The Power of Getting Clarity

The Power of Getting Clarity

By Leo Babauta

Before I started Zen Habits, I was in a place in my life where I had a beautiful family, but I was stuck and dissatisfied(di(s)ˈsadəsˌfīd) with myself.

I knew I wanted to change things — my health, finances(fəˈnans,ˈfīnans), job, way that I was approaching life — but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do about any of it. Most of the time, I just ignored all of this, and distracted(dəˈstraktəd) myself.

I didn’t have any clarity on what I wanted or what I needed to do. This lack of clarity is felt in all of us very deeply, so that it shows up in how we talk, how we hold ourselves. It affects our relationships, our jobs, our health.

Then I got very clear that I needed to change. And clear that I wanted to quit smoking, start running, become vegetarian(ˌvejiˈte(ə)rēən), start waking earlier, and start writing more. I went on to do all those and more.

Clarity helps us to focus, to take action, to feel energized(ˈenərˌjīz).

A lack of clarity causes stress, inaction, a scattered(ˈskadər) focus, relationship difficulties, confusion on teams.

Some examples of areas(ˈe(ə)rēə) to find clarity in:

Your mission(ˈmiSHən) in life
Your morning routine(ro͞oˈtēn)
Your financial plan
What you need to do to improve your relationship
How you’ll get healthier(ˈhelTHē)
What others expect(ikˈspekt) of you; what you expect of them
How a meeting will be run
What your boundaries are in each relationship

As you can see, this is a pretty broad topic — it can apply to every part of our lives. And we don’t have to be perfect, and we don’t have to get clarity on everything this week. It’s something to bring awareness to that we can improve over time.

But the more we find clarity, the more we’ll have focus, calm(kä(l)m), motivation.

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https://zenhabits.net/clarity/