Controlling the Chaos and Creating Way for Clarity

On a cold winter morning in 2014, I woke up to the edge of tomorrow. Live-Die-Repeat was synonymous of how I felt that morning. Work was all consuming and I was a slave to someone else’s purpose even as I didn’t lack one of my own. That day I lost the will to be a cog but more importantly I knew that the only person between me and what-should-be was myself. A few weeks later I was enrolled into an executive programme to become a leadership coach. The rest, as they say, was history. I was out of the career chaos and free to finally work towards my true purpose in life.

What I attained in those few weeks was Clarity. Clarity not just about what I wanted but also about why I was stuck in a swamp. Clarity which came from the Chaos

Is Your Mind a Chatterbox?

We let our thoughts wander as we perform our daily tasks. It’s not unusual to be thinking about the dubious pursuits of a co-worker while on the treadmill or just not being able to stop the chains of thoughts that miraculously appear in our heads even as we try to meditate. Chaos has a language and that is called chatter. Chatter is everything that is not relevant at that moment. Chatter slows you down, reduces objective thinking and even alters your reactions to your immediate surroundings.

The Information Surplus

We live in the information super age. ?We probably have a million times more information than our ancestors tilling the Gangetic plains and yet we have less clarity than they did. How can no dearth of data result in dearth of clarity? Information is a double-edged sword. While it can empower us it can equally distract us from our objectives. Retaining what is crucial and discarding the rest is Clarity.

The chatter in our minds can disturb distract and dissuade but if we understand and acknowledge the various emotions that different kinds of information elicit in us, we prevent negative feelings from hijacking our minds and taking over our lives. This is an important exercise because one of the biggest challenges in our lives is to find our real objective and true purpose. This leads to a virtuous cycle of knowing how to use the information surplus around us in a beneficial way, thereby, helping us stay fixated on our true path. That in essence is what we call clarity.

Back in 2014, weeks after that critical morning of inertia, what I got was clarity. Years of jousting the hierarchy and the proverbial glass ceiling, one thing I missed was a mentor. Someone who could coach me through the travails of corporate life. As I looked around, I saw one too many who did too. So started my journey and it started with clarity, clarity of what I want and why I want it.

Find your Clarity. Without it, we cannot find fulfilment in our personal or professional lives.