I get asked this by women in business ALL the time. They are frantic with worry about not having clarity and how it’s either “stopping” them from taking any action or they are taking so much random action that they are exhausted (and often under earning). Panic not. You can get clarity and much more quickly and easily than you think.
What does clarity mean to you?
I think that this is a great question to start with because I often find that “clarity” and “purpose” get given the same meaning. Let us untangle that belief as a first step. Not only are clarity and purpose NOT the same thing, you don’t need to know your purpose to get clarity. Phew, doesn’t that feel better?
I’ll dive in to purpose at another time, but for now let’s define clarity (from my perspective). Clarity is simply identifying your next steps. The most important, transformational and specific steps that are directly related to your goal.
What if I don’t know what my goal is?
Of course, I have to answer this question first. What if you don’t have a “goal” or a dream? Well I’m not going to give you one, you need to work that out for yourself. The simplest way to do this is to take a “life review”. Gift yourself a couple of hours, grab your paper and pencils, open a bottle of wine and put some music on. Declare that you will be completely honest with yourself and then ask the following questions.
- How satisfied am I in my life “areas”? i.e Love, Relationships & Friendships; Job, Career & Business; Finances; Health (emotional, physical, mental and spiritual); Life purpose/Fulfilment; Freedom
- Look at the areas that you didn’t rate very highly. What’s missing or what needs to go?
- How would you like to feel instead? What looks different in your life when you feel like that?
- Create a goal around that. Maybe it’s dropping a few pound, finding the love of your life or doubling your income. #TOPTIP……… don’t go for what you “think” you can get, go for what you really WANT!
- Et voila….. creating a goal is as simple as that.
Now what?
Gaining clarity is now simply a case of breaking that goal down in to actionable steps. Yes, that’s it. Clarity is not something saved for those “destined for success”. Clarity is defined by those who decide that success is for THEM!
- Start simply by getting specific about what you desire. 14lb weight loss. An additional £30k income. Increase your community by 100%.. whatever it is, KNOW how it is different from what you have now.
- Mind map out as many things as you can think of that you COULD do (that you are probably NOT doing now) that will take you toward that goal. Join a slimming club; increase your current prices; be more consistent on social media. The more you put down here, the better.
- Once you’ve exhausted those ideas, it’s time to pick 3-5 of them, make them specific, schedule them in to your diary and find a way to be accountable to them.
Example #1 – 14lb weight loss target in 3 months
Daily Actions: Drink 2 litres of water; Limit carbs to a palm full per main meal; Vegetables at 2 meals and 10k steps per day
Weekly Actions: Work out Mon, Wed & Fri with weights.
Accountability: Keep a commitment chart to track progress and be accountable to specific friend every Sunday evening.
Example #2 – Increase business income by £10k in 3 months
One Off Actions: Increase current prices by 20% immediately and choose 2 platforms on social media to focus on
Daily Actions: Be present in your own community three times daily; be present in your chosen communities twice daily
Weekly Action: Go live on Facebook page 2x week
Other: Plan a free challenge to run in this 3 month period and lead in to a specific sale
The final, essential act of clarity
I would like to give you one final piece of advice, and this may just be the most important act of them all. I want you to REVIEW. Review your day, your week AND your month. Ask yourself questions like – what didn’t go so well today? Why do I think that is? What can I do to improve of that? Did I have fun? Did I make time for all the things that are important to me? Have I positively impacted my goals? Is this how I would like to live my life in the longer term?
Answering these questions honestly and regularly will really help to give you clarity for the longer vision.