Clarity on Steroids

Getting from where you are today to where you want to be in the future demands clarity of thought.

"I started to work on my SWOT analysis for our business. About 5 questions into it I began to realize that I was operating my business on hunches and feelings. It's no wonder I don't have a clear picture of what is really going on or what I need to do to move forward."

Clarity of thought is not a psychic or metaphysical experience.

"How do I know? I don't know how I know. Maybe I don't know what I think I know."

Imagine an engineer trying to build a bridge across the river. It's simple, right? All he has to do is rivet together some steel and connect one bank to the other.

"I figure about 80% of my business comes from people making purchases of $50 or less. I spend about 60 hours a week pursuing more of this kind of customer. Why do you ask?"

A powerful key to earning more and working less is learning how to optimize what you do. Clarity brings to the forefront your strongest skills and talents and leverages them for optimum earning potential.

"We have been doing business this way for 8 years. I couldn't tell you what my P&L says. All I know is I pay my bills. And there never seems to be enough!"

Remember asking your math teacher if you would ever need to know "this stuff"? The answer is Yes.

Clarity is indispensable for moving your life, your profession or your business from where it is today to an increasingly better tomorrow.

To put your clarity on steroids you need one key ingredient.

Data. Cold hard facts.

What are you doing to benchmark your business?

*****
How's your clarity? Take this simple assessment and give yourself a grade.

These three components are vital if you want to gain clarity.

3 Essential Components for Gaining Clarity

If you have driven your car in a thick fog then you know the fear or uneasiness that comes with not being sure of what is hidden from your sight. Your senses are on edge trying to discern what is coming your way. A deer in the road? An unexpected turn? A stopped vehicle? An icy patch?

Unlike a foggy day, mental fog results from being overworked, un-prioritized activity or subjection to the tyranny of the urgent. We are able to have control over mental fog. These three components are indispensable for gaining clarity and they are in your immediate control:

• Intentionality. Clarity does not just happen. You have to make up your mind that you are going to get clarity and do what needs to be done to make it happen.
• Distraction-free Thinking Space. When phones ring, people interrupt, text messages ping, to-do lists grow, urgencies clamor for your attention or other demands jump on the front burner you cannot gain the overall clarity you need. (You may find momentary clarity for each little thing that arises, but don't mistake crisis control for life control.) To gain clarity you must break away for a mental retreat.
• A Proven Process to Guide Your Thinking. "You don't know what you don't know." A process is nothing more than a step-by-step method of getting you to your desired outcome. Your desired outcome is clarity; do you know step by step what you need to do to get there?

These three components are absolutely essential for gaining clarity for your life, your profession or your business. Eliminate just one of these three components and try to imagine the outcome. Today has enough challenges of its own without creating an underperforming method to gaining clarity.

This one added element is like putting your clarity on steroids.

Clarity? How do you know if you have clarity or not?

Clarity Assessment

"At the beginning of this week I was uncertain about what I was doing in my profession. Today at the end of the week it is very clear to me what I was doing wrong, what I need to do to change course, and exactly how to go about it."

Clarity in any profession results in less complexity and greater effectiveness. How do you know when you have clarity? 

• When strategies are understood . . . 
• When definitive action plans can be implemented . . . 
• When results do not require an advanced degree to validate . . . 
• When you know who you are, where you are going and how you are going to get there . . . 

Many people / professionals / business owners have found this simple assessment tool invaluable for getting a snapshot of their own clarity. A few minutes of your time and a dose of gut-level honesty will help you begin to see your life, your job, or your business more clearly. Use the scores below to answer each question.

5 - Strongly Agree       4 - Agree       3 - Neither Agree nor Disagree       2 - Disagree       1 - Strongly Disagree

1. I have a comprehensive understanding of my talents and skills.
2. I maximize my talents and skills for optimum earnings.
3. I have an articulated list of values that drive how I live and work.
4. I have a written vision for the future of my life / profession / business.
5. I have an easy-to-understand mission with achievable goals.
6. My values, vision and mission are in harmony with each other.
7. I have realistic strategies written out with target dates assigned to them.
8. I rely on actual data to assess my progress.
9. I regularly reassess my current status for strategic planning.
10. I know who I am, where I am going, and how I am going to get there.

Total your score. 

40 to 50: Perhaps you should consider how to mentor someone to achieve their optimum life!

30 to 40: There is room for improvement. Find time for an objective reality check.

20 to 30: Dense fog. Watch out for the unforeseen event waiting for you.

10 to 20: Lost, dazed or confused. Is this what life is supposed to be like?

0 to 10: Crisis. If lack of clarity were a disease, you'd be in the E.R. in critical condition.

Do you use these three essential components for blowing away the fog and gaining clarity for your life, profession or business?


This one thing will take your clarity to a whole new level of strategic planning.