Focus on Clarity

There’s a saying that says that we don’t remember the days, we only remember the moments. I’m sure you were probably out having lots of fun this holiday season with friends and family making the most of every moment. And I bet you were also probably capturing some of those magical moments with a camera - probably the one on your smartphone.

As you know, most cameras that people use today, like on a smartphone, come with something called “autofocus.” The camera automatically knows to try and focus on the image that it sees. However, back in the day, the cameras we used didn’t have that fancy feature. You actually had to take the time to focus your camera on the image that you wanted to photograph. You had to slowly twist and adjust the lens in such a way that the image you saw through the camera, finally looked clear and in focus.

As I was thinking about this, I thought, our minds actually work the exact same way. They don’t come with an “autofocus” button either, that we can just simply push and get total mental clarity. It actually takes a little time and some effort to be able to find your clarity. As a leader, you must take the time that is required to find your own clarity, especially if you are want to lead others.

Bob Biehl once said, “Without focusing and getting to clarity, you cannot lead. You cannot motivate. You cannot plan. You cannot communicate.” Wow – I couldn’t agree more! Mental clarity means that you have total sharpness and clearness of mind about where you are and where you’re headed. You have a clear perception and understanding of who you are and what you want to get out of life.

If you want to lead others well, you must have total clarity about the things that you are wanting to accomplish. You will also need to have absolute certainty. You must carry with you a firm conviction that what you are working towards will succeed. Your team members are looking to you to find their confidence and if they can see that you have total clarity and total certainty, they will learn to trust you as a leader and they will not only want to follow you, but they will follow you with great excitement and anticipation of where the team is headed.

When you are faced with making a decision as a leader, and leaders have to make important decisions all of the time, you need to make sure that you have total clarity and absolute certainty about your intended outcome. Then and only then, will you be able to make a good decision and move forward. There’s a truism in life that says that the moment of absolute certainty never arrives, which can be true, so if you wait too long...you might just find that your “perfect timing” has slowly faded away, along with your clarity.

You need to decide right now, that you will make the time in your schedule to find true clarity and absolute certainty about where you’re headed in life. When you do this, you will probably find that the direction that you are heading in, is so much more gratifying. All the moments on your journey matter, so I want to encourage you today to make the most of all of them because remember, It All Matters.