3 ways to know you have clarity
I know, I sound like a scratched record. My article 3 weeks ago was about why clarity is important and how to find it amidst chaos. This article is a slightly different take on clarity. This one is to help you determine if you have clarity in your daily choices.
At the risk of repeating myself, I cannot emphasise enough how clarity plays a pivotal role in our outcomes. Whilst chatting with a friend recently, I suggested that choice should be my middle name. If there is space to add clarity, I would.
Over the years I have seen clients and friends waste precious time and energy over choices and decisions because of their lack of clarity.
Clarity is not hard to achieve but it requires some straight talking and openness with yourself to get there.
Connecting the dots
Here’s my example. I thought I was clear about a milestone that I wanted to reach in mid-January. ‘I am clear’, I told myself – or so I thought but later realised I wasn’t.
A little voice one evening asked me if I had clarity in my thinking about my plan for achieving my milestone and the honest answer was NO. It’s hard to deceive oneself.
I believe it takes more effort to deceive than to be truthful with ourselves.
As I sat with myself and went through my thoughts (I followed the dots), I realised there were a couple of gaps in my thinking. I was taken aback.
But it does happen, and I find it amazing how our subconscious tells us what needs attention.
And just as I came to that realisation, I saw an email in my inbox with an invitation to The Story Advantage Challenge by Lisa Bloom, and it was FREE. It was to run over 5 consecutive days.
How could I resist? The only drawback was that It was being held at 5am my-time. However, I was determined, and I made it to the event. I was not sure how it would help but something nudged me to commit.
On day 2 I experienced a pivotal moment. More about pivotal moments in my next post. I found the clarity I needed in that half-hour session that day.
This may sound trivial, but the lack of clarity has a huge impact on our outcomes.
Without it, we can have a false sense of security, and this keeps us in our comfort zone. And that’s not a great place to be if we want to achieve our goals.
3 ways to know you have clarity
So how do you know you are in clarity? Here are the three ways:
1. You can execute your choices with relative confidence
If you are hesitating about a choice, that’s a sign that you are lacking clarity. Clarity is a critical thinking tool in assessing your own reasoning when making choices, decisions and more.
2. You can make uncomfortable choices
Making uncomfortable choices are ‘easier’ when they are aligned with your values. The resulting actions, which can be tough at times, lead to a sense of empowerment. Clarity is a sense of knowing why you are doing what you are doing.
3. You know the right questions to ask
The ability to ask the right questions is priceless. Your inability to ask the right question is another sign you are lacking clarity. Clarity is the ability to pause and reconnect the dots to understand where the gap in your thinking lies.
Clarity helps connect the dots.
Sometimes it is hard to sit with our thoughts to see where they may take us. Revelation of gap(s) in our thinking can be a little scary and leave us feeling stuck. But here’s the thing, when we identify our gap(s), we can at least begin to do something about it.
The other thing about our awareness, of our gap, is that there could be a potential solution on its way. I believe, like with most things, that awareness comes in its own time.
As in my example of the email coming at an uncanny moment. I am clearer now and have a better plan to achieve my outcome. Until my next ‘connecting the dots’ moment.
So, don’t avoid the little voice in your head. What you hear could make the difference you desire.
And remember, the choice on how you navigate forward is yours!
I am here to help!