The Power of Specificity: Make Your Life More Impactful

Do you find it easy to choose your meal at a restaurant?

When you're in tune with what you want, you can make intuitive and immediate decisions that get you and your body what you want and need.

If you struggle to make these types of decisions, it's likely that in much fuzzier areas clarity of decision-making is even harder to come by. Life has much bigger questions without any "menu" to choose from. Choice and opportunity are infinite.

When people ask you "What do you want?" it can quickly become existential. We're not quite being asked that question with full permission to explore what that answer might be for us.

Our problems today are too many opportunities and having it be hard to choose.

Something I notice in companies I work with is that Clarity itself is half the battle. There are long seasons where a lack of clarity leads the business to move forward, but without speed or compounding in the way that it could with absolute clarity. When founders and business owners finally arrive at simplicity and clarity, and IF they can communicate that clarity to their team (big if), magic happens quickly.

The most fun environment in a company is when everyone has clarity and purpose and they are simply focused on execution of the strategy.

Clarity is a skill that you can develop. When you don't have it, here are some common symptoms...

1. You dance around what you're trying to say.

This is where I really struggle. How this specifically shows up for me is that I qualify statements, I back peddle, I have a long-winded preface before just speaking directly. It sounds like I'm avoiding or leaving information out, but the truth is I'm not just being extremely direct and speaking with a full force.

2. You're not specific with your word choice.

The most common issue in goal setting is that the goals are vague. You use fuzzy words like "growth" or "increase" instead of specific numbers. You hide behind targets that aren't precise or binary. Writing or speaking a line in the sand feels difficult or scary.

3. You struggle to know what YOU want?

People-pleasing tendencies mean that you can easily adapt your desires or needs to others however you struggle to self-generate and self-identify what those desires are without other people being present. You mask your wants through giving others theirs.

4. You wobble back and forth without committing.

After making a choice, you immediately feel like you want to go back on it or switch gears. Making a decision or commitment makes you feel trapped and seeking the alternative relaxes your fear.

Lack of clarity creates a lack of investment.

A friend told me something incredibly profound this week. She said,

"Information is just energy and currency... so the specificity and accuracy of the information improves the likelihood of connection and impact through that information."

Said a different way, when we don't, or cannot, connect to and share information that is specific and clear, we reduce the ability for it to impact others, and we reduce the ability for others to become invested in us.

As a leader of a company, a service provider, or even a parent, our level of clarity is the fundamental building block that impacts everything we do.

Self-awareness is the first step.

How do you struggle with lack of clarity?

And what impact is that having on your life today?