is so important for living a life that's successful on the inside as well as on the outside. It turns out that many of the most desirable qualities people struggle to “develop” (such as intuition, resilience, creativity, motivation, confidence and even leadership) are actually expressions of an innate capacity; they're emergent properties of an uncluttered mind. These qualities drive the results people desire. Clarity is the source of authentic leadership and high performance. It allows us to be present in the moment, and have an enjoyable experience of life. A sense of purpose, direction and entrepreneurial spirit are natural for people with a clear head. So are happiness, freedom, security, love, confidence and peace of mind.
3. How does clarity work, and how can you get it to work for you? You're going to be introduced to the principles behind the natural capacity for experience – thinking, feeling and perceiving – that every person is born with. This innate capacity generates 100 % of our experience of life, moment to moment.
Clarity is a naturally emergent property of this capacity – it isn't something you do; it's something you already have. The mind has its own “self-clearing” function, capable of guiding you back to clarity, regardless of what state (or circumstances) you're in. While this is extremely evident in small children, all but a fortunate few have it conditioned out of them by the time they reach adulthood.
As you start to deepen your understanding of the principles behind clarity, you're going to reconnect with your mind's natural self-clearing function. As a result, you'll find that you start having a) an effortlessly clear mind, b) more time for what's important, c) improved decision making, d) better performance where it counts and e) more of the results that matter to you. Some of the “side effects” you may notice include improving relationships, reducing stress levels, more passion and an increasing engagement with life.
4. Why do we need clarity now, more than ever? We're living at a pivotal point in history; millions of people are faced with uncertainty, complexity and increasing chaos. As individuals, as organizations and as an entire species, clarity is the key to solving the big issues that face us, if we want to create a sustainable future for ourselves, and the generations that follow us.
You see, without even realizing it, we've been using an industrial-age misunderstanding of how the mind works to try to deal with the challenges of a digital world. This misunderstanding gives rise to the contaminated thinking (e.g., worry, anxiety, overthinking, etc.) that obscures our innate capacity