Thoughts on Excellence Free E-Newsletter Series
Volume 23, Issue No. 2a
October 1, 2024
By Dan Coughlin
In MWD (Merriam-Webster Dictionary), clarity is defined as the state of having a full, detailed, and orderly mental grasp of something; and as the quality of being easily understood.
Organizations need clarity regarding mission, vision, plan, and projects. Without clarity there can be an enormous waste of talent, time, and energy as people go in opposite directions or overlap one another’s activities.
In this series of articles, I am only focused on your essence as a person, which consists of your thoughts, emotions, and will. However, your inner world is just as vast as your outer world. Consequently, without clarity your inner world can start to go in opposite directions or overlap itself without making any real progress.
Imagine a toolbox that is completely cluttered. All the screwdrivers, wrenches, nails, hammers, electric devices, screws, drywall, and so on are all just thrown into a large box with no order or rhyme or reason as to where stuff goes. Before you can do anything at all, you need to take everything out of the box and sort it out. You need clarity as to what you have to work with and where it is at.
Clarify Your Essence
First, you have to sort out your thoughts. At any given point in the day, you could be thinking about your spouse, your children, your home responsibilities, your work responsibilities, your community responsibilities, and on and on. Without realizing it your egotism could be pulling you in the direction of comparing yourself to other people and trying to do what they want or in trying to keep up with their purchases, or in the direction of doing something for your own immediate gratification or instant pleasure. And you could be simultaneously drawn in the direction of virtue and trying to think, say, and do what you think is the right thing to do.
Little by little, it starts to feel overwhelming with thoughts coming at you from every direction.
Along with that your emotions can quickly become jumbled. In any one day you might feel thrilled, excited with expectation, angry, depressed, joy, helpless, vibrant, and so on. Your emotions might change in the blink of an eye as new stimuli come into your awareness: text messages, emails, Instagrams, phone calls, zoom calls, tv shows, announcements at work, and so on.
And then your will becomes confused. Which direction do you want your life moving in?
This is exactly why you need to slow down. Really truly slow down and begin to take out your thoughts and emotions and steadily sort them out. As you do so you will start to see the thoughts and emotions you want in your life, and you will be able to separate those from the thoughts and emotions you don’t want in your life. You will start to separate the direction you want your life to go in, and the direction you don’t want your life to go in.
As you clarify your desired essence, you will then be able to focus on what you want within yourself and strengthen those desired thoughts, emotions, and will.
Essential Walk Steps for You to Consider
- Consider your thoughts over the past week. Write down the main thoughts that you have had. Circle the thoughts you want to continue. Put a line through the thoughts you want to stop hanging onto. And then write down the thoughts you want to start thinking about on a regular basis.
- Consider your emotions over the past week. Write down the main emotions that you have had. Circle the emotions you want to continue. Put a line through the emotions you want to stop hanging onto. And then write down the emotions you want to start feeling on a regular basis.
- Consider the general direction of your life. Write down where you are heading in the different aspects of your life? Circle the aspects of your self-direction that you want to keep. Put a line through the aspects of your self-direction that you want to stop. And then write down aspects of your self-direction that you want to add in.
Once you have clarified the essence that you want in your life, then review it over and over again to reinforce it in your thoughts, emotions, and will.
Republishing Articles
My newsletters, Thoughts on Excellence, have been republished in approximately 40 trade magazines, on-line publications, and internal publications for businesses, universities, and not-for-profit organizations over the past 20+ years. If you would like to republish all or part of my monthly articles, please send me an e-mail at dan@thecoughlincompany.com with the name of the article you want in the subject heading. I will send you the article in a word document.