A Practicality check to connect your discoveries from the chapter to the results you want to create.
• An Experiment that will only take you a few minutes and will help you further embed what you're learning and generate new insights.
• A web link you can use to share your insights, connect with others and access videos and other additional learning materials.
This introduction started with the number one result question. As you've read, my first answer to this question initiated a chain of events that resulted in me sitting on the side of a ski slope, with sore feet and a troubled mind. But the subsequent transformation revealed a far more powerful answer to the question: a new leverage point that proved to be the key to creating the results that really matter to you and for you, and enjoying your relationships and your life more and more fully. In Part One of this book, you're going to be introduced to what I consider to be the ultimate leverage point…
Bottom line results: To grow your business results in a way that's healthy, fulfilling and sustainable, you and your team need to grow as individuals. The three transformations you'll be going through as you read this book represent the ultimate leverage point for your personal evolution; a framework for you to maximize the return on your investment of time, energy, money and other resources as you create the results that truly matter to you in a way that fits with your true nature.
keep exploring
Experiment: What's the number one result that – if you were to achieve it – you believe would have the biggest positive impact in your life? Ask yourself this question, or get someone else to ask you. You may come up with a number of different answers before settling on one that ‘feels right’. Of course, your answer to this question is likely to change and evolve as you continue reading this book. It can be fun and interesting to make a note of what your answer is now, then compare it to the answer you give when you reach the end of the book (I'll ask the question again when we get there).
www.jamiesmart.com/resultsintro
PART ONE
GROUNDING Your Personal Transformation
1
You're Built for Reality; You're Optimized for Results
‘This system uses your innate capacities and instinctive abilities, developed by evolution over hundreds of thousand of years…’
I'd never thought of myself as a fighter, but just a few hours into the experiment, I was hit by a sudden realization about our nature as human beings…
The experiment was Krav Maga, a powerful self-defence system invented in the 1930s to help Czech Jews protect themselves against Nazi thugs. I was doing a weekend workshop designed to train ordinary people to respond quickly and effectively in dangerous situations. And why is it so effective? Because it runs on the ‘operating system’ of your innate capacities and instincts; pre-existing abilities that show up automatically, without you having to think about it consciously. I'd never thought of myself as a fighter, but in just a few hours I was introduced to the fighter that had been right there within me, my whole life.
You're going to be introduced to the ‘operating system’ of your innate capacities and instincts for creating meaningful results and living a life you love. As you discover the results-creator that's been right there within you your whole life, your ability to create the results you desire and enjoy the process is going to increase exponentially.
You're built for reality, optimized for success, with the factory-settings for creating results. By definition… Whether you believe it or not. There's a built-in quality check that nature has performed on every one of your ancestors going back millions of years: were they fit enough, resilient enough, attractive enough, creative enough, aware enough, courageous enough and wise enough to get safely to breeding age, have children and pass on their genetic material? The fact that you're here means the answer to that question was ‘yes’, hundreds of thousands of times in succession.
This means that the hardware and software that comprises you have been through countless iterations, beautifully tuned, improved and adjusted for living in this world. You're built for being, walking, talking, loving, learning, playing, working, resting, thinking, making, growing, appreciating, reflecting, realizing, transforming, creating and much more. And one of the most valuable gifts that helps you survive and thrive in reality is your innate capacity for realization and insight.
A realization is a fresh new thought; an insight that brings your understanding more closely into alignment with the truth of some aspect of life. History has numerous examples of dramatic realizations that have changed the world, for instance…
• Isaac Newton's insights into the principle of gravity that transformed our understanding of the material world and paved the way for the Industrial Revolution.
• The realizations about ‘invisible matter’ on doctors' hands that prompted Ignaz Semmelweis' pioneering of antiseptic procedures.
• James Watson's breakthrough discovery of DNA's double-helix structure, leading to numerous modern-day applications including agriculture, pharmaceuticals and forensics.
In each case, the realization revealed the existence of pre-existing facts about some aspect of life; principles or laws behind how life already works. There are many more examples that make the history books, but it may surprise you to learn that you've had countless realizations and insights in your own life…
Let's start with a universal example: walking. You spent the months before you were born in a near-weightless environment. Then you emerged into this world and started learning about the implications of gravity; a pre-existing fact of life. As you started exploring this new domain, you effortlessly processed the megabytes of data pouring through your senses and had realizations about the fact of gravity. These realizations came automatically, without you even having to think about it consciously. By the time you were able to stand on two feet and walk freely, your realizations had given you a deep ‘embodied understanding’ of the implications of gravity. Today, your ability to walk is built on that embodied understanding; an understanding you developed without even
