Clear as mud?

Clarity is a crucial part of any successful attempts to be productive. Without it progress is slow and laboured, but get the clarity you need and you'll be well on your way to getting the important things done.

Today I want to share a few examples of ways in which clarity is important for productivity and hopefully get you thinking about where that clarity might be lacking in your life and what you might do about it.

Your to-do list

Do you have a clear picture of the tasks that need to be done in your business and in your life? If not, instead of having multiple notebooks, post-its and apps, gather everything in and capture all your to-dos in one place.

Meeting your goals

If you don't have clarity around your next step, how will you ever take it? Take some time to reconnect with your goals and the vision underlying them, then write down the steps that will get you there. You may not know every step right now, but make sure you always have clarity around the next action you need to take, no matter how small.

Procrastination

Often we procrastinate when we're not entirely sure what we're doing. Next time you're putting something off or finding it hard to focus, ask yourself whether you need more clarity. If the answer is yes, think about how you could get it. Maybe you need to ask for help (whether from a human being or Google). Or perhaps it would help to get clear on the purpose of what you're doing so you can come back to it with renewed motivation.

Boundaries

It's hard to enforce healthy boundaries if you're not really sure what they are. If you're fed up of taking on too much or working more hours than you'd like, I'd suggest sitting down with a cuppa and thinking about your boundaries. For example, what time do you want to start and stop work each day? How many client calls do you have time for in a week? Do you want to respond to emails during the evening? There will be times when you need to be a little flexible with these boundaries, but getting clear on what they are is the first step towards taking back control.

Expectations

Do you know what other people expect from you, or are you guessing? Sometimes we add more to our plate unnecessarily, assuming that people need more from us than they actually do. If you're not sure, ask. For example, you might incorrectly assume that your partner expects you to take responsibility for certain household tasks. Or maybe you think that a client is expecting a lengthy update on a project when actually they'd prefer a few headline bullet points.

Is there anything going on for you right now, where getting clarity around expectations could help you find more ease?

Make getting clarity a priority

As you can see, there are many ways in which a lack of clarity can trip you up when it comes to getting stuff done.

If there’s something you’ve been putting off, I encourage you to take a few minutes to consider whether you have the clarity you need to move forward. Chances are there’s something missing.

For example, if you want to be on more podcasts, but you don’t have clarity around the things you can speak about or the value you can offer the audience, it’s going to be tricky to make that happen.

What can you do this week to get the clarity you need?

Make that a priority, and you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can get back into action.