The Alptitude Clear Course
A little extra online get-together. Starts 4th September
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Well, this is exciting…
I’ve been running these online courses since autumn last year. In fact, the inspiration was about half a dozen people at Happy Startup Summercamp just telling me to go and start an online course. So I did. And it turns out it’s about 1000 times more lovely than I ever thought an online course could be. (I always thought it would be like YouTube but with less Taylor Swift. It turns out it’s more like being on a very meaningful phone call with a friend. But with more friends.)
One day about ten years ago…
This work started when I found myself sitting on my lounge floor surrounded by notes and post-its and meaningful quotes and lists. It was a summary of all the best things I’d learned from journalism, campaign design, studying Buddhism, practising improvisation, a degree in modern languages, a job studying online communities (way back in 2003 when, to be honest, there weren’t many). Looking around at all these bits of paper I suddenly had a clear feeling that all these different things were all pointing to the same thing. That there was a way of doing things that actually worked. I knew it, but I had no way to really explain it back then. Now I can say that there is a creative process that we call on when we go to work, when we make things happen. And, if we’re not clear about what it is and how it works, then we can only make use of it indirectly. If we’re clear about it — then work becomes effortless. (Sometimes…)
What we’ll learn…
So, this version of the course is based on ‘The Clear Course Dream Team Supergroup’ format, which I’ve been running this summer for a group of my old friends / colleagues. It goes like this:
Week one: learn how to have very clear ideas.
Bring something you want to get clear on. Like, your life’s work or your new project. Uncover all kinds of things you didn’t realise you already knew about it. Sum up the whole thing in a single sentence that perfectly defines the work to do be done.
Week two: learn how to connect every step to your life’s work.
Build on what you got clear on last week through the power of asking ‘how?’ and ‘why?’ Learn how to check that all the different parts of your project add up — and how to make sure you’re taking the most direct route to getting what you need to get done. And get really specific about the nuts and bolts of how it happens — without losing touch with the dreamiest dreams and highest ideals.
Week three: learn how to clear away creative blocks.
Practice the fine art of picking apart and rewriting your own identity so it best serves you. Learn what to do when you know what to do but you find yourself just not doing it. Unravel old, strange hang-ups about money or work or authority or whatever-is-getting-in-the-way. Basically — find the skeleton key that lets you turn down the volume on distractions, concentrate your energy and clear away resistance to getting things done.
Week four: learn how to make clear deals.
It’s all very well knowing what you want to do and knowing how to do it — but most of the time we actually want to work with other people in order to get things done. But how do you decide what to work on? How do you know who should help? How do you make sure that when you agree to work together you both have the same idea of what that means? And how do you know if someone will actually really be genuinely committed to doing something they say they’d like to help with? That’s week four.
And then we’re done…
And when we’re done, we’ll all be just masterful at getting things clearer. And you’ll get to join The Clearing (if you like) — which is a little, private Facebook group for all the people who’ve done this course — including about a dozen Happy Startup people. Where you can keep on asking questions and asking for help and sharing what you find.
And, beyond that, we will have a shared set of tools that we can use to help each other. And you’ll be able to take your new found crystal clarity back to your teams and your loved ones and share it with them. (And, if you’d like help with that, I’ll find some ways that I can help you do that.)
So, what else is there to say?
The course will run from the beginning of September to the beginning of October (with a break for Summercamp).
There’ll be four group calls, each lasting 90 minutes.
They’ll be on Zoom (which works ever so well and has breakout rooms and all sorts).
They’ll be at 1930 UK time on Tuesday evenings and the dates will be:
4th September
11th September
25th September
2nd October
There’ll be a little private Facebook group to stay in touch between the calls.
And it costs £200 if you’re a startup, £300 if you’re a professional and £400 if you’re a corporate. (And I don’t really know — or mind — what any of those terms really mean and I’m very happy for you to choose whichever price feels like it’s yours…) If you need to pay by instalments, let me know and we’ll sort something out.
And for the duration of the course, if you’d like some one-on-one coaching sessions, I’ll offer them at a ludicrously reduced rate. (Just ask.)
I think that’s everything…
If I’ve forgotten anything, drop me a line (hello@charlesdavies.com) and I’ll do my best to answer.
And, if you like the sound of it — sign up.
Which you can do here.
(I made a little secret shop on the How To Be Clear website, as this is just for you lot. But that means you won’t find your way there from the front page. The link is: https://www.howtobeclear.com/shop2/alp18. Thanks!)
So… maybe see you in September.
Lots of love,
Charlie
PS. One more thing… If you’d like to read a long list of testimonials where people say nice things about the course — or you’d like to read a whole bunch of articles I’ve written about being clear — there’s a collection of both here. (That’s the invitation to the public course, which is also running in September. Please feel free to pass that invite on to anyone who might be interested. :)
