When I don’t have clarity, I feel like a hamster on a wheel. I’m constantly busy doing stuff, but I’m not actually making any progress or getting anywhere.
I then fall into a trap where I work even harder to stay “busy” doing “stuff” thinking that will help. But, it never does. I end up wasting time and energy on things that really don’t matter.
After a while, I become frustrated because I realise that I’ve been working a lot but don’t have any results to show for it. I have no income, no clients, no progress on a project, or no goals achieved.
Then it hits me, I haven’t had any clarity.
I often think (and argue with myself) that I did have clarity, but when I think about it more I realise I didn’t have it. I either didn’t have it at all, or I didn’t have the right kind of clarity that I needed.
Clarity is knowing what you want, what direction you need to go in to get it, and how you’re going to get there. It’s also about knowing all of the little steps involved along the way.
Without clearly knowing what you want, you can’t get clarity on anything. This is when you’ll struggle to make decisions about most things on a daily basis because you’re constantly wondering about what you should be doing. Or, you wonder about the impact it will have if you make a decision now without knowing what direction you are going in.
If you know what you want, but don’t know the direction you need to head in you’ll quickly fill up your time with things that don’t matter. You’ll be constantly reviewing or updating your project management system and updating your task lists or you’ll be doing lots of research online without actually doing any work that moves you forward.
I’m embarrassed by how often I have let a lack of clarity affect me in business and life.
Looking back, I could’ve achieved so much more had I had better clarity in my life, my businesses at the time, and new business ideas that were in the pipeline.
I’ve learnt the hard way that having ideas and thoughts in your head does not equate to having clarity.
When I’ve had the most clarity, I’ve had everything mapped out in some form. Whether it be on paper, a project management tool, a task list, or a big mindmap. I’ve known every little detail – who needed to be involved, what resources would be required, costs, timelines, and every step along the way.
Without clarity, we have no direction in life or business.
