and being more present to the richness of the here and now. And here and now is the best place to start creating what matters to you.
We live at a time of increasing volatility, uncertainty and complexity. We're each here for a reason, with our own unique gifts to give. It's never been more important for each one of us to wake up to who we really are, and play our part in the shaping of our lives, our communities and our world. As well as answers, we need visionaries; people who are willing to challenge what we hold to be true. And that's the other thing you need to know about Jamie: What he's about to show you may turn everything you've ever believed on its head. And it turns out that's a wonderful place to start.
Sháá Wasmund, MBE
London, 2016
Introduction
‘What's the number one result that you believe would have the biggest positive impact in your life?’
Over the years, I've asked variations on this ‘number one result’ question to many thousands of people during talks, workshops and one-to-one coaching sessions. And while their backgrounds are incredibly diverse, their initial response is remarkably similar. Invariably, people…
Stop… Go quiet… Get reflective…
As the responses begin to emerge, they reveal something very powerful. Your answer to this question shows what you currently believe would give you your biggest ‘return on investment’ (ROI) for the time, energy, effort and other resources it would take to achieve it. When I was first asked the question by my coach (a successful entrepreneur) in 2006, I didn't know the answer, and I felt foolish. After all, I should know, shouldn't I? I was working 14-hour days growing my business, but if I didn't know the answer to this, what was I spending all my time, energy and money on? This powerful, unsettling question issued a challenge:
Are you willing to raise your head from the daily routine of tasks, habits and distractions, and focus your energy on what matters most to you, no matter how daunting that may seem? Are you willing to shift your attention from the soothing familiarity of ‘routine’ to the sometimes uncomfortable adventure of ‘results’?
Results…
We all want them, yet many of us struggle to achieve them. Or we get spectacular results in one area of life, while failing to attain even modest success in other important areas. There are plenty of examples…
• The successful businessman who knows he needs to lose weight and get fit, but never seems to find the time.
• The manager who's passionate about becoming a consultant or executive coach, but fears stepping away from the security of a full-time job.
• The graduate who wants to find work with meaning and purpose, but doesn't know where to start.
• The holistic therapist who has a big impact on her clients, but struggles to make ends meet.
• The CEO who wants to leapfrog the competition, but can't find the right strategy.
You probably know someone who dreams of writing the book/starting the business/clearing the debts/finding the soulmate creating the lifestyle/getting the six-pack/making that first million, but never quite seems to get there. You may even be that person.
Motivational speakers claim we can achieve whatever we want if we believe in ourselves, set clear goals and work hard. But history is littered with examples where enormous self-belief combined with clear goals and massive action yielded little or no satisfying results. Why? As you're going to discover, there are powerful but little-known factors that have a profound impact on your ability to create results. In fact, this book sets out to answer five essentialons:
1. What are the key factors that influence your ability to create the results you desire, and how can you develop those factors?
2. What are the obstacles that may have been holding you or your organization back from getting the results you want, and how can you avoid, eliminate or overcome those obstacles?
3. How can you increase your impact on other people, engaging them in your enterprises and/or empowering them to create the results they desire?
4. How can you leverage your true nature as a results-creator and a leader to get greater control of your livelihood, whether as a solopreneur, as an entrepreneur or by playing a bigger role in your organization?
5. How can you do all of this in a way that's healthy, natural, authentic and enjoyable?
I've spent the past 15 years helping my clients to create results that are often beyond anything they'd previously thought possible. I've worked with…
• business leaders and their teams to create inspiring visions that they've proceeded to bring into existence.
• coaches, therapists and other transformation professionals to increase their impact, grow their practices and create lifestyles they love.
• entrepreneurs to get clarity, transform their personal and professional lives and achieve breakthrough results.
• private individuals ranging from maximum-security prison inmates to chart-topping DJs; from alcoholics and drug addicts to surgeons and opera singers.
The fact that they've done it means that you can do it too. The fact that you're even reading this means you have an innate capacity to live a life you love and create meaningful results in the process. And I don't want you to take my word for it. Instead, as you read this book, I'll be inviting you to test my claims in your own life and against your personal experience so you can discover the truth of this for yourself. It doesn't even matter if you don't yet know what results you want to create. As you deepen your understanding of the principles we'll be exploring together, you're going to start seeing your world with new eyes, getting clarity about what you want to bring into being, and having it happen in ways you may never have anticipated until now.
The first time I was asked the number one result question, I eventually managed to identify the thing I believed would give me the most leverage. I wanted to generate income by putting my educational products online so I could stop selling my time, and put my energy into growing my business. ‘How long do you think it will take to do that?’ my coach asked. I told her I thought it would take between 18 months and 3 years. This was the same answer I'd come up with when I'd first had the idea, 18 months previously. In fact, that ‘18 months to 3 years’ timeline always seemed to be floating ahead of me, keeping my goal the same elusive distance away, like a juicy carrot dangling from a pole attached to a donkey's head. But it turned out that my estimate was wrong by several orders of magnitude; in the end, it only took six weeks. As is so often the case, it turned out that I had a lot of the pieces in place, but hadn't realized it (it's very likely that this is the case for you too). In the process, I discovered one of the most important things you can realize about creating results:
Your results may be closer than you think. Of course, we live in a material world, and there are certain universal laws or ‘principles’ that cannot be violated (e.g. the principle of gravity). But all too often it is not material laws, but rather our beliefs, concepts and misunderstandings which place artificial limits on the results we produce, on the impact we have and on our enjoyment of life in general.
By early 2008, my business was running on autopilot and I was ready to celebrate with my first ‘mini-retirement’, a three-month holiday at a Canadian ski resort. I was delighted with what my team and I had accomplished, and I believed this trip would yield another satisfying result; a big jump in my skiing ability combined with a sense of peace, completeness and success. But I was