Clarity is one of those keystone habits that set the foundations for us living our best lives and showing up as the best version of ourselves or before starting any journey. Clarity provides us direction. I like to use the analogy of clarity being a compass that always points North, our true North. Having clarity means that we know our true North.
I believe clarity can be achieved in the big scheme of things (what is our purpose, our long term vision, what we want to achieve, etc.) as well as on our day to day (how we want our day to go, how we want to show up on a particular meeting or interaction, etc.).
For me, clarity is knowing all the time what my true North is, and I believe we achieve that by asking questions to ourselves. So, clarity for me is not only having a clear picture of what we want to accomplish but also having a clear vision on how we want to feel in the process and when we reach our destination.
Clarity is a habit. If you practice it enough you, you will get better at it and it will require less energy to achieve clarity. Not only clarity is a habit but us a keystone habit, one that has a ripple effect in many areas of our lives. No matter what you want to achieve or who you want to become, seeking clarity is one of those habits that will help you get there.
There are three ways I personally like to seek clarity:
Visualization
Vision Boards
Journaling
I explained these three techniques in more detail on the last podcast episode. You can listen to it here.
Here is a brief overview of all three techniques:
Visualization: is nothing else than closing your eye and putting yourself in a different situation. The key is to pay attention to all details and visualize yourself and the situation as vividly as you can. It is key to find a place a time where you can be free of distractions to do a visualization.
If you are just getting started with visioning, I reconnect you google it, there are many guided visualizations available that will walk you through a visualization exercise.
Here are a couple to get you started:
Vision Boards: this is basically a collage of images that represent your vision for that period that you are looking at. You can do a vision board for the next year, five or ten years, or you can create a vision board for a season in your life or an important project. Personally, I like to do a vision board right after a visualization. I think these two techniques really complement each other very well.
There are different ways you can go about doing a vision board, I like to do it electronically (on episode 37 of the Leading Yourself podcast I share how I do it) , because I am able to add it as the background on my computer desktop and acts as a daily reminder that guides my decisions and the way I show up every day.
Journaling: being completely honest when I started hearing about this practice I disregarded because I had a wrong idea as to what journaling is. I thought journaling was like that diary I had as a teenager where I would write what happened that day. Journaling is asking yourself tough questions and forcing yourself to answer them. Journaling is a great way to build and develop self-awareness and get to know ourselves at a deeper level, to discover our blind spots and achieve clarity around what matter most for us.
You can find journals with prompts that will guide you through your journaling practice. Here is one I have put together that is designed to help you seek clarity around the best you and your ideal life.
You can use these tools to seek clarity both on the long term as well as on the short term. On episode 37 of the Leading Yourself Podcast I shared how I use a variation of these tools to help me seek clarity on my day to day.
There are many studies that have shown and proved than seeking clarity is one of those habits that differentiate high performers form their peers. When you have clarity on where you are headed and who you want to become, that clarity serves as a compass that will guide you to perform at your best and show up as the best version of yourself.
If you are interested to learn more about these three tools to help you seek clarity, I recommend listening to episode 37 of the Leading Yourself Podcast or join the upcoming vision board workshop.
Comments