Get clear, get free, and get going.

      Of these three simple directives, getting clear – defined here as having clarity of mind and striving with a sense of purpose – is the most important and the toughest to do. Maintaining perspective on business and life is a skill that takes decades to master, if it's mastered at all.

      Identifying what's most important to you and what isn't is fundamental to getting clarity. If you don't take these steps to determine what's key in your life, then you'll be unsure and unclear about where you should be going or what you should be doing.

      Often, people who are unclear focus on the details of day-to-day life because they're unable to concentrate on long-term goals. When you aren't sure what you truly want to do or are afraid to pursue it, paralysis sets in. Many fall into a state of stasis and wait for opportunities to come along, but this means they settle on whatever opportunities come their way rather than seeking out favorable moments that are right for them. One thing successful people have in common is an absolute sense of mission – at all costs.

      As you read this section, think about what matters most to you, what you're doing that detracts or distracts from that, and what it would take to get rid of the clutter in your life and get clear. Once you identify and acknowledge the goals that are most important to you – and identify the obstacles to them, whether real or imagined, self-imposed, or forced on you – you will begin to have clarity and a sense of purpose about the future. Better yet, you'll feel much more confident about the direction you're heading.

      Chapter 1

      When It Comes to Getting Clear, First Get Quiet

      If you're not sure where you're going in life or feel like you're not going anywhere, think back to your childhood when you played hide-and-seek and concealed yourself in a bedroom closet full of clothes. Inside that dark closet, while you waited for one of your friends or siblings to discover you, you had to be quiet and not make a sound. Your eyes and ears adjusted to your surroundings – the darkness, stillness, and silence. All that was left was getting lost in your thoughts or your imagination.

      So what happened in the closet as you got quiet? Your eyes adjusted to the darkness and your senses were heightened. You were quiet because you had to be quiet.

      Finding time to get quiet, get focused, and get lost in our thoughts or imagination is considered a luxury to most today. We spend our days with smartphone buds in our ears, listening to calls while our thumbs rush to compose e-mails as we run between the day's meetings, which usually leave us running late for our evening's social functions or family dinner. Sound familiar?

      If so, here's my number one rule for getting clear, which is to get quiet. When you get quiet, you get clear enough to ask yourself, “What am I pursuing and why?” This is the most important question because many of us climb to the top of ladder only to discover that we're at the wrong house.

      So, when was the last time you were quiet? It's probably been a while because of the influx of technological advances in the past 15 years – smartphones, iPads, Kindles, iPods, and MP3 players. Streaming movies, TV shows, and sporting events on our tablet computers and handheld devices have changed the definition of downtime. It used to be that we sat in a comfy chair and curled up with a book to recharge our batteries; now even downtime is spent furiously trying to keep up with a flood of e-mails and Facebook messages while working our way through a backlog of phone calls. Every waking hour, it's constant. There's no time to catch our collective breath.

      The reason we're huffing and puffing is because we're too busy, which we've somehow associated with being productive. When we tell others that we're so busy, what we're really trying to do is subtly impress others with our self-importance. Brigid Schulte, author of Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time, says, “Somewhere around the end of the twentieth century, busyness became not just a way of life but a badge of honor. And life, sociologists say, became an exhausting everydayathon.”1

      If you're shopping on your smartphone while you're sitting on the toilet, you're too busy.

      To get quiet, you could spend an unplugged weekend in total silence at a monastery, but that isn't realistic for most. Instead, carve out small windows of time to contemplate and reflect on where you've been and where you want to be. This time can also serve as a reset, where you close the books on details that have been weighing on you and start anew. Next, think about these questions, knowing that your answers may change over time:

      1. Who are you? What defines you?

      2. What is happening inside you?

      3. What drives you?

      4. What are your passions?

      5. What are some things you can do today to get clear?

      These five questions can help you be more present and aware of what direction your life is taking. Sometimes when you get quiet, you may not like what you see. Think of a lake where the wind has whipped up the waves, and you can't see below the surface. When it's calm and quiet, you can often see all the way to bottom – or at least see the fish swimming below the surface. You might spot tires and refuse on the bottom – and may not be pleased with what you see. That's okay. This is the first step in getting clarity. It takes time and commitment to truly get quiet, and once you do, you might be shocked at what you discover about yourself. Start by taking 10 minutes for self-reflection and see what you discover.

      • It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners.

      • It took television 13 years to reach 50 million viewers.

      • It took the Internet four years to reach 50 million users.

      • It took Facebook one year to reach 50 million users.

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