Clarity Before Effort

Years ago, after I’d had this blog for a while, I started getting requests to teach. Initially, I wasn’t sure I wanted to teach (See me answer that question below).  Then as time went by, I started thinking about creating some courses to satisfy the constant request for me to teach.

The thing was, I didn’t have clarity about what I really wanted the outcome to be for my students.  Of course, I wanted them to learn the course materials I’ll be teaching. But after that, then what?

Nah!!!

Teaching for teaching sake wasn’t enough for me

I was looking for an overall meaning or vision that’ll make me teach. And without that I really didn’t have the direction I needed to make progress.

In fact, if you peeked onto my laptop right now, you’ll see a folder called “Courses to Teach”. I started creating courses – different types – some on creativity, others on fiber art, and some on professional development, years ago.  There were a couple I completed but never let them see the light of day.  And there were those I hardly made any progress on.  I kept changing my mind as to what I really wanted to achieve with my courses.

It wasn’t until March of this year, that I finally got clarity on what I truly wanted to accomplish with my courses.  I wanted to take my students on a journey that will lead to a transformation in their creative lives. It wasn’t enough for me to have my students learn my course materials.  I wanted to make an impact in their lives. I wanted them to be transformed. To be better off for having taken one of my courses. That was it!

Finally, I knew what I wanted my courses to be about.

That’s when I became unstuck. I became free to go and create the courses I wanted.

Put clarity before effort

You see, it wasn’t lack of effort that had kept me from creating courses all these years. Actually, I’d exerted a lot of effort as you can clearly see by the many folders I have on my laptop. Not just that, but the countless hours of videos I’d filmed and several workbooks I’d created for courses I never published, painted an even clearer picture.

Frankly, the hours of work that has gone into unpublished courses is unbelievable. And the amount of money I paid for three years to maintain an online school that I didn’t use is simply ridiculous.

But as soon as I got clarity, I started charting a clear path. 

I didn’t even go back to my unpublished courses.  I started work on creating a new course because I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted to take my students through a journey, to give them an experience – not just a course . And that wasn’t quite available in any of the courses I’d previously created.

And now as the year closes out, I can confidently say, I’ve created a course that delivers the experience I had in mind to create with all my courses.

Here’s what lack of clarity does:

That’s the thing about clarity, when you don’t have it, you

• waste time doing busy work that doesn’t result in real progress
• get stressed and overwhelmed by what needs to be done
• lack direction because you’re being pulled in many directions
• don’t complete projects
• waste money

On the other hand, when you gain clarity, you become unleashed. Obstacles and distractions become obvious for what they are. You’ll quickly learn that, sometimes good things can become distractions because they don’t help you move towards your destination. Moreover, with clarity, you’ll accomplish in a short time what you’ve been trying to do forever.

You’ll accomplish more in a short time with clarity than you will do by trying all your life without clarity

Zig Ziglar is quoted as saying, “Lack of direction, not lack of time is the problem.  We all have 24-hour days.”

As we close out the year, how are you feeling about how your year went?

Were you able to do most of what you wanted to do? If you spent time going around in circles and feeling stressed about your progress in specific areas, it certainly can’t be because of lack of time. As you know, this year, each of us has exactly 365 days to ourselves.

Lack of clarity is costing you big time. It’s not just in dollars and cents but in the progress you didn’t make and the feeling of accomplishment you missed out on. Do you have clarity on why your creativity matters? Can you articulate why your personal creativity is worthy of your time? Can you identify the obstacles in front of you?

When you have clarity, it changes things around you. It becomes easier for people to support you to get what you want.

In the coming months, you’ll hear “Vision 2020” said a lot. The new decade is about clarity and vision. Don’t enter 2020 without vision or the clarity you need to achieve your dreams.

Take The Clarity to Create course and gain clarity for the journey ahead.

When I gained clarity, I became unstopped. In six months, I created a course I’d been trying to create for three years. And I’ve got another course in the pipeline, which I’ll be releasing shortly. And another for next year. It’s like the floodgates opened when clarity came in.

What are you waiting for?

Take the course and unleash your creativity.

Look ahead to next year by this time. What will you be saying as you review your year 2020? Did you get the clarity you needed to unleash your creativity? Or were you stuck with a lot of uncompleted projects and no direction to move forward?

You can choose NOW what the ending of 2020 is going to look like for you.

Choose clarity.

Warmest regards.