Power of Clarity
“So Dan, what is it that you exactly do?” If I had a dollar for every time I was asked this question. Wow. After many years of studying, asking about, and practicing the laws of achievement at both the personal and professional level, I keep returning back to a handful of simple rules whether I’m speaking, mentoring, or putting pen to paper.
No matter what the field, be it leadership, sales, financial independence, corporate strategy, health, trading markets, lifestyle, or personal mastery – they are all founded on three cornerstones.
Clarity – Focus - Simplicity
CLARIFY the outcome required. FOCUS on the handful of principles that have stood the test of times in the given field. Keep things SIMPLE as you go.
Touching on clarity, I think it’s the fundamental skill of achievement. Yet it is ignored by so many. Some of you I’m sure as you are reading this issue of ‘What Matters’, have heard of the importance of ‘beginning with the end in mind’.
Study after study has shown that individuals who are clear about their outcomes achieve and experience at least ten times more in life than those they opt not to. Ten times according to research conducted by Yale University.
Furthermore, the facts state that only 3% have clarity. Three in every one hundred people know where they are headed. This correlates well with the fact that three percent of the population ever reach a point of financial independence. Three percent of the population start businesses that employ the rest employed by private industry. Isn’t that interesting?
So what is it that the three percent do? Concentrated form, here we go:
Design their lives in every way (family / health / career / lifestyle / self-improvement / finances) at least 5 years out.
Dream big when doing so, making sure they set targets that inspire them.
Clarify their goals on paper and review them everyday.
Think about the steps required to move towards the end result, and take action on the next immediate step.
Continually assess and modify their performance along the way.
John Goddard, a 15yr old understood the power of clarity relatively early on. Today he is in his 80’s, having achieved 111 of the 127 goals he set way back as a teenager. Oh by the way, he achieved another 400 additional goals to boot.
It has been observed that most people only plan when it comes to their 2-week yearly vacations. Surely there is more to life than just a few days in the year to look forward to?
Key Questions:
What one goal, if you achieved in the next 12 months, would have the greatest impact on your life, on your family?
Having achieved this goal, what would it do for you?
What can you do, who can you ask, what can you learn in order to move towards it?
What excuses have you been using that have stopped you from achieving this outcome? Are your excuses really valid? Think about it.
