(ThyBlackMan.com) One morning last week, I turned out of my neighborhood to head to my office and was startled by what appeared to be a cloud of smoke across a wide swath of gray sky. The tall buildings that normally tower over the nearby streets were nowhere to be seen. It was a bit disorienting. As I tried to make sense of it, I had only one thought: There must be a fire. I scanned the area while driving, curious what building the fire might be coming from. But as I continued to drive down the street, I realized the “smoke” expanded far beyond the few blocks from home. It wasn’t smoke at all. It was a dense fog – thicker than I’ve ever seen it! I continued on to work and traffic was slow, even for my little two-mile commute. Amazingly, an hour later when I stepped out of my office, the sun’s bright rays had parted the fog and the skyline was in clear view. Finally, there was clarity.
It reminds me of what happens when life gets foggy and cluttered. It can feel like you can’t see what the future holds, what decisions to make or whether what has always been there is still there at all. It is like wading through a dense fog of uncertainty and confusion. Should I follow my dream or play it safe? 
Should I buy the house now or keep renting? Should I go back to school so I can change careers or stay in this career I don’t enjoy? Should I hold on to this relationship or let go? When working with clients over the last decade and even in my own life, I have noticed that stress and stagnancy are often created by a lack of clarity.
Once you get clear, it is like rays of sun burning away the fog of confusion – and suddenly you are no longer stuck. It is normal to feel uncertain and fearful of the future when you can’t see clearly. Clarity creates breakthrough. In what area of your life are you lacking clarity right now? Here are a few ways you know it’s time to get clarity:
- A decision needs to be made – whether about a relationship or finances or career – and you feel as though you have absolutely no idea how to proceed.
- You find yourself busy doing a lot of stuff, yet you feel unproductive.
- You feel overwhelmed.
- You have no idea how much is coming in and going out of your checking account.
- You have no passion for what you’re doing, but no plan to make a transition.
As the subtitle in my latest book Your 5-Minute Personal Coach says, when you ask the right questions, you get the right answers. So in this moment, I invite you to take a deep breath and coach yourself with a few questions to get clarity so you can de-stress, move forward and become unstoppable:
- What is unclear to me right now?
- What specific information or activity will give me clarity?
- Who or what resources do I need in order to get that clarity?
- What decision will clarity empower me to make
- Why is that decision important for me right now?
